Market Campaign Research

Our thriller film project “Sweet Dreams” is a psychological thriller with the age rating 12A. It is a psychological because it explores the inner mind of the main characters and how he struggles to find out the surroundings are real or not and in meantime someone wants to kill him.

For making this film project, poster, billboards and other signs are the best advertising because they more you put them up, the more attention it will bring to the target audience in a flash you get potential viewers before the release of the film. It's good idea of having the image in the background so something that relates to the thriller film. You would have the actors names on it as well as especially the big names so that anyone will want to see it because they are in it.

Video trailers and websites are the next best marketing campaign ideas as social networking is a huge thing at the moment – just look at Facebook or Twitter. TV adverts and radio are good as well as they can be advertised all over the world to bring attention to the film project.

For the target audience it all depends on the sub-genres that are mixed together with the thriller like horror, action, adventure, sci- fi etc. It’s also all about guessing but the true aim to thriller is how produce fear by making music to creep you out, loud sounds that are mysterious and devious build ups are likely to be used, this including fast, sharp camera shots possibly close ups that are used frequently to see the reactions on the character’s face and the editing will need be quick. Plus unexpected events (which sometimes called "pop-outs") are used to keep the audience guessing and the level of tension high – like falling objects, darting animals and sudden loud noises. The thriller films are also known to play with audiences minds by manipulating the main character or any character in general.

I think that a lot of thriller movies are aimed 15 years and onwards but some thrillers are sometimes “12A” because some of the details of the films aren’t scary enough to scare children but as long as they are with their parents, they are allowed to see thriller films that are aged “12A”

As for other thriller films they are normally aimed 15 and over because of the dramatic and sometimes scary nature to the film especially if the thriller is mixed with horror, this will definitely affected any children that are under 15. Students are more likely to watch as this can be related to as a lot of main characters are teenagers/young adults, providing a pathway for connection from the audience.

The thriller genre is aimed more towards the male than females only because a lot of males will find these films more exciting and edgy to watch unlike a lot opposed to females but that does not mean that all females don’t enjoy thriller movies as a lot of them do, it’s just that this sort of films especially the mixed horror ones are the males sort of thing to watch on the big screen.

When it comes to marketing your project, you have to aware of the advantages and the disadvantages:

ADVANTAGES

·         You know what the film target audience is, and how to make appealing to the audience

·         Compare other films that are similar to your own film project

·         There are choices to choose in order to market you idea

·         Ability to select where your advertising will be shown, giving a better chance to reach target audiences

·         Can generate immediate visibility, as they go live immediately

·         Allows for quick, easy tracking of the effectiveness of the campaign allowing you to better analyze the return on your investments (ROI)

DISAVANTAGES

·         Never truly know who are the target audience

·         Pay only for results – if the film itself goes horribly wrong, you might a low pay check

·         They can be easily modified, adjusted even deleted instantaneously depending on the results

·         Some marketing adverts can be an inappropriate for some

·         Longer time in developing the message and promotional product

·         Possibility of saturation in some items and audiences 

·         Wrong choice of product or poor creative may cheapen the image of advertiser

·         Can easily fool the audience and they don’t like to be fooled

For Inception - a 2010 thriller film, Warner Bros. spent $100 million marketing the film but unlike most films which are adaptations or sequels, Inception was a totally original property. Sue Kroll, the president of Warner's worldwide marketing said the company believed it could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a brand" as he made great movies in the past. Shequoted that "We don't have the brand equity that usually drives a big summer opening, but we have a great cast and a fresh idea from a filmmaker with a track record of making incredible movies. If you can't make those elements work, it's a sad day."


The studio tried to maintain a campaign of secrecy while at the same time trying to build a fan base for the film so they decided on asocial network marketingcampaign. They made a first teaser trailer that was released in August 2009; the film's official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In December that same year, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game Mind Crime which after you completed reveals a poster. Then it also received a stage 2 with more resources, including a hidden trailer for the movie.
The rest of the campaign unrolled after WonderCon in April 2010, where Warner Bros. gave away promotional T-shirts featuring the PASIV briefcase used to create the dream space, and had a QR code linking to an online manual of the device. More pieces of the social network marketing began to surface before Inception's release, such as a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to Wired magazine and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and strange websites all related to the film.Warner also released an online prequel comic, Inception: The Cobol Job.

The official trailer released on May 10, 2010, it featured an original piece of music, "Mind Heist", by marketing composer Zack Hemsey, rather than music from the score.The trailer quickly had numerous mashups and remixes by copying its style, both by amateurs on sites like YouTubeand by professionals on sites such as CollegeHumor. On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes feature on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies before going onto YouTube. YouTube also released clips of the film to get taste of what you expect to see in the film.





For Marvel Comics movie Thor, the studios first drew attention by putting an extra scene in the post credits showing Thor’s hammer in a huge desert found S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent (played by Clark Gregg). Rick Marshall of MTV News at the time believed it to be the weapon Mjöllnir belonging to Thor, writing, "It continues the grand tradition of connecting the film to another property in development around the Marvel movie universe.

In the DVD release it was stated that the scene was actually shot on the set of Thor, and that "this is a scene from Thor”.

In July 2010 Marvel Studios held a Thor panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International during which Kenneth Branagh and Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston, and Clark Gregg discussed the film and showed some clips from it – a few days later though, this footage was leaked on the internet. The first television advertisement was broadcast during Super Bowl XLV on the FOX network in the United States. The rate for advertising during the game was approximately USD$3 million per 30-second spot.

Marvel Studios and Acura launched a joint viral marketing promotion at the 2011 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo by putting an S.H.E.I.L.D desk in order to draw attention to the movie and make a fan base.

Other official promotional partners included Burger King, Dr. Pepper, 7 Eleven, and Visa. In May 2011 Marvel Entertainment's President of Print, Animation and Digital, Dan Buckley, and Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief, Axel Alonso, rang the NYSE closing bell in celebration of the theatrical release of Thor.

A video game titled Thor: God of Thunder based on the film was developed by Sega using the voices of actors Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) who were originally in the film and was released on May 3, 2011. Overall they used this film to build up to the release of Avengers Assemble that is to be released in 2012.