Case study- Kings speech and Harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2
“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practises” to what extent would you agree with this statement?
In my opinion I think marketing and distributing to a specific audience would be important to be able to make a successful media product. I think distributing and marketing is most important because you have to be able to know what type of audience would want to see the media product. Once you know who your specific target audience are, then having a good production practises will be important.
An example of this is The Kings Speech (directed by Tom Hooper, 2010) one of the most successful British film made. It has been targeted to a British audience and due to the marketing campaign and star power it was a major success at the box office. The kings speech marketing campaign wanted to focus on generating ‘word of mouth’. The date of the film conceded with the awards ceremony meaning it would gain more publicity. Other types of media were used the trailer of the film was a hit on youtube and was partially why it was so successful. This type of synergy where the audience use other types of technology to watch something this helped making the kings speech successful as you were able to access the trailer on youtube, as well as going on the kings speech official website. Twitter and facebook accounts where made where fans were able to write a comment about what they though gaining more popularity with a young target audience.
The UK film council funded the kings speech, they are known for making non mainstream films, this worked for the kings speech. The UK film council awarded £8 million in 2009 and they started filming for the film in December. The film was based on a real life story thus gaining more publicity. The script was also re-written due to new found material.
Furthermore, the DVD timing of the film was released after the royal wedding which encouraged a host of brand partners to work and develop a themed royal and British promotion.
A film which was successful due to production practises was Harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2. The film has been sold to an American company Warner Bros. A company which is widely recognised. The film is aimed at a British target audience. The casting in the film are British actors as J.K Rowling found it important to have a British star cast.
The production of the film was back to back with part 1. Marketing the film played a big part in its success, as they released the film in the summer gaining a wide audience due to mainly school children being of for summer holidays, and adults taking time of to spend the summer with their families. Harry potter has been known for releasing their films during the summer time as it works best for the film. Another reason why it was successful was because the split the film into two parts making it more suspenseful for the audience making them want to come and see the last part
In conclusion it depends on what type of media product is being made, however I think most importantly the target audience should be recognised first, and base the production practises around the target audience
