'Section A - Audiences & Producers' and 'Section C - US Film (Sci-fi)

Part A.

How important are social networks to producers and audiences as a form of promotion?

Social networks are very important to both types. Both take examples from the word of mouth, which is when someone has seen a film and they give their opinion, be it negative or positive but it also has a domino effect. For example, Walt Disney’s John Carter had a poor box office release and their next load of cinematic releases had a knock on effect of their views because those who didn’t enjoy watching John Carter would use social networks to talk about their views of the film. People are also allowed to write reviews of films online which contribute to the word of mouth also. Another strong advantage of using social networks to promote films is releasing teaser trailers. Not long after Disney’s takeover of the famous franchise Star Wars, they released an announcement of their upcoming Star Wars film and not long after released a teaser trailer a year before release date. This caused a major hype for the fans of the franchise and it also bagged the producers early ticket bookings closer to the time.

Producers can also make a page for their franchise on any Social Media site, for example ‘The Avengers’ have a page on Facebook and 13 million people are following their page, this meaning they can receive information about any special offers, quizzes or competitions fans can enter to gain tickets to the next movie premier of their upcoming film. It also keeps the fans entertained throughout further teasers and pictures of the cast and set.

Part C.

Compare how far the closing scenes of the two American films you have studied for this topic confirm their messages and values?

The two American films we have studied are ‘Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’ and ‘War Of The Worlds’ which both show a strong theme of paranoia through highlighting the serious events that took place during their production time.

‘Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’ was reflecting on how one man called Joseph McCarthy took over as Senator and started to change people’s views in society without them realising it. People were being brainwashed as they were convinced that close relatives, friends or even co-workers were communists and when questioned they would be blacklisted. The people were too scared to rise against it and therefore followed and believed his accusations, this is signified through the pods as they look and sound exactly the same as the other people but are acting completely different. The end of the film shows that Miles is viewed as insane by the authorities, however a little later on the story that Miles told the authorities were discovered as true and as they go to try and stop it there is a close-up of Miles’ face, leaving us with no clear resolution to the film as he has an expression of panic and the close-up signifying that he is trapped. 

As for 'War Of The Worlds’, the event that happened not long before its release was the attack of 9/11. And with this, Spielberg used "inspiration" of the attack for the idea of it's message. Originally in the book, the attack was first launched in the countryside in the UK and then it went straight for London, with this Spielberg changed it to New York so that when the tripods attacked the buildings it made people recognise it's link to 9/11 and when the plane flew into the side of the building. At the end of the film, we see Ray and Rachael go back to New York to find that the Tripods are slowly weakening and they happen to find their family once more. This ending also reflects on how important family are and during times like these it's important to look after one another.