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https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AVBRgI37UHgiZHE2ZndmNF8wanBqdG1oZzY


NIEMAH,KAUTHER AND CHAN

rest of the slides

3. How do audiences access the text across the 3 platforms?

Who are Super 8’s target audience(s) and how do you know?

·          Super 8’s target audience is mainly targeted at children (sc.e) and nuclear family the audiences. The reason that one of the movies main audiences are children is because the main characters of the film are young children. This then enables the target audience to self- identify with the characters, whilst viewing the film visually through the young characters perspective. However, the target audience could then be classed as a family film because of the hybrid of the genre targets a large range of audiences. Action &adventure/fantasy is known to target younger audiences because of its fictional tame narrative and also because fantasy leads to an escapism from the real world which mainly younger children like. However then this is then combined with science fiction and thriller which is more targeted at the older members of the family. This is because science fiction can be more informative and harder to understand for younger audiences, whilst thriller not only adds suspense but makes the film seem scarier. These genres are not only combined to make sure all family audiences are targeted but this is also conveyed through the age certificate rating of the film. The age rating is proven to be a 12a. This means that children under twelve cannot view the film if not accompanied by an adult. However, if the child is over 12 then they will be able to see the film without a parent or guardian over the age of 18. Producers rating the film 12a could be used as an advantage as this could then lead to pester power, as children will view the media products then nag their parents to want to see the film. This then encourages family audiences to view the film.

How is Super 8 promoted to its target audience(s) through:

·         Print?

One of the main media platforms is through the use of print media. Print media is one of the oldest uses of advertising that has been around. Years back it would have been seen as the major use of advertising. However, nowadays it’s the media is just seen as one of two media platforms that try to ensure they target all audiences. The reason for this is because print media has lost a lot of its popularity due to new recent technology. Print no longer can be used alone to advertise a movie, as it no longer targets a wider audience because of societies new interests. More audiences spend time using e-media and moving image platforms because they are more interactive and allow audiences to not just consume texts (lean forward media) but to also allows audiences lay back and be entertained whilst consuming information.  Advantage for the institutions using print like posters is that it goes through a mass media production making sure that it targets a wider audience with its quantity.  A few examples of this are: posters advertising the film reviews, magazine articles, newspaper reviews, billboards, flyers, information leaflets, and cinema times on show.

·         Broadcasting/moving image?

Another main media platform is through the use of moving image. Nowadays, E-media is portrayed as one of the most popular ways institution promote their films to a range of target audiences through technical gadgets such as computers and phones. Researchers have surveyed that 71% of smart phone users have researched after viewing an advertisement. A recent survey through an E-media site reported that nowadays, institutions mostly rely on e-media products as it’s an advantage to them in the sense that it allows companies, sponsors and other institutions to connect with the consumers. Examples of the way Super8 promote their film using e-media are: Fan pages (official fan page is the first place fans will look to get the most reliable information), fan-made pages (producers allow fans to download features off their official fan site. This allows fans to consume texts then produce their own), blogs (blogs allow society globally to post comments on the film and conveys to the producers, what the institution liked about their film), online reviews (media critics post their own opinions on the film so people then can decide whether the film is worth watching or not), social networking sites. (Allows societies globally to become aware of film, whilst enabling them to socially interact with each other and become members of the film page).

·         E-media?

The last Main media platform is through the use of E-media. Electrical media is a way for institutions to advertise their artist/band through digital electronic devices (for example: Smartphone’s, Ipads, computers, kindles). When a movie is created, the institution uses the web as a way to advertise the movie and inform fans of their upcoming events. There are many uses of e-media products that the institutions of super 8 use such as:Official fan page, websites of stars, online interviews of stars (J.jabrams), website blogs, social networking sites (e.g, facebook, twitter), extra scenes and information on artists, product placements, information on the film with people who have disabilities, online games/pc games, soundtrack downloads (Itunes), podcasts, cinema views, online reviews and shops online where you can buy products.

Print can either be a lean backwards or lean forwards media. This is because some types of print have writing on them. Whereas, most of the super8 prints have lots of dark color’s and the title of the film. The media platform moving image is however, a lean backwards media. This is because moving image allows the audience to sit back, consume the information, whilst also being entertained. The last media platform is in the form of e-media and is a lean forward media because the targeted audience have to actually physically research themselves for the information they consume.

Each platform can have a variety effects on the different audiences when it comes to the movie super8.Media products containing an e-media product physical and experiences. This is not only because it’s a lean forward media but because the audience have to physically take part and they are able to socially interact and interact with the media products. Whereas, moving image gives the audience a physiological and emotional experience. An example of this is the actual movie, which is depicted to us through a moving image platform. The actual movie allows the audience to feel emotionally and sympathize with the characters and then we become so gripped within the movie that it gives us a psychological.

Now think of how the producers are communicating with audiences across the 3 platforms:

The producers communicate to the audiences across the three platforms by using a variety of media products. Using these products not only allows the audience to become aware of the super8 film, but the more marketing the institution goes to ensures that all media products will target a wide range of audiences.

·         One of the reasons the institutions use a variety of media products across a cross media platform, is it enables the audience to convey the uses and gratifications that the products have on them.

·         E-media products allow the audience to socially interact with each other through websites like social networking sites. They are able to become members of the Super8 Facebook page and talk to others globally about the film. E-media products also allow the audience to inform and educate the audience by the information’s producers put on the web. E-media is a lean forward media which means the audience research the information themselves, which also not only allows them to absorb the information but to escape and be entertained into the media product.

·         Print products also allow the audience to be informed and educated whilst being entertained. The product can be used to inform the audience because of print products such as reviews and for the audience to also be entertained by the use of bright colors and eye catching contexts.

·         Moving image is the main product that allows the audience to escape to the world and narrative of the film. Allowing the audience to escape, lets them escape from everyday reality and to absorb and become educated on the film.

o    The producersdo widen their appeal through their cross platform approach by creating so many products depicting the three main media platforms. The institution uses so many different media products to make sure they gain interest of wider audiences. All media platforms link together which means that all different media products are used to market each other. An example of this is the product placement, which is then marketed through a game and then further marketed into a soundtrack which is then marketed through print posters.

Audience theories you could research and apply to your Super 8 case study:

·         Uses & gratifications

·         Social demographics (ABC1 = Middle class; C2DE = Working class)

·         Mode of address

·         Narrowcasting

Uses and gratifications: The uses and gratifications theory was made by Blumler and Katz in 1959. The theory is that the audience are responsible for choosing different medias to meet their needs. The theory suggests that the media products are developed to fulfill specific gratifications.

Social demographics: The theory of social demographics is the theory that all targeted audiences are categorized in statuses. All different media producers require a different status in society. An example of this is: ABC1.

Mode of address: The theory of mode of address is whether a character/celebrity is facing directly at the audience or not.

Narrowcasting: Narrowcasting is the spreading of an advertising message or signal over a small geographical area.

5. What institutional issues are raised in the case study?

Who are the key institutions involved in promoting Super 8 and how are they involved?

·         Paramount

·         Amblin Entertainment

·         Other collaborators (distributors, exhibitors – multiplex cinema chains, DVD sales/rental companies, film download sites, e.g. LoveFilm).

Paramount- Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American television  and film production/distribution company that is located in America, Melrose avenue.

Amblin entertainment- is an American television and American production company that was founded and produced by Steven Spielberg.

Multiplex cinema chains: Regal entertainment group, Amc entertainment Inc, Cinemark theatres, Carmike cinema Inc, Cineplex Entertainment, Rave motion pictures, Marcus theatres, Hollywood theatres, National Amusements and Harkins theatre.

Example: regal entertainment group, largest movie theatre circuit that features huge motion pictures.

Blockbuster: Online and high street shop where you can borrow films, games, (ie, other technical gadgets) or buy latest films. Blockbuster usually has a new blockbuster film before any other shops. This is a promoting technique which enables audiences to want to quickly go and get the film before it comes out anywhere else. Not only is this a good promoting technique but it also gives the company and the producers of the film profit as they put up the price of their media products.

Love film:  Is a UK based provider of home video and video game rental through DVD by email and streaming on demand in the UK, Scandinavia and Germany. These providers are great at promoting as their DVD’s can be delivered or emailed in only a few minutes to a couple of days and are at affordable prices. This encourages them the targeted audiences to view many films, increasing not only Lovefilms profit but the producers profits too.

super 8 cross media platform

E-MEDIA

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/super_8/

·       Rotten tomatoes is an informative website where fans can view pictures from the clip, read reviews and learn more about the cast in the film. The super 8 link depicts a picture of the front cover. This allows viewers and the targeted audience to be able to recognise the front cover whilst getting a hint of what genre the movie is. Underneath this conveys information about the film. An example of this is: “US box office: £127.0M.” Facts like this conveys to the audience how popular the film is and if it’s worth seeing or not.

        Just below this then conveys still shots of the film which allows the fans to reminisce through shots of the film. However, this links to the cast. Beside each cast member depicts a picture of them. By doing this, this allows the audience to identify what actors/actresses like this and the website also shows what other films they’ve also been in. A great advantage for this is star appeal and is where if the viewer hasn’t exactly seen the film yet, they can be informed about who is starring in the film and if it’s someone they like then it will attract them into wanting to see the film.

        The critic’s reviews are conveyed at the bottom of the page. Instead of the audiences viewing long reviews the producers have decreased the reviews into little bubbles. What I noticed is that most of the reviews are about people in the media rather then local people who have gone to see the film. This enables us to feel that were getting reviews on the film for from a more reliable source.

        On the side of the super 8 page is a link promoting other films that contain the same genre and same actors? This not only advertises other films but allows you to be directed to other e-media products where you have to pay. This is used to companies advantage as they can advertise themselves through a new movie and if the film is really old it can re-surface the film, bringing back its popularity. 

        Viewing this review I’ve realised that the review contains lots of entertainment such as: pictures and shots  However, overall I personally believe the producers developed this website to a slightly older audience (c-c1,c2, d) as the website mainly enables the audience to be informed and educated about the film (facts.reviews).

http://www.super8-movie.com/#   combined with    http://www.moviewallpapers.net/images/wallpapers/2011/super-8/super-8-373-9174.jpg

    

·       The official super8 fan page directs the targeted audience to a wide angled image of the front cover of the film enlarged. Institutions do this so the audience are able to familiarize and recognize the low key lighted image the next time they view it. The image is the silhouette (use of backlighting) of the five children standing a distance of a huge water tank which resembles a space shuttle. Beside the water tank depicts a small village. The sky seems to have dropped down a little, and they grey clouds are visible. This could not only suggest the dull atmospheric mood but could convey mystery. This is also emphasised by the dark colours. The white and black could connote the binary opposition as where the children are standing, they are surrounded by white light. Whereas, where we look beyond the silhouettes and more further towards the water tank and small village, it starts to get darker. The white colours could connote the innocence of the children, the black could connote the danger and the greyish cloudy colour masking the in between of the children in the village could further suggest that danger is getting nearer. We are unable to view the faces of the characters or even have an insight to what the village looks like. Paramount pictures have used this to make the audience curious who these characters are and what’s going on here.  The institution creating this curious mood encourages the audience to want to go and see the movie.

       All of the writing on the fan page is used in white (connoting purity, mystery, innocence), the same as the title for the film. The institutions do this to resemble the film and to almost gain the visual experience of the film whether we’ve actually seen it or not. The title is depicted on right side and underneath this conveys “From writer/director J.J Abram’s” and “And producer Steven Spielberg”. This enables the fans to identify whether they want to watch the film or not if they haven’t already seen it. Paramount pictures have used directors and producers that are popular so fans will be able to recognise them and the films they’ve made, encouraging them to go and see it. Underneath this, then conveys the  hyperlinks that make up the fan page such as: “Gallery”, “Story”, “Video”, “Cast. Crew &notes”, “Register for updates”. The links enable the audience to be a part of Super8 and to be able to create a membership where they can post comments, be informed and educated and socially interact with each other about the film. Institutions know that the official page of the film will be the most popular as unlike fan-made pages, it will be the first source of reliable information (as the producers developed it themselves), allowing you to view links that wouldn’t be accessible on a fan-made page.

         What really drew my eyes, amongst the rest of the page was the app icons on the left hand side. There it conveyed links to social networking sites, directing you to other e-media products. There was an iPhone super 8 application where the producers enable you to shoot your own Super8 movie using your camera on your phone. The institution had advertised the Super 8 comics and the movie in blu ray which also linked to print and moving image media platforms. I realised that by promoting their  fan-page using an e-media product then enables the producers to promote other media platforms that all individually play a significant part in advertising the film. The institutions have included icons directing you to Facebook and twitter. The super 8 producers know that Facebook and twitter are major social networking sites with Facebook attaining 800 million active users worldwide. Promoting the film through not only other media platforms but other products using the same media then allows fans to become more aware of the movie. This then brings about Facebook pages dedicated to the film and for the film to reach a range of audiences globally.

        Overall I believe that fan pages are targeted at a younger audience as the younger generation are more familiar with the new technology and the website and icons being free could further suggest this as kids don’t really have a lot of money and are dependent on their families.  Fan page

      

      On You Tube when I done my research I had spotted that as You Tube’s logo Broadcast yourself suggests that anyone can make anything and upload it so when I did my research I found that a fan had made their own super 8  trailer which shows that how fans are participating and making their own production.

Super 8 new generated by the text on the media platform 'E-media.'  This news story is basically trying to convince the audiences to buy the new blu-ray dvd,  there are also for sub-headings which tell us about what is included in the blue-ray this includes: Deconstructing the train crash, special features, audio, video and the movie.  The use of the colour yellow draws in th audineces attention with the use of red which grabs attention.

Moving image

·       The super8 film had been reported to have no trailer on television until a week before it was shown on cinema screens. However, the producer Spielberg (reported to be the grandfather of modern placement) and the director J.J Abram’s came together to produce a product placement that linked to the era the film is set in (1979). Their idea was to re-design our modern cereal boxes to cereal boxes that would be seen in 1979. They not only “valuably screened” Crisco and Frosted flake boxes within their film but they made them available in shops all over America to promote the new film. Thoughts about bringing these old boxes to England was discussed but then discarded after a few meetings. However, the cereal boxes went huge where the older generation could reminisce and re-live their younger days. Whilst, the new generation were able to experience 1979 packaging. This use of product placement didn’t last long, only for the time period the film was shown in cinemas and after wards all America corner shops stopped stocking up on the cereal boxes.

        Other product placements advertising Super 8 were reported “discrete” and “It’s a typical Spielberg film”. It was considered unusual how most of society wasn’t aware of the film through the use of the moving image platform. However, it seems Spielberg had his own ideas as most of the product placement other than the cereal boxes was processed through the variety of platforms such as: moving image, e-media and print. several tie-ins, such as Super 8 interactive teasers embedded within the video game Portal 2. The video game started off as a pc game and was then further marketed as a Nintendo ds game. The institutions developed this game in order to not only promote the Super8 film but to promote the science-fiction genre.

         The main use of product placement was conveyed to target mostly younger children between the ages of 11-3year old, as the institutions thought that this was the ideal age for the actual film to be seen at.

      *Super 8 had been used in moving image platform in order to promote the film. The theatrical trailer is one minute and thirty seconds long, which has enough time to build up enigma codes for the audiences (theory by Barthes). Firstly the trailer opens with the setting of the film, the director then has used black wipe transition in order to represent that something negative will happen maybe the disruption of the story (. But then the black transition indicates mystery and builds up tension also the use of fast cuts builds up tension for the audiences at the cinema which then encourages them to go and watch the film. There is use of CGI which make the explosions look realistic.  Besides this the director has used a variety of different shots to let the audiences focus on each scene properly. Both diegetic and non-diegetic sound has been used; the diegetic sound adds realism to the setting whereas the use of non-diegetic influences the audiences mood. Using the institutional information at the end of the theatrical ad informs the audiences what institutional company has invested in the film. Finally the use of director and producers name informs the audiences who made the film, but the use of an example of their previous film educates the audience (Blumler and Katz) which encourages the audiences to see super 8 as the previous successful film they made was good.


   01/12/2011- ANALYSIS OF SUPER 8  ON BILLBOARD 

         Firstly the science fiction film Super 8 has been advertises across the media platform print. Using billboards is beneficial as it's eye catching for example if you are stuck in traffic there something to look at and past your time which links to the theory of Blumler and Katz -Uses and gratification . Aswell as this billboards are a cheap media text if you want to promote any advertisment, you have a better chance of reaching a more diverse group of people, because not just one type of demographic is looking at the billboard as with magazines or tv, it is more likely that a person would pass that billboard multiple times and see the advertisement multiple times and also they would remember it better than an ad they saw once in a magazine.

   

         Super 8 billboard has used a variety of different fonts in order to attract the audience’s attention while they are travelling. An example would be the film title saying 'SUPER 8' in white text which brings the text forward from the dark background, it also symbolizes binary opposition as the background setting is dark and the text is white which conveys the that super 8 (characters in the film) are the good ones which represent binary opposition (theory by Levis Strauss).  In addition the use of white is been used for the director and producers name which symbolizes perfection and goodness.

          Moreover the use of dark colours used for the background links with the weather, the black indicates mystery, creates a depressed atmosphere, suggests that something bad is going occur and shows that the country is being powered by something, which leads to the audiences asking questions and created enigma codes (theory by Barthes).

        The character from the film are shown on the billboard on the left hand corner, they have not been positioned right in the central as the producer of the billboard wants the audiences to go to the cinema or watch the trailers and search about the film which then leads to them going to the cinema and watch the film, or children can use pester power in order to convince their parents.

Super 8 has used E-media platform which has a print magazine called Slant magazine. The review was written by Nick Schager. The film review educates the audiences and tells them what the films about.
Super 8 new generated by the text on the media platform 'E-media.'  This news story is basically trying to convince the audiences to buy the new blu-ray dvd,  there are also for sub-headings which tell us about what is included in the blue-ray this includes: Deconstructing the train crash, special features, audio, video and the movie.slant magazines review

SUPER 8 LINKS

01/12/2011- ANALYSIS OF SUPER 8 ON BILLBOARD
Firstly the science fiction film Super 8 has been advertises across the media platform print. Using billboards is beneficial as it's eye catching for example if you are stuck in traffic there something to look at and past your time which links to the theory of Blumler and Katz -Uses and gratification . Aswell as this billboards are a cheap media text if you want to promote any advertisment,

The character from the film are shown on the billboard on the left hand corner, they have not been positioned right in the central as the producer of the billboard wants the audiences to go to the cinema or watch the trailers and search about the film which then leads to them going to the cinema and watch the film, or children can use pester power in order to convince their parents.

link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/93779577@N00/5752393412/

you have a better chance of reaching a more diverse group of people, because not just one type of demographic is looking at the billboard as with magazines or tv, it is more likely that a person would pass that billboard multiple times and see the advertisement multiple times and also they would remember it better than an ad they saw once in a magazine.Super 8 billboard has used a variety of different fonts in order to attract the audiences attention while they are travelling. An example would be the film title saying 'SUPER 8' in white text which brings the text forward from the dark background, it also symbolizes binary opposition as the background setting is dark and the text is white which conveys the that super 8 (characters in the film) are the good ones which represent binary oppopsition (theory by Levis Strauss). Inaddition the use of white is been used for the director and producers name which symbolizes perfection and goodness.

Moreover the use of dark colours used for the background links with the weather, the black indicates mystery, creates a depressed atmosphere, suggests that something bad is going occur and shows that the country is being powered by something, which leads to the audiences asking questions and created enigma codes (theory by Barthes).