A2 Media Coursework

1. A2 Media Coursework Diary
Jack Stuchbury

2. Case study of Avatar
marketing campaign
Avatar became the highest grossing film of all time in 2009 when it registered Box
Office profits in excess of two and a half billion dollars. The film made use of new
market space to advertise in social media and created an interactive product that had:
• 1,300,000 fans on Facebook
• 800,000 friends on MySpace
• 25,000 followers on twitter.
• 11,000,000 views on YouTube
• 1,000,000 photo views on Flickr
The films use of social media was phenomenally successful and helped create an
Avatar brand with a community created that could interact with each other about the
product and feel more involved. Social media is largely used by young people which
inhibits older consumers from elements of the overall product that Avatar offered
however the majority of cinema-goers are in the teenage to young adult age
demographic therefore Avatar succeeded in effective marketing on this front.

3. Case study of Avatar
marketing campaign
Avatar was dissimilar to other films released in that same year. This can be
seen in Box Office figures from the year 2009 which show Avatar nearly
doubled the nearest competitors overall gross profit. The films producers
clearly understood consumer concerns over the levels of enjoyment a
cinema experience involves and issues with interactivity with the film as a
product.
The film was the first film to dedicate large amounts of money to a 3D film
product with £237 million spent on creating a beautiful cinematic
experience which made it one of the highest film budgets of all time. With
all the colours involved in the world of Pandora, the 3D element of cinema
became a marketing point. The film would offer a visual experience and
interactivity that audiences had never seen before.

4. Case study of Avatar
marketing campaign
Avatar used an interactive website named
Pandorapedea containing character bios and a
fan made wiki of information.
Avatar also had an interactive trailer that
had integrated links to social media along
with 11 points of interactions that
provides viewers with access to character
information. The trailer allowed for a
more exciting and fluid experience and
an option to purchase tickets at the end
of the trailer

5. Analysis of Teaser trailers
PULP FICTION- http://youtu.be/m_Arvus_5wg
• Action scenes - help audience understanding of genre. (thriller)
• Titles, ‘Miramax Films’. (film producer), ‘A film by Quintin Tarantino’, ‘Pulp
Fiction’ ‘Panavision, Dolby Digital, Sony Vegas + Miramax’
• Fast paced music to excite audience.
• Shot transitions consist of simple quick
• cuts to excite audience
• Shot of syringe, signifies a drugs themed plot to
• the film.
• Shots of more violence and sexual suggestion.
• establishes themes and genre.
• Actors (Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta)
• used as a selling point for the film.

6. Rush Hour 2 -
http://youtu.be/LzJEMPM08jU
• Shows relationship between two characters.
• Establishing shots of the films setting (China)
• Shots of action, bright lights, explosions and fighting establish the action
side of the genre to audience
• Shots of relationship between the two characters aids the establishment
of the comedy side of genre to the audience.
• Music used to create atmosphere
• Exciting use of colour to excite audience.
• Sound bridge used
• Quick cuts
• Titles - ‘New Line Cinema’ (production company),
‘Chris Tucker’ followed by shot of actor in cart’,
‘Jackie Chan’ followed by shot of actor kicking out,
‘Rush Hour 2’ and ‘See you this summer’ cut to link
to website ‘www.rushhour2.com’

7. Analysis of magazine front covers
Main Image
Magazine
Name, Masthea
Coverline in d
box Actor used as
unique selling
point
Coverlines on
Barcode with
film products
price and issue
number
Screamer,
attention
Coverlines grabbing
mentioning
features

8. Analysis of magazine front covers
Magazine Film products
name, Mast used as selling
head points in
coverline
Coverline
Coverlines
Main image
Screamer
Barcode and Issue
number

9. Analysis of film posters
Actors/ Actresses
used as a unique
selling point Strapline with title
of film
Tagline (slogan)
Image of Actors/
actresses
Release date
Billing block

10. Analysis of film posters
Tagline (slogan)
Image of protagonist
Danny Trejo is used as a
Strapline with title unique selling point of
of film film
Production company.
Billing block

11. Planning for film poster
From looking at the posters of films with a
similar genre and general primary research I
discovered that film posters consistently had
the following:
• Shot of character/ characters.
Costume, props and body language to aid
identification of genre.
• A slogan
• Actor’s/ Actresses used as a selling point
• Film title in recognisable font to aid
branding.
• Billing block
• Release date
• Production company information
I also want to include links to a Facebook page
and website.
Based on this information I designed a draft film
poster that I would produce at a later date using
Microsoft Publisher and a digital camera.

12. Planning for Magazine front cover
From looking at magazine front covers
I discovered that they consistently
had the following conventions that
I would use:
• Masthead with magazine title
name
• One image of focus related to
strapline
• A number of coverlines giving a
brief idea of stories inside
• Barcode and issue number
I decided I would also have a coverline
in a circular box with an additional
feature to draw attention.

13. Primary research
My primary research survey will consist of the questions to
establish the following demographics:
Age
Preference of film genre
Similar products consumed
Preference to action/ comedy genre
Gender
In education or not.
British Citizen or not
Income
Cine-literacy

14. Primary research results
The following slides are a display of my primary
research results using pie charts. They will convey
the answers given to me by a group of 14 people
chosen at random to help establish what the target
audience for my action-comedy product should be.
Age
15-17
The average person that I interviewed
18-21
was under between the age of 18-25. I
22-25 believe this will be the best target
26-30 audience to aim for.
31-35
36-40

15. Primary research results
Gender
8 of my participants were male and 6
Male were female. Therefore I believe my
product should be predominately
Female
aimed at males.
Occupation 9 of my participants are in education
while another 5 were in education and
had employment. 2 participants were
In education in full time work and none were
Working unemployed. From this I can take that
Both my product should be aimed at the
lower end of the jicnar scale and mostly
Unemployed
at students as this group also proved
favourable to the action-comedy genre.

16. Primary research results
Income
5 of my participants had no income and
None another 5 had little income. 4 participants
Little had and adequate income and the other 2
had a comfortable income. Therefore I can
Adequate deduce that my audience will be on levels
Comfortable C1, C2, D and E of the Jicnar scale
British Citizen
All 14 participants in my primary research
Yes classed themselves as British Citizens.
Therefore I can deduce that my target
No
audience will be British citizens.

17. Primary Research results
Favourabilty to Action-Comedy
Genre 9 of my participants were favourable to
the action-comedy genre while another 4
were passive and had no opinion of the
Favourable genre. Only 1 participant did not like the
Passive action-comedy genre. The ones that were
unfavourable or passive were older
Unfavourable
participants thus I deduce my product
should be aimed at 18-25 year olds
Cine-literate
12 of my participants considered
themselves cine-literate while only 2 did
Yes not think that they were cine-literate. Thus I
No can deduce that my target audience will be
cini-literate.

18. Primary Research results
This chart shows the number of
participants that had seen a
number of action-comedy genre
14 Sean of the films. I picked Zombieland and
12 Dead Pineapple Express as they are less
Pineapple well known. I wished to prove
10
Express that the action-comedy genre was
8
Hot Fuzz popular among the age brackets
6
of 18-25 and the results have
4 Zombieland proved that. The only anomalies
2 were largely those of older
0 Charlie's participants. This justifies picking
Angels the action-comedy genre as it is
Participants
well known among people of the
18-25 year age group that will
give me feedback at a later stage
in this project.

19. Secondary Research
This chart taken from the UK Film Council
research into audiences illustrates that
Action and comedy genres are very
popular so would definitely make the
action-comedy genre a good choice to get
feedback on as my audience will most
likely be aware of the conventions of the
genre.

20. Secondary Research
• This chart from UK Film Council research into
audiences displays the fact that comedy
genres are very popular among males and
females however action films are more
popular among men. I believe this means I
should target my film at a male audience due
to the conventions of the action genre I plan
to use in my trailer

21. Target Audience
I examined existing films of similar genre such as ‘Pineapple Express’ and
‘Men Who stare at Goats’ to get an idea for what my target audience
would be as well as combining this with my primary and secondary
research.
I decided that my hypothetical audience member would have the following
demographics:
• Male
• 18-25
• Educated/ in education
• Jicnar scale of betwenn C1 and E.
• British
• Cini-literate

22. Prop list
• I will use a multipack of crisps for comic effect in my teaser trailer with the
protagonists addiction to crisps key to the narrative.
• I will use a replica gun. This will help the audience understand the
narrative in the trailer in which the protagonist chases someone down and
shoots them. This prop will also contribute to the audience’s
understanding of the genre and deciding whether or not they would like to
see the film.
• I will use a mobile phone to illustrate the importance of a phone call in
trailer to the narrative previously discussed.
• I will use a car to help establish the genre and help the audience
understand the character.
• A number of objects will be punched in the trailer which are purely part of
the trailers narrative.

23. Location Scout
• There is a disused railway path that I explored has plenty of varied locations for
different shots.
• There is a bridge that offers a great deal of opportunity for camera movement for a
shot of the protagonist of my trailer to run across. Underneath this bridge there is a
brick wall covered in graffiti that I can get a more intimate shot of my protagonist on
the phone. The location fits in with the action/ comedy genre and traits of my
character.
•There is an alleyway a short distance away
that presents the opportunity to film a
montage of punches that also contains much
graffiti which will aid the trailer for the same
reasons. This is near a risen platform that offers
an opportunity to film another part of this
montage.
•A shot of the protagonist in bed with a
number of props key to the narrative of the
trailer can be filmed in my bedroom.
•I have an issue in that I do not drive and need
a car in my trailer however this can be resolved
by using the road parallel to the college to film
a car and applying a sound effect and speeding
up the clip to create the correct effect.

24. Costume design
My protagonist will wear casual clothes in keeping with
the comedy side of the genre. The on screen action
will aid the audiences understanding of the action that
takes place in the trailer.
Sean will wear a striped cardigan with a plain top
underneath and jeans. He will wear a flat peaked
baseball cap synonymous with gang culture so the
audience realise the connections he may have with that
culture although on the hat are the words ‘X-MEN’ which was a comic book series to show
a childlike vulnerability the character.
In the photo for the film poster Sean will wear a full suit for promotional purposes with
sunglasses and a cheesy facial expression. A smart look is essential when promoting a
product and so it is necessary to smarten up for the photo. The cheesy grin counteracts the
smart attire.
I will wear a flat cap and plain top for the magazine front cover while smoking a cigarrete
and drinking port and pointing. This is to give the look of a bossy arty type of character as
my character is that of both and actor and director. The body language in the shot should
invoke some curiosity when mixed with the accompanying headline

25. Casting
My brother Sean will aid me
in terms of actors. He is of
the age of the protagonist I
created for my teaser trailer.
The character will aid audience appeal to the trailer
through the way that young
audiences relate to characters
of similar ages. He has
experience of performance from studying drama
which makes him ideal. I plan to take photos of him
that I can use for my film poster. I will pose for the
magazine front as actor/ director of the film.

26. Risk Assessment
• A shot that will take place next to the road
parallel to the college will mean that I have to be
aware of passers by and endangering them as
well as myself and the equipment in light of the
busy traffic.
• The shots filmed around the disused railway path
will mean that I have to be careful of the uneven
terrain in possession of the equipment. I must
also look out for dangers to pedestrians who use
the area as a result of my filming process.

27. Storyboard

28. Audience Feedback
My class spent a lesson watching the trailers that we produced and then completed and
audience feedback sheet to determine information about the trailer. The following slides
document the results of this primary research. 13 people took part in my research..
Genre of teaser trailer
92% of the participants in my
Action Comedy audience feedback understood that
Comedy the intended genre was action
Drama comedy. The remaining 8% believed
Horror it was a comedy. I deem the
Romance conventions used in a trailer a
Adventure success as the audience was able to
Fantasy successfully identify the genre of my
trailer.

29. Audience Feedback
Action Comedy genre 92% of the participants in my audience
feedback were favorable towards the action
comedy genre thus having a good
knowledge of what to expect from the
Favourable genre and only 8% were not. This shows
further success of the establishment of
genre within the trailer as the majority of
Unfavourable
the audience recognised the intended genre
and the majority understood the
conventions of that genre well.

30. Audience Feedback
Enjoyment of trailer
100% of my participants enjoyed the trailer. I
Yes take this as a success. The trailer made the
No audience laugh as expected and I believe a
large factor in this particular result was the
success of the of props and sound effects
fulfilling the forms and conventions .

31. Audience Feedback
100% of my participants found the trailer
amusing therefore I presume that it
fulfilled the conventions of an action/
Was the trailer funny? comedy trailer.
Yes
No

32. Audience Feedback
Memorable
100% of my feedback participants said
Yes that they would remember the film if
they had seen the trailer which I deem to
No be a success of the trailer.
Would you watch the film?
100% of my feedback participants also
said that they would watch the full film
Yes after seeing the trailer which also shows
No the success of the trailer in exciting the
audience and inspiring curiosity in the
product.

33. Audience Feedback
Levels of excitement I asked my participants about their levels of
excitement while watching the trailer.
Six Higher scores represented excitement and
low scores represented boredom. All
Seven participants gave a score of 6 or above with
Eight 84% giving the trailer a score of 8 or above
Nine which I deem to be a success. I managed to
excite my audience which fulfills
Ten
expectations of an action/ comedy film
trailer.

34. Audience Feedback
My participants again gave me positive
results for their level of understanding
Level of understanding while watching my trailer. I asked them
to give me a rating out of ten with low
scores representing low levels of
Six understanding and high scores
Seven representing high levels of
understanding. 61% of participants gave
Eight the trailer a rating of eight or below. This
Nine means that 39% gave the trailer a score
Ten of seven or below which could do with
improving. To ammend this I may target
my titles more effectively by changing
the text.

35. Evaluation
• Question 1 – http://youtu.be/9kaoz5I6NdQ
• Question 2 – http://youtu.be/1UfmXfFj26I
• Question 3 – http://youtu.be/dTCG0b6tSXk
• Question 4 – http://youtu.be/umK4IQhLBCI

36. Link to final teaser trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
jcQUTuZfEk

37. Final film poster
Amusing Protagonist
Tagline of trailer.
congruous Costume
to and prop
narrative show genre
Strapline
Release
date
Billing
Production
block
company

38. Final Magazine Front Cover
Masthead with
date and Issue
Screamer in
box Screamer
Main
Coverline
Main Image
Coverlines
Coverline Barcode