EASTER WORK

PART A
 
How important are social networks to producers and audiences as a form of film promotion?
 
   Nowadays social networks are becoming essential in everyday decision making, ergo becoming essential to producers, audiences and to the success or failure of a film.

      In order to break even, a film needs to make three times as much money as it cost to make, therefore they need to promote their film as much as possible. They do this through publicity, publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the publics perception of the film. However it cannot be controlled by the studio but is instead created and controlled by those in the Media. Studios will try to control publicity by offering the media interviews, 'press junkets' and access to their film stars and makers. Nevertheless, no matter how much they try, they cannot control everything that is said about the film. An example of this is Harry Knowles' review of Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (Clooney, Schwarzenegger etc.). Knowles' review was released mid week after the film's opening weekend, after it had been released a downfall in box office revenue had dropped by a staggering 63%. This figure demonstrates the power and influence the media has over a film's success rate. Within the last couple of years social networks have influenced and hindered the audience to going and watching a film in the cinema. It has been approximated that those who use social media visit the cinema five times more than the average filmgoer. Although studios can control their marketing, they use the power that social networks possess and use it to their advantage, for example James Cameron's Avatar. The studio targeted its audience via several different ways, particularly through horizontal integration. With this the producers were able to create a website of the Avatar universe for the fans in order for the fan base to delve in to the world of Pandora and to have snippets of new concept art, competitions and to use the new interactive feature they added to give the audience more involvement in the film however, the website had become so popular that it was famously hacked for free tickets. Then there is their Twitter account, with that they created a free gateway to their soundtrack just by retweeting their tweet. The producers had cleverly turned the audience in to active contributors in the films promotion, by friends sharing with other friends, who then share with their friends and so on, they create a chain in which is seen by many people therefore generates a mammoth following which ensures financially security for the studios.

PART C

Compare how far the actions of the main characters are influenced by the times in which the American films you have studied were made.

The two American films that I studied were Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and War of the Worlds (2005), both films deal with three key themes: Paranoia, fear of others and fear of annihilation/extermination. Invasion of the Body Snatchers reflects the 50s and the problems they faced, specifically McCarthyism, whilst War of the Worlds mirror the time of post 9/11 experiences.

At first, Miles encounters two individuals who complain that their family members are ‘different.’ He shrugs off the complaints as ‘psychological conditions.’ Little Jimmy’s mother and Ira both look and sound normal, but their families complain that ‘something’ is different. The ‘Grimalid’ family business has closed down as a result of the change; this is a comment on the threat to American way of life. McCarthyism grew from a small issue to a nation one. At first, a minority of people feared communist infiltration. The problem was perceived to be with those who were paranoid, not the people under suspicion.

As more and more people start complaining about these symptoms, Miles begins to take notice and thinks that a genuine problem is emerging. We begin to see more people, Becky’s father, etc. affected by this mysterious ‘Psychological condition.’ Miles remains confident that a psychological condition is the problem.  More and more people begin to adopt McCarthy’s POV and adopt his ideologies. They begin to see people who do not share their POV as ‘others’ and ultimately, threats.

When the first Tripod attacks, Rachel asks, “Is it the terrorists?” this shows that the threat and fear from the terrorist attack on the day of 9/11 still causes paranoia and panic form people. Since 9/11 the paranoia and fear is still very much there and growing fast. Therefore, when we see Rachel react this way we, as the audience, know that even though she is a small child, she has been and seen a lot of what she shouldn't necessarily see at that age.The fear of extermination started when more of the tripods emerged from the grounds showing that reinforcement was there if needed. The attack with the many tripods showed that they were there to conquer and to not be defeated. Much like the 9/11 attack the citizens felt unsafe in their own town and became more aware of the people around them. Not only did the attack on the Twin Towers reflect this but so did the attack on the Pentagon, the attacks on the larger monuments of America shows that they were making a statement that if the highest authority are defenceless then so are you and that no one can be safe anymore, anywhere.