Social networks and film

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

Social networks are very important for producers and audience as a form of film production as social media is now part of the whole life cycle of a film. Social media is one of the biggest things on the planet and what better way to market a film than on social media where most people spend their time browsing for new things.

Social media as part of a films production is very important to audiences as social media is a major part of everyday life and due to the wide range of different social media (twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram etc.) it is possible that you can brows for pretty much anything. The production of a film is very convenient to an audience if it is on social media as it builds communities and fan pages for the film and it means that you are more likely to get what you want and have your expectations being met by the film. In addition to this it is pretty much certain that with promotions on social media you will be subject to free content and extra bits if you share and promote part of the film yourself, so this will mean that you are now active in the marketing and promotion of the film and you are an active participant of the fan base, along with getting free things. A perfect example of this would be when Avatar was promoting on twitter they allowed people to get the official soundtrack for free if they re-tweeted the promotion campaign.  Another thing that social media allows the audience is that you are able to create your own specific things such as: trailers, posters etc. Avatar did this as well, they allowed fans to create their own trailers and see exclusive content. Overall social media and films are very important to audiences as they tailor to our own expectations and we are able to get a boarder sense of what the film is about, we don’t just see one trailer we are now able to look for what other people say and we can even express our own ideas and opinions about the film as we are subject to much more advertising. In addition to this we have control over what we see, instead of watching a trailer in a cinema and having to watch it, online if you don’t want to watch a film you can click off it and choose something else you would like to see.

The website Screendaily.com show that YouTube was the favourite for watching film trailers and a very important key link to official film websites, this shows that because people have seen the trailer they have been interested in the film and went straight to the official website for that film to learn and view more. It also states that twitter is the best to exchange gossip and get exclusive information, twitter was used to follow films stars and film makers by the fans showing how much impact social media has made on the fans and has really engaged them into the making of the film, Facebook was also a key website in sharing information and engaging fans. Screendaily.com even say that people who use social media attend the cinema five times more per year than the average filmgoer; this is a prime example of how social media has really impacted the attendance in cinemas and created a much bigger revenue for film studios. Kathryn Winter from film 360 even said that social media contributes to the life cycle of a film, whether that be pre-release to DVD reissues.

Social media is important to producers as a form of promotion as it allows the producers to target their exact audience in one full go at a much cheaper and quicker rate. In addition to this they are not the only ones promoting the film, they are able to engage fans on social media in ways that make the fans promote the film as well such as: sharing, re-tweeting, re-posting etc. They are also subject to viral marketing where the link to a film trailer or poster or website catches on like a virus and suddenly everyone is sending it out to their friends. It also allows the producers to share more content, for example the Star wars 8 promo was released on Twitter to engage fans and let them see exclusive content as the film was being made. A website like Kickstarter enables up in coming future film directors to also post their content on social media, for example Kung Fury was put onto not only Kickstarter but also YouTube, twitter, Facebook and many other social media sights for fans to see and become part of a fan base. Kung Fury was one of the many films to be made off Kickstarted and this was due to social media promotion and marketing as it allowed fans so promote it themselves and grate a huge fan bass. YouTube is also a huge social media link to films being created. The clip named PIXELS by Patrick Jean was uploaded to YouTube as a short movie and soon Sony developed a feature length version that was released in 2015. This just shows the sheer power of social media and how something so small as a short film can be used by studios to create films for the already existing fans. Promotion on social media also allows the film studios tender to the audiences needs and allows them to see if the film will create fans and receive a large revenue or if it will be a flop. YouTube is a huge part of promotion for producers as The Force Awakens (Star Wars) was uploaded to YouTube and in 24 hours gained 30 million views shows how much people rely on social media to get their information and see exclusive things. 

The website Mashable.com states that now with social media trailers can be shown online (Facebook, twitter, etc.) rather than just in the cinema. It also shows how film companies have started to create viral, fake campaigns, which have been a huge marketing trend lately. Disney and Pixar created a fake Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear advert for the Toy Story 3 movie, this was done to introduce the audience to a new feature character of the franchise and make it seem as if the toy had existed long in the past. This is a good idea for the studios as it created a large fan bass and now we know the toy was actually created, as the film was such a boom at the box office and long after. Mashable.com also talks about Disney’s Facebook app TRONiVerse for the film TRON: Legacy. This app is stull used today and is a collection of photos, posts and videos of the film all accessible in an interactive grid for the fans to brows and save and post themselves.

A film that used social media as their main for of fan communication and marketing would be Deadpool, this movie’s success can be seen to be the fully down to their online and social media marketing as they stored all social media websites in the lead up to its release. The studio created a viral stunt video where Ryan Reynolds dressed as an anti-hero on Halloween and visited a playground to lecture children on how to properly fight crime, the YouTube video caught like a fire and gained millions of views from fans. There were also many more marketing campaigns such as: April fools prank, changes to the Conan O’Brien late night show for one night only, distributed Deadpool masks at Brazil’s carnival festival, took advantage of elections in Italy and South Korea to display “vote for Deadpool” posters and many more stunts created by the studio. Due to all this advertising of social media the Deadpool film gained millions of views and fans all over the world and took ore than HK$35 million in its first week screening in Hong Kong showing just how important the social media promotions were to the revenue of the film. In addition to this the domestic total on February 24^th 2016 was a staggering $250.3 showing that all the marketing paid off. 

However there are some cons in advertising and promoting on social media as some people could become bored of see the same things advertised over and over again and feel that it is being over saturated. In addition to this rather than people becoming bored they could become annoyed at the amount of adverts they see every day and want a break from all the promotions. Social media marketing is also mainly used my indi films as it is a cheaper way to target their audience and blockbusters usually opt for the giant billboards, trailers on TV or cinema and posters dotted around. Another problem for audiences and producers is that there is a huge risk of spoilers from people and through trailers, for example Batman Vs. Superman, the trailer gave a lot always and audiences felt that due to it being a blockbuster there was no point in going to view it as the film has already been spoilt and people could predict the ending. The biggest con would probably be for producers, as they cannot control publicity, due to promotion on social media audience can do pretty much anything with the content that is shared.

Overall social media is very important to the promotion of a film as it is a great way to create and build fan bases and allows the audience much more control of how the film is promoted meaning they are active and part of the process. Social media also lets us decide what we do and do not want to watch and enables the audience to create their own expectations and lets the producers tailor to that expectation that was made by every individual in the fan bass.