A2 MEDIA - TEXT, INDUSTRY AND AUDIENCE



AS MEDIA - Marketing

Case Study – Straight Outta Compton

Revision Booklet

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Director – F. Gary Gray

Producers (include) – Ice Cube, Dr Dre

Production Company – Legendary Pictures

Released in USA – 11th August 2015

Released in Britain – 28th August 2015

Production budget - $50 million

Worldwide box office (cinema ticket sales) - $202 million

USA Blu-Ray and DVD sales (to date) - $29 million

Academy Award (Oscar) nomination – Best Original Screenplay

Difference between ‘Marketing and Advertising

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So, essentially, MARKETING is the overall process of promoting a product; ADVERTISING is one aspect of that process

TASK 1

What methods of film marketing are there? Consider ‘above the line’ methods (traditional marketing and advertising aimed at a wide audience) and ‘below the line’ (e.g. social media, audience-produced content, events, viral marketing aimed at a specific audience)

ABOVE THE LINE

BELOW THE LINE

Trailers

WATCH: the Red Band (explicit language) and Green Band (less explicit) trailers for the film

Compare both of them and consider why two versions were released. Are there different audiences being targeted by each trailer?

Production context

Bio-pic (short for biography picture) of NWA (acronym for Niggarz wit Attitude)

Who are they? Notorious and controversial gangsta rap/hip hop band, 1986-1991

Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Universal Pictures – both important players in the American film industry

Huge commercial and critical success

Highest grossing (money made) music bio-pic of all time

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Oscars)

Co-produced by two members of the original band – Ice Cub and Dr Dre

Historical and Social context

Set in California in the mid-1980s

Time of social upheaval in America, and California in particular, caused by racial conflict and race riots

NWA seen as being at the forefront for social change through advocating freedom of speech and empowering the black community in urban America

WATCH: six minute video on background to the Los Angeles riots of 1992

Economic and Political Context

Two high profile members of the band co-produced film - Ice Cube and Dr Dre - which may have helped in getting funding for the film.

This may also have given a different representation of events in the film to what historically happened – some critics suggested that these events – particularly around violence associated with the band – were ‘sanitised’.

Ownership and Control

Key words:

Conglomerate ownership – a media group, or media institution that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet.

Vertical Integration - when a company has control over several production or distribution steps involved in the creation of its product or service. In film this would be a company which owns all the various stages of production and distribution through the acquirement of other companies

Diversification – whereby a media company who produces a wide range of different texts to widen appeal

Distribution – the process of getting the completed film to the intended audience through screenings at cinemas, television, home purchase (DVD/Blu ray), mobile technology. Accompanied with a connected advertising/marketing campaign

Produced by Legendary Pictures in partnership with Universal Pictures who distributed the film to cinemas and home markets, such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs

Universal are, in turn, owned by a bigger media group, NBC Universal

Who are owned by Comcast,

the largest broadcasting and

TV company in the world by

revenue (money made)

Ownership and control

Produced by a successful film company (Legendary Pictures) and distributed by a major vertically integrated film studio (Universal Pictures), which is part of large media conglomerates (NBC Universal and then larger still, Comcast)

This is significant for three reasons:

Getting funding for the film

Cross-media promotion (e.g. social media, soundtracks, merchandising, TV etc.) as NBC Universal and Comcast own and control so much

Global audience – large companies can reach large numbers of people due to finances and services owned

TASK 2

Research other film releases from Legendary Pictures. List at least five films made in the past eleven years (2007 to present), identifying why these films might be popular with audiences and how much money each one made at the box office. Use the Wikipedia link on Moodle to help you.

Distribution

Straight Outta Compton would be considered a mainstream ‘Hollywood’ film, due to being produced by an established company – Legendary Pictures – and distributed by a large and successful company – Universal Pictures.

This will mean that the financial power to get the film into as many cinema screens as possible is important, and to raise awareness of the film through a connected marketing campaign.

The distribution process would then continue through to other media platforms, such as television, digital technology (official downloads) and home consumption (DVD, Blu Ray etc.

Political

NWA were notorious for being anti-establishment and glorifying gun violence. Some of their most controversial songs have been about drugs, prostitution, violence and the lifestyle of crime.

The film trailer and most marketing materials does not make any explicit reference to this, possibly to conform to the certificate rating for the film (see ‘Regulation’) and not to alienate a potential audience

Audience

Potential audiences for the film might include:

Fans of the group – these might be ‘old school’ fans who may have lived through the time period set in the film (mid-to late 1980s); and younger fans who are attracted retrospectively to the cultural significance of the group and the times in which the film is set

Fans of rap/gangsta rap – these might be predominantly American, but the film and musical genre has global appeal; they might also live in city environments and who share similar experiences; they may also identify with the lifestyle and music

Fans of bio-pic and music films

In addition - fans of the group/rap – may be attracted to the scenes of making music and performance

Wider secondary audience – perhaps attracted by the social/cultural/political history of the period

Conventions of Marketing

Trailer

The trailer for Straight Outta Compton can be found on Moodle in the relevant folder, or found here on YouTube -

Includes:-

Green band rating card with American certification

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Production company logos to aid status and reputation

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Uses of intertitles

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Trailer conventions (continued)

Links to social media and website (leads to more marketing opportunities)

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Use of music – iconic tunes associated with the band

Condensing film to show important and memorable moments

Establishes expectation of narrative

Conventions not present

No traditional spoken voice-over

No specific release date (just ‘Coming Soon’)

Audience asked to identify with characters as ‘underdogs’, battling against authority

Star appeal – identification with real-life characters from the band

Film logo – the design is a direct reference3 to the Parent Advisory Notice found on some music releases. This reinforces social conventions of rebellion and challenging authority

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Regulation

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

Responsible for the national classification and censorship of films and subsequent release on DVD, Blu-ray and other physical media. Run by the film industry with no government involvement, they rate each film under an age classification:

[pic] – Suitable for all ages

[pic] - All ages admitted, but some certain scenes can be unsuitable for young children

[pic] - Films released before 2002 and suitable for an audience aged 12 or over.

[pic] - Films released after 2002, children under the age of 12 only permitted with an adult aged 18 or over. May contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate language, moderate violence, sex references and nudity.

[pic] - Films suitable for an audience of 15 or over. May contain adult themes, hard drugs, (frequent) strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail.

[pic] - Films suitable only for people aged 18 or older, which means adults only. Films under this category do not have limitation on the foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed.

Regulation (continued)

Straight Outta Compton was given a ‘15’ certificate by the BBFC. There is a link on Moodle to the classification of the film by the BBFC, outlining the specific reasons for giving it a ‘15’ certificate.

Later, an extended version of the film and a director’s cut video release were both rated as 18 certificates due to violence, sex, drug references and strong language.

This area will fit in with Livingstone and Lunt’s theory of Media Regulation in that UK regulation policy sometimes struggles with the notion that the BBFC, for example, offers some protection from harmful or offensive material, and the need to ensure there is choice for the audience and producers alike.

Global distribution

Outside of Britain and America, there were different ratings for different countries, depending on ideology of different censors.

There is a vital importance of age ratings to producers and distributors to targeting an audience. A ‘15’ certificate audience is more likely to gain a bigger audience than an ‘18’ certificate, resulting in more potential economic profit

Digitally Convergent Platforms

Digital Media Convergence – the ability for media producers to make varied media content available through the same device; e,g. being able to watch films and play games through a mobile phone, or accessing the internet and social media through a games console etc.

Media Platform – the way through which a media product can be accessed, e.g. cinema, smart TV, mobile device, DAB radio, games console etc.

TASK 3

Where and how is film marketing most likely consumed by audiences?

Identify at least FOUR digital media platforms which can be used to promote a new film

1

2

3

4

In what ways can an audience be active with regards to using digital platforms/social media with regards to film marketing products? As examples of this it might be having the ability to comment on posters or trailers, or collecting various pieces of merchandise associated with a particular film (think how various food companies associate themselves with the promotion of particular films).

Releases of trailers

First trailer – 8th February 2015: contained the ‘red band’ certificate for ‘restricted nature’ of content. Aim was to give only minimal information to gain audience anticipation.

Second trailer – 1st April 2015: used before the screening of Furious 7, produced by Universal Pictures. This allowed Straight Outta Compton to benefit from vertical integration (having a connection to Universal), and trailered before a more mainstream film. This would give the film potentially a wider audience appeal.

For more information on this read the link on Moodle: Why Universal Teased 'Straight Outta Compton' With 'Furious 7' Instead Of 'Jurassic World'



Universal also released different trailers on Facebook, according to the audience’s ethnicity and race.

For more information on this read the links on Moodle: ‘Straight Outta Compton’ had different trailers for people of different races and Backlash to Universal’s ‘racial profiling’ on Facebook

Viral Marketing

A method of marketing whereby consumers are encouraged to share information about a company's goods or services via the Internet or other platforms

7th August 2015 – ‘Beats by Dre’ company launched an app allowing users to upload their photos and locations to a website

Over six million users downloaded the app and hits on the website before the opening day

Economic

Big hip hop/rap fan base offsets economic risk; in other words, there are enough fans of the music and the group to make this a potentially popular film and to make a profit for the production company

This will fit in with David Hesmondhalgh’s Cultural Industries theory, in that the Hollywood film industry bases its success on profit and has clear formulas through different genres of producing that profit. With a biopic, such as Straight Outta Compton, the cultural significance of the story clearly contributes to this. The film has a very low risk for the producers due to the success of the band members in their own right and the pre-sold audience for the product and the genre of musical biopic

Previous hip hop bio-pics/dramas have been successful, and it would be expected that Straight Outta Compton would follow suit. These would include:

8 Mile (2002) – based on the early life of rapper Eminem

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005) – loosely based on the life of gangsta rapper, 50 Cent

Notorious (2009) – bio-pic of the life and death of gangsta rapper, The Notorious B.I G

The bio-pic of Tupac Shakur, the rapper shot dead in 1996, All Eyez on Me was released in 2017, following the success of Straight Outta Compton

The soundtrack to the film was financially successful and released through Universal Music Enterprises (another example of vertical integration)

KEY MEDIA TERMS REFERENCED

AUDIENCE – target, global, positioning, can use Uses and Gratifications theory and Reception Analysis

MARKETING – trailer, soundtrack, viral

CONGLOMERATE OWNERSHIP

VERTICAL INTEGRATION

DIVERSIFICATION

CROSS-MEDIA PROMOTION

IDEOLOGY – linked to representation and narrative of the band, and ideology of the production company

REGULATION

DIGITAL CONVERGENT PLATFORMS

MEDIA CONVERGENCE

LINKS ON MOODLE

Overview of the 1992 Los Angeles riots (after NWA, but reflects the neighbourhood of Compton and surrounding areas)

‘Straight Outta Somewhere’ – viral marketing technique

Trailers released by Universal on Facebook for black and white audiences

Backlash against Universal’s decision for the Facebook trailers

‘Five reasons why the campaign was marketing genius’

Campaign success at Social Media awards

Dr Dre’s ‘Beats Headphones’ marketing

Create your own ‘Straight Outta…’ meme

Releasing the trailer with ‘Furious 7’

Opening sequence

The ‘Bus sequence’

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