Essay 2

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media area you have studied.

Star Wars the Force Awakens and Ex Machina were distributed and marketed in very contrasting ways to each other due to different budgets and distribution companies. Their popularity was based upon how much marketing was done and how well recognised the film is due to this. Through marketing, each film is aimed at a different audience type and this is shown through their certificate and popularity.

Digital technology is very important to how a film is marketed and distributed and can influence a lot of people’s ideas and opinions surrounding the films. In this generation, the way that a film can be recognised is through how often it is shown and used on social media websites and through online sources such as YouTube. It also widens the availability for people to be able to view the film or watch teasers and trailers to enhance the film and raise awareness of the product. Star Wars the Force Awakens is a 12 certificate and would be classed as a mainstream film compared to Ex Machina being a 15 certificated film and being a niche film. My point of view is that marketing through digital technologies is one of the most important factors to marketing a film and enhancing its popularity. It is the best way to get people of all ages to recognise and show an interest in a film that they may not have considered before. Star Wars the Force Awakens was marketed in the best ways and Disney used their popularity to their advantage.

With this company being a conglomerate they have many people involved that can help the film reach different audiences and they can also use their different technological advances to spread the word more effectively and create word of mouth in a more outstretched way. It takes a lot for people to go to a cinema to watch a film now when it is made available in more formats. This would mean that marketing would need to be at its best and well stretched to ensure that people are aware of this film. Disney did this for Star Wars, as they had a budget of $306 million, so they used adverts, twitter, Facebook, snapchat, websites and YouTube videos of teasers and trailers to draw people into their new film. This then caused the film to be more widely recognised. In comparison to Ex Machina, which only had a budget of $15 million, so they didn’t have all the advances that they needed. This then led them to therefore only using one type of social media, Tinder. This did help the film to be recognised but its popularity remains very low compared to Star Wars the Force Awakens.

Each film used very different technologies to distribute their film as they both have a very large different in expenses. They both used cinema adverts but to different extremes. Star Wars the Force Awakens had numerous adverts shown over many different films being shown whereas, due to the budget, Ex Machina struggled to get their advert shown before many films. This meant that people were unaware of when the film was to be released and what the film entailed. Many people who have seen the film Ex Machina and have done reviews on the film have explained how they may have only seen the advert in the cinema once compared to other people saying that they had seen Star Wars quite often. Star Wars also used TV adverts better and to their advantage a lot more as their trailer was constantly played in adverts of many popular TV programmes such as soaps and big films on TV channels such as Channel 4 and Film4. With the trailer being shown numerous times, it showed that people then recognised the advert and became aware of when and where the film would be shown. Ex Machina was not as well populated in this field of marketing as there were hardly any adverts shown on TV so they missed their peak time of being recognised when big TV shows were on. This would have caused a big loss for the film as this is a main way of marketing for a film as in this generation almost everyone sits down and watches TV at night so this would be the most populated way to market a film. If the budget was a fraction larger and TV adverts were considered more excessively then their population could have been much higher. There are also new social networks and technologies that are used by nearly everyone with a smart phone such as: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and even Tinder, which was a very popular dating app at the start of 2016. Most things on the internet nowadays are recognised by social media and nearly everything that is in need of promoting is on a type of social media.

When it comes to film, online interviews and teasers and trailers are a great way at seeing the film from a cast member’s point of view and also having an insight into what the film entails. This would be useful for people who may be considering going to watch a film and want to know spoilers or extra so that their enjoyment of the film could be improved. Digital use is a very important aspect of engaging with an audience nowadays as the quality is outstanding and it can be done on memory cards which are very easy to distribute to cinemas and companies that would then show the film in other formats. Tinder was also used very well by the film Ex Machina. This is an unusual way for a film to be promoted but it was a very successful way and proved to have a positive effect on the films population. SXSW (South by South West) is a film festival that can include conferences. It can be used to inform people about up and coming films or festivals and can involve questions and answers about a film with Producers, Directors and actors.

Both films used different techniques when marketing and distributing their films. Ex Machina needed an innovative marketing scheme as their budget was a very small one so that had little to work from. Whereas, Star Wars the Force Awakens had a very traditional marketing technique as they used all of the usual methods of adverts, billboards and social media. Both films used trailers and cast interviews. Ex Machina had fewer interviews as theirs only consisted of Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander and the Director, Alex Garland. This was because the film was not seen as important because it wasn’t a mainstream film and all interviewers and chat show presenters would want to talk to film producers and actors form big name films. Star Wars however was shown on many chat shows such as: Graham Norton Show, ABC news shows and the Ellen show, each one of these shows are popular in their own demand and in different counties and communities. All of these chat shows have very high viewing rates so therefore this interview would have been watched by many different audiences and raised a lot of awareness about this film. Social media was also used a lot, in a huge contrast, to each other. Star Wars used a range of social medias such as: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram.

They had their trailers and other videos such as teasers posted onto Facebook and pages were created by fans about the film with videos and spoilers posted on there and this became well known through people sharing and liking each photo and video that was shared. They also used Twitter by creating a hashtag for Star Wars the Force Awakens and yet again posting all of their videos and information on these pages too. Another way that they sued social media was through snapchat and this was done by them having their own snapchat filter that people could then put on their faces and show to their friends. By one individual sending this Snapchat to another or placing it on their story, they are instantly sharing the awareness and could convince someone to go and see the film with them. This then increases profit and would introduce new people to the film. Ex Machina on the other hand, didn’t use as much social media as it wasn’t all accessible. They used Facebook and Tinder. A page was created on Facebook which their trailers and interviews, as well as teasers, were placed on, and they also shared images and spoilers, as Star Wars did. This is again, a very popular technique to use and is a brilliant way of distributing their film to different audiences.

Tinder was also a very extravagant way that they used social media. They created a profile for Ava and their computer aided system started a conversation with people that matched themselves with Ava. They would keep asking very intriguing questions so that they draw their audience in. When each “person” then feels as though they have fully connected they are asked where they can meet and named somewhere that Ava would really like. This would then lead onto a message saying whether they were successful in their “test” and transfer them to their Ex Machina site. This would then make someone intrigued so they would therefore search the page and research the film further. This could then maybe influence someone to go and see the film as they have associated themselves with the character and understood what the plan of the film and the character would be. Above the line and below the line marketing was used for both films as they each took different methods from different sides to distribute their films. This is a positive and effective way for the film to be distributed. They both used online and TV adverts which are above the line and they both used social media which is below the line. This is a diverse way of marketing and does show how each distribution company for the films differs as they used numerous different types of marketing techniques between the two of them.

The way that people are able to view films in this generation differs a lot compared to 20 years ago when certain technologies weren’t invented. Ex Machina was released in cinemas on January 21^st 2015 and on their opening weekend they made $5,349,500 and it was shown on 1,255 screens in the USA. They had a steady opening weekend but the production company would have expected a lot better from the film. Compared to Star Wars, this was a minor profit as they made $529 million in their opening weekend. Star Wars the Force Awakens was released in cinemas on the 17^th December 2015. From the first day, this film was extremely popular and thoroughly enjoyed by many different types of audience members. This ranged from older adults who would have watched the first Star Wars films to younger teenagers who have been brought up around Star Wars and are huge fans. Ex Machina was then released on both Blu-ray and DVD, similar to Star Wars the Force Awakens, but retailed at a much smaller price than Star Wars. On amazon, Ex Machina retails at £3-£4, and was released on July 14^th 2015, whereas Star Wars the Force Awakens retails at £9-£10 and was released on 5^th April 2016. Blu-ray DVD is also very similar as Ex Machina retails at £4-£5 and was released on 1^st June 2015 and Star Wars the Force Awakens retails at £14-£15 and was released on 18^th April 2016. The difference in price can also show popularity as people aren’t willing to pay more than £5 on Ex Machina because it wasn’t as expected yet because of popularity and special effects involved, Star Wars retails higher as people are willing to pay that little extra. Both films are also available on Google play and YouTube and can also be sold through YouTube. Neither films are available yet on Netflix but Star Wars is available on Amazon Prime and is very popular through this was of consuming the product. Unfortunately, for big film companies, piracy is a big problem for their films as people are now able to illegally download and watch films without having paid. This impacts the film’s profit massively as they aren’t receiving as much money as they could. Putlocker is the main website that is very popular and used by many people. These films can both be shown on this website.

Overall, I feel that digital technologies are a very vital role when marketing products. It played a vital part for Ex Machin as the way they used their budget for digital technologies was very imaginative and efficient. Star Wars didn’t need as much marketing as it is already a well-recognised film but through the excessive marketing they did, through technology, the film took a large profit and exceeded all expectations.