Lyzsi SinclairHollywood and "The Great Marketing Death"...
Sitting in the cinema waiting for a film to start, there’s nothing I like more than watching trailers for what’s to come. Even reading a magazine or walking down the street, I enjoy seeing the billboard and paper advertising luring me to go to the cinema - and step inside the world that those directors have created. However, of late I have experienced far too much disappointment in that respect and it lead me to question: What exactly is going on with the marketing for film and cinema?!
A trailer has always been a sure-fire way to draw people in to see your movie. Whether it’s a teaser trailer doing the viral rounds, an extended trailer in the cinema, or one cut down for television; their purpose is to get as many people to come see the film as possible. Of course with a bigger budget film, there’s more room to have longer trailers – or just ones shown more often. Something marketing executives seem to lack though is the “less is more” route. Yes an audience do want to see something funny, or scary, or action-packed to draw them in. Yes we do want it shown a fair few times to remind us that the film in question is the one we absolutely MUST see. But NO, we do not want to see the film’s best lines ruined, biggest jumps spoiled, or loads of different trailers - that if we put them together - make-up the entire film.
You see I think it’s an incredibly fine line to walk along. You want people to be talking about your movie; but at the same time a sense of privacy should also be kept. By privacy, I’m referring to not showing everything that is good about the film to an audience, before they go. They want to be excited about what’s to come, not thinking: “I shan’t bother going, because really I already know what’s going to happen.”
Then we come to those trailers that portray a film in a certain way – something I’m finding seems to appear more with horror and thriller films at the moment. Two recent examples I can immediately think of are “The Last Exorcism” and “Devil”. With “Devil”, the current advertising campaign shows it as something terrifying – a film that will leave you sleepless for a long while and with a fear of lifts. Coming out of the screen after the film had ended, I overheard more than a few people complain of the overall “lameness” of the film; and how they felt had been let down. Surely a film should be a million times better than the trailer suggested, and not the other way around?
With “The Last Exorcism”, the marketing campaign was fabulous. The posters were creepy and laced with terror. Then there was the brilliant viral marketing campaign which took place on Chatroulette.com. Using a social media site that brings strangers together to video-call each other, the film’s advertising men and women had placed their own clips on the site to be played out to unsuspecting victims. Just as a group of boys thought they were talking to a girl who might ‘show them the goodies’ (for want of a better phrase), she became demonic, loomed at the camera, and gave them all a terrifying fright.
After that people began posting their reactions to the stunt (you can find a video of the best HERE), and all proved to be fantastic publicity for the film. Such a shame it then was that the film the trailers, posters and viral campaign were advertising, was NOT the film that people went on to see. There was no young possessed girl climbing up the walls like a crab backwards to the corner of the room as suggested in one of the posters - instead she simply sat on top of a wardrobe. Its things like that, that make me thoroughly annoyed.
Even celebrities are noticing this trend in marketing. In fact it was English comedian and television personality Rufus Hound that encouraged me to write this article. From his account on social networking site Twitter Friday night, he tweeted a simple review of the recent film "Cyrus" and said:
It's a small thing - one that doesn't end for the worst here - but marketing can really make or break the box office profits. Rufus Hound may have been intruiged by the trailers; but since they weren't showing the film in it's actual light, there could be hundreds of people out there who would enjoy the film - but are put-off by the trailer.
Something that worked well with film advertising and publicity - this year in particular - was the San Diego Comic Con. Hailed as “geek heaven”, hundreds of stars flocked there to talk up their films, and give everyone a sneak peek of the action. I much prefer the idea of seeing one snippet of a film to draw me in, than a montage of all the best bits. Another amazing piece of marketing during that weekend was the gargantuan poster for “Scott Pilgrim Vs The World"; something that adorned nearly the entire top half of the Hilton hotel. A still image; a simple poster; and a way of displaying it that got everyone’s attention. This was definitely a win for the advertising men.
As much as advance screenings, internet buzz and viral campaigns are a huge step in the right direction; things feel like they’re getting lazy on the trailer front. It’s almost as if the filmmakers and ad-men don’t have enough faith in their films. Instead, they chose to cut together the best bits, and paint the film as something (more-often-than-not) better than the finished film itself. It almost feels like sometimes Hollywood is losing confidence in itself – and that can never be a good thing.
I say be loud, be bold and be proud of the film you’ve produced. Get it out there, and get people talking. Twitter and Facebook more than ever have become valuable tools in marketing your product – and there’s a lot of people out there with ideas of things that can be done to gain those infamous ‘trending topics’ or Facebook ‘likes’. But all that falls to nothing, if the visual poster and trailer campaign fail to hit the mark…
Come on Hollywood sort it out! Or maybe it’s true, and there really has been a shameless, but great, Marketing Death…
Flix Out.
A trailer has always been a sure-fire way to draw people in to see your movie. Whether it’s a teaser trailer doing the viral rounds, an extended trailer in the cinema, or one cut down for television; their purpose is to get as many people to come see the film as possible. Of course with a bigger budget film, there’s more room to have longer trailers – or just ones shown more often. Something marketing executives seem to lack though is the “less is more” route. Yes an audience do want to see something funny, or scary, or action-packed to draw them in. Yes we do want it shown a fair few times to remind us that the film in question is the one we absolutely MUST see. But NO, we do not want to see the film’s best lines ruined, biggest jumps spoiled, or loads of different trailers - that if we put them together - make-up the entire film.
I find nothing better than getting to the cinema early to see the latest trailers on the big screen...
You see I think it’s an incredibly fine line to walk along. You want people to be talking about your movie; but at the same time a sense of privacy should also be kept. By privacy, I’m referring to not showing everything that is good about the film to an audience, before they go. They want to be excited about what’s to come, not thinking: “I shan’t bother going, because really I already know what’s going to happen.”
Then we come to those trailers that portray a film in a certain way – something I’m finding seems to appear more with horror and thriller films at the moment. Two recent examples I can immediately think of are “The Last Exorcism” and “Devil”. With “Devil”, the current advertising campaign shows it as something terrifying – a film that will leave you sleepless for a long while and with a fear of lifts. Coming out of the screen after the film had ended, I overheard more than a few people complain of the overall “lameness” of the film; and how they felt had been let down. Surely a film should be a million times better than the trailer suggested, and not the other way around?
The posters were strong, but the trailers for Devil were a lot scarier than the actual film...
With “The Last Exorcism”, the marketing campaign was fabulous. The posters were creepy and laced with terror. Then there was the brilliant viral marketing campaign which took place on Chatroulette.com. Using a social media site that brings strangers together to video-call each other, the film’s advertising men and women had placed their own clips on the site to be played out to unsuspecting victims. Just as a group of boys thought they were talking to a girl who might ‘show them the goodies’ (for want of a better phrase), she became demonic, loomed at the camera, and gave them all a terrifying fright.
There are a fair few reaction videos posted to this particular film viral campaign...
After that people began posting their reactions to the stunt (you can find a video of the best HERE), and all proved to be fantastic publicity for the film. Such a shame it then was that the film the trailers, posters and viral campaign were advertising, was NOT the film that people went on to see. There was no young possessed girl climbing up the walls like a crab backwards to the corner of the room as suggested in one of the posters - instead she simply sat on top of a wardrobe. Its things like that, that make me thoroughly annoyed.
Don't expect to see anything as creepy as this in the film...
Even celebrities are noticing this trend in marketing. In fact it was English comedian and television personality Rufus Hound that encouraged me to write this article. From his account on social networking site Twitter Friday night, he tweeted a simple review of the recent film "Cyrus" and said:
"Just watched Cyrus with @mrshound . Not the movie they're marketing it as, but really bloody good. 9/10"
It's a small thing - one that doesn't end for the worst here - but marketing can really make or break the box office profits. Rufus Hound may have been intruiged by the trailers; but since they weren't showing the film in it's actual light, there could be hundreds of people out there who would enjoy the film - but are put-off by the trailer.
Perhaps Cyrus is a film you might like to see, but the trailer makes it one to avoid...
Something that worked well with film advertising and publicity - this year in particular - was the San Diego Comic Con. Hailed as “geek heaven”, hundreds of stars flocked there to talk up their films, and give everyone a sneak peek of the action. I much prefer the idea of seeing one snippet of a film to draw me in, than a montage of all the best bits. Another amazing piece of marketing during that weekend was the gargantuan poster for “Scott Pilgrim Vs The World"; something that adorned nearly the entire top half of the Hilton hotel. A still image; a simple poster; and a way of displaying it that got everyone’s attention. This was definitely a win for the advertising men.
Such a brilliantly simple - yet effective - way to advertise a film...
As much as advance screenings, internet buzz and viral campaigns are a huge step in the right direction; things feel like they’re getting lazy on the trailer front. It’s almost as if the filmmakers and ad-men don’t have enough faith in their films. Instead, they chose to cut together the best bits, and paint the film as something (more-often-than-not) better than the finished film itself. It almost feels like sometimes Hollywood is losing confidence in itself – and that can never be a good thing.
*****************
I say be loud, be bold and be proud of the film you’ve produced. Get it out there, and get people talking. Twitter and Facebook more than ever have become valuable tools in marketing your product – and there’s a lot of people out there with ideas of things that can be done to gain those infamous ‘trending topics’ or Facebook ‘likes’. But all that falls to nothing, if the visual poster and trailer campaign fail to hit the mark…
Come on Hollywood sort it out! Or maybe it’s true, and there really has been a shameless, but great, Marketing Death…
Flix Out.
