The link between Production and Marketing is undoubtedly Distribution.
This is a complicated process whereby different companies bid to promote the movie in return for a proportion of the film's box office takings.
The money that is bid is to fund the publicity of the film as well as prints of the film that will go to cinemas - obviously with the introduction of digital prints, this is becoming far cheaper to distribute films across the US and UK however there are still many independent cinemas which do not have digital projectors.
Here's the summary of the Distribution and Exhibition process...
The story of Slumdog Millionaire's distribution is a fairly complicated one - here are some of the key facts that you should have found out and pieced together...
Warner Independent Pictures outbid Fox Searchlights to distribute the film in North America with Pathe earning the rights to distribute in Europe. Whilst both Fox and Warner Brothers are undoubtedly two of the biggest studio's going - it is their 'Indie' distribution companies that are involved with Slumdog. There are several factors which would have caused this:
- Small budget $15m (£9.5m) - hardly looking to bust blocks
- It is set in India - not America or an American version of England
- Much of the film is not in English (Danny Boyle actually lied about the amount to get a deal!)
- No stars - unless you're Indian, Anil Kapoor being the movie veteran of the cast
- Danny Boyle - Trainspotting and 28 Days Later are hardly big family movies!
- Film Four - neither are they renowned for mainstream movies
Global recession hits in 2008 and Warner Independent Pictures shuts down throwing the fate of the film into potential disaster - a 'straight to DVD' release is on the cards for Slumdog. This has many implications for the film:
- The film would have remained relatively unknown - would not have been as widely received by audiences or as widely reviewed by critics
- It would have been perceived as an art house movie or even as an entirely foreign language film - as much of the marketing revolved around how mainstream the movie is
- It would never have been seen on the big screen and fully appreciated as the director had intended
- The financial return of the film would obviously be far less
- Implications for cast and crew would be hard to measure - but would we really see Dev Patel in another film? Would Danny Boyle have been given the Olympics gig? Hard to know for sure but maybe.
Luckily Fox Searchlights bought 50% of Warner Independent Pictures' interest in the film, including the distribution. However as we shall see from the marketing of the movie, some campaigns were quite keen to see the film as a conventional romantic drama genre film, whilst others seemed to celebrate the alternative 'indie' elements of the film...
A closer textual analysis of the posters reveals the different approaches to marketing Slumdog as both alternative indie film and conventional romance movie...
This American poster has certain key elements that celebrate the film as away from the mainstream and enigmatic and other elements that let an audience know that it fits within the romantic drama genre.
The conventions of the romantic drama include:
- The film's tagline which includes key themes of the genre - namely Lost Love and Destiny
- The main image shows the two main characters; a young male and female
- The characters are facing in opposite directions indicating the struggle they may have to be together
- The plaudit from Time magazine has connotations of the 'feel good' factor so often associated with the film
- The instantly recognisable intertextual reference of Who Wants to be a Millionaire may reward and entice a more mainstream audience
The elements which signify that this might be a slightly more challenging film include:
- The dark, serious colour of the majority of the poster may suggest a darker tone of the movie
- The use of the cracked font for the film's title may connote an unconventional approach to the genre with unusual characters
- The absence of star names as well as Danny Boyle's prominence suggests a movie which might challenge the status quo
- The inclusion of the Toronto film festival prize - film festival's are usually associated with serious critics - films for expert film fans - although it is worth noting here that the award is 'The People's Choice' award which suggests a universality about the movie
- Subtle references may be read that this film owes a debt to Bollywood - the bright splashes of colour may signify the genre whilst the blurred lights that jump from the darkness almost certainly reference the fast paced hustle bustle of Mumbai
Have a look at just how different the UK poster is...
This time the main characters are together - united, smiling. There is little question over whether or not they end up together. It feels as though this poster is trying very hard to tell us that the film is very conventional. That a Mainstream audience needn't be wary of its Indian setting, its unknown cast and the fact that Danny Boyle is directing. The marketing here definitely wants to reassure the audience that they will see something they've seen before.
Furthermore they even let us know that we don't even have to take their word for it; the huge plaudit in the middle of the poster (almost as big and just as prominent as the title of the movie) boldly tells us that this is indeed the "Feel-good film of the decade" - high praise and five stars from a film critic at the News of the World - which was at that time* the Sunday version of Britains biggest circulating tabloid newspaper: The Sun.
The Sun and the News of the World has a high mainstream readership and is considered to be a paper that represents joe public, by including a quote from this paper we are being told that we don't necessarily need to trust the poster or even the marketing people - after all they would say that it's good... we can of course trust the tabloid paper that people read every day...
...Two Step Flow anyone?
*Despite the glowing endorsement from the News of the World it remains unsubstantiated that when Jamal uses Latika as his phone a friend that the phone call was hacked!
And so, on to the trailer...
The obvious answer to the first question is that a trailer should entice the audience to go to the cinema and watch the film - but it's not as simple as that.
We can see movie trailers as texts by themselves with their own set of conventions although they have a very specific purpose. Here are just a few of things that they should do...
- Give basic details of plot
- Set the tone or mood of the film
- Give a sense of the themes of the movie
- Reveal the genre of the movie through iconography, mise-en-scene or themes
- Let us know who the stars are, or if there are no stars, introduce the main characters
- Raise questions through the use of enigma codes
- Tie everything up in a neat bundle - music helps with this, after all trailers are really just elaborate montages designed to leave us wanting more
Do your own analysis of the official release trailer...
There are obviously lots of things going on here - the trailer provides us with lots of information yet still manages to make the audience ask questions mainly:
- What stops Jamal and Latika from being together?
- How does Jamal know all the answers?
The use of the Ting Tings song as well as the euphoric Sigur Ros track build to a crescendo that leaves the audience in little doubt as to the tone of the film as an uplifting extravaganza!
By the end of the trailer the audience knows full well who they are routing for and are likely to watch the film for the first time already knowing the lead characters names' as they are mentioned several times throughout the trailer.
As was the case with the posters, the romantic drama genre is referenced and key conventions such as the look across the busy train station and the couple's first kiss - the hero shouting the heroine's name in anguish, all present and correct.
There are plenty of other things to find, but then again that's your job isn't it!
Don't forget to look for TV Spots as well as trailers used in other countries as part of your research.
Next we should look at the online presence of the film...
The questions on the slide are really quite self explanatory - the important things to consider is how the various online presences appeal to an audience.
At the end of the day any Marketing and Promotion can be considered as advertising ad therefore you need to consider the appeals of that advertising.
Here's a reminder of some of the appeals and techniques employed by advertising that we have looked at in the past.
A combination of all these things can be discussed in a response to either a Marketing & Promotion exam question or a question about Digital Marketing - here's a plan for a question relating to the Internet.
The ideas covered on this page is really just the tip of the iceberg - you should combine it with your own research and also use the Other Resources on the main Slumdog Millionaire page.
Click here to return to the Slumdog Lessons page.
