Megan Hughes

In this podcast I will be analysing the relationship between producers and audiences.

Producers carry out audience research to attempt to understand who their audience is before

marketing to ensure it’s aimed at the correct people. There are many different types of audience

research. Primary research is a new research which is carried out to answer specific issues or

questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or focus groups.

Secondary research is research which has already been previously conducted for other purposes and

is publicly available for anyone to use. Qualitative and quantitative research goes into more detail on

primary research and allows expression of opinions which is often useful within film. An example of

this type of research is on websites such as IMDB. The film reviews that the public write on these

types of websites are examples of qualitative research as they can express opinions and motivations

for their reasons. As well as this, on IMDB, the public can rate films out of 10 and give them rated

stars which would count as quantitative research as its numerical data which can make up statistics

for audience profiling. Market research also plays a huge role in identifying and attracting the

correct audience by making a particular film be noticed through marketing such as posters, trailers

and merchandise. To determine the target audience of a film, film producers have to carry out a

series of market research. Market research is the main aspect of identifying and attracting the right

audience and adapting them into word of mouth brand ambassadors for films. This type of research

is carried out through pre-production and post production techniques to allow film makers to get a

better understanding of their target audience or in the case of post-production, gain feedback. Pre-

production aids film producers by allowing them explore into audiences wants and needs and

justifying what is expected from a particular film whether it be a storyline, characters, genre or

certain iconography. By carrying out pre-production research, it gives film makers the knowledge to

make their film better and fulfill what is expected of it. An example of this is when films are test

screened before they are released and a specified target audience get the chance to comment on

factors about the film that they think should be changed or made dif ferent in order for producers to

response and make improvements before it’s distributed worldwide. Post production research can

be as simple as getting people in a cinema viewing to answer some questions regarding the film in

order to receive feedback on what they liked and what they didn’t like.

The distributor of a film is a company who connects the producer and the audience. They are

responsible for the selling and marketing of films by producing materials such as posters, trailers and

other merchandise that will get people into the cinema to view a specific film. The role of a

distributor entails getting the audience to hear about the film by publicisng it and raising awareness.

They are also accountable for choosing in which cinemas a film will be shown, how many digital

copies to send out for viewing and choosing a films time of release. The time in which a film is

released can vary how popular it wil l be in cinema. For example, if it was coming up to Valentine’s

Day, releasing a romance film would be ideal or if it was coming up to Halloween, releasing a horror

film would be ideal as the audience are already in the mood for this specific season so it will attract a

wider amount of people. Many large distribution companies such as 20th Century Fox and Warner

Bros work alongside Hollywood Studios so they already have the full producing, distributing and

exhibiting process readymade whereas other smaller distributors such as Lionsgate have to pitch

their film idea to other companies as they work independently so in general it would take them

longer to release a film as they have to create a process along the way.

Megan Hughes

The three different types of film marketing that are used to attract a target audience are

advertisement, publicity and promotion. On terms of advertising, big Hollywood studios now spend

between $50-100million on just marketing the film by making film posters, trailers, newspapers and

magazines. By expanding the amount of money they spend on advertising, they know it will create a

wider range of audience as the amount of advertisement is increasing so it will be more successfully

noticed. Film posters are the most popular form of advertising as they’re usually the first part of

advertisement that is released while the film is still being made in order to raise awareness of the

film by giving the public a first glimpse of what’s coming. Most blockbuster films these days tend to

have several different film posters, usually four of five, because they’ve now got the money to spend

on advertisement and these days it’s not uncommon for the production companies to be using a

large percentage of their budget on marketing. Another large part of advertising is the four different

types of film trailers. The first trailer to be released is the teaser trailer whi ch is usually shown a year

in advance but doesn’t give a lot away. For example, when the new Transformers film was released,

their teaser trailer was only a few seconds long and it only showed a specific imagery robot and

there were sounds of robot movements to resemble the transformers so it didn’t give a lot away.

This is to make the audience aware that the film is coming out in order for them to keep an eye out

and wait to hear more about it. The second type of trailer is a theatrical trailer which is the main

trailer, usually three to four minutes long and gives the audience a chance to determine the

genre/narrative of the film or what characters will appear. Then there is a TV trailer which is

identical to the theatrical trailer but is shortened and cut to around two minutes long so it’s the

correct length for a TV advertisement. Lastly, there is an Audio trailer which is strictly sound and

contains no imagery, specifically designed for radio advertising.

In film, advertising can also appear in magazines, newspapers or press articles which usually give

brief information on the film, highlights of the plot, who the main characters are or even shots from

on the set. Press articles would usually contain a series of questions asked by a publicist to either

one of the cast members or part of the production crew to create a biography. This is a good

example of advertising because it allows the film makers to target a very specific audience. For

example, if they were to release an action film and wanted to target an elder teenager or adult male

audience, they could advertise the film in car magazines such as Evo or gaming magazines such as

GamesTM who entail this type of audience. The next type of advertising I will discuss is publicity

which usually occurs through the stars within the film. An example of publicity marketing for a film is

when Heath Ledger died who played The Joker in the Batman films, although this publicity was

unintentional and unexpected, it still publicized the film and made people want to watch it because

it was a current thing in the press that he’d died and it was his role in the film that impacted on his

death. The internet plays a large role in publicity for a film due to film review websites such as IMDB

and social media in the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The internet is a more successful

way to publicize a film; especially if it’s low budget and doesn’t have a readymade audience that you

know will want to watch it, creating a website (which all films have) is easy and cheap to do

compared to other types of advertisement. In this day and age, 74 percent of the public in the 18-

65+ age group are on social media making the internet more increasingly interactive. This has an

impact on viral marketing because as soon as there is a post on Facebook about a film whether it is a

spoiler or trailer, it’s shared consistently across the social media website and the film becomes more

and more frequently noticed.

Megan Hughes

The last type of marketing I will review is promotion which is based on merchandise and product

placement and its target audience. Depending on where a film is promoted, you are likely to attract

various different audiences with different needs from a film but you can also expand upon your

target audience by promoting a film somewhere different to where the specific target audience lies.

For example, the stereotypical audience for a James Bond film would be males because it’s an action

films which contains fast cars, sexy ladies, guns and everything else a male would want to se e.

However, when the film Bond film, Quantum of Solace, was being marketed, it was promoted in a

fashion magazine due to the Omega watch that main star, Daniel Craig, was wearing. This shows the

process of expanding a target audience as most fashion magazines are aimed specifically at females

because it’s a common interest that most stereotypical women share. With promotion also comes

tie-ins, spin offs and preexisting property. Tie-ins are formed by promotional partnerships between

the film and its characters and a certain product or company. A common type of company that help

with film promotion are fast food chains such as McDonalds or Burger King as they attract various

different types of people allowing the film to be promoted more widely across the world. An

example of this from the past is when the Minions movie (Pierre Coffin, 2015) was released last year

and McDonalds partnered up with the distributors, Universal Pictures, to help promote the film by

giving away a free minion toy with every happy meal bought from the restaurant. Spin-offs are a

product made based on one that already exists so it could be a film made based on a TV series that

has already been created or vice versa. An

example of this is The Inbetweeners Movie

(Ben Palmer, 2011) which was produced after

the success of The Inbetweeners TV series

(2008) shown on Channel 4. This makes it a

spin off as the film was made based on

preexisting storylines, characters and

narratives. Lastly, preexisting property is used

as a technique of promotion which is when a

film is made based on preexisting material

which could be a video game, comic book or

novel. Due to the new film release, this

can cause the preexisting material to re-

release new versions or update covers

with imagery from the film to help with

further marketing. One example of a film

which was made based on preexisting

material is the film The Fault in our Stars

(Josh Boone, 2014) which was originally a

book that got previously released in 2012

by author John Green. This film was

probably one of the most successful films made off preexisting material as the book was sufficiently

popular to begin with.

Megan Hughes

A film I have analysed in terms of marketing to understand the relationship between the producer

and its audiences is Spectre (Sam Mendes, 2015). The action film which was released in late 2015

starring Hollywood actor Daniel Craig forms part of the James Bond film series alongside other films

such as Skyfall (2012), Quantum of Solace (2008) and Casino Royale (2006) and had a grand budget

of $245,000,000. The target audience of Spectre, similar to all other Bond films, is middle aged males

due to the masculine main character, action packed storyline and narrative; therefore the film was

marketed in a way that would appeal to these kinds of people. The main method of marketing for

any film would be a film poster in the style of billboards, print, travel, etc like the two images

displayed below:

This first film poster for Spectre is designed to attract its target audience of middle aged males

through the use of masculine colours such as blacks and greys, bold fonts and standard action attire

such as the gun and gun holster. The central male protagonist on the poster, Daniel Craig, who is

standing quite boldly with a stern facial expression, would also appeal to males as it gives a feel for

the genre. The formal ‘007’ text allows the readymade target audience to know that Spectre will be

a classic James Bond film as it’s an ongoing code and convention; this shows Bond films could be

classed as a sub-genre of action because they’re so iconic and well known. The dark tone in colours

gives off dark themes about the film Spectre as if there will be battles and problems that the

characters will have to overcome. Overall, the poster to me portrays themes of suspense, danger

and mystery as expected in a Bond film.

Megan Hughes

This second film poster for Spectre, while appealing to its target audience of middle aged males

could also appeal to an alternative audience of middle aged females due to the image of character

Lea Seydoux alongside James Bond. I think this poster would appeal to females more than the first

one for this reason as the positioning of the two main characters could indicate a romance between

them which a typical female would take interest in, also the fact that Daniel Craig is dressed to

impress in his suit on this poster could attract females attention as he’s known to be an attractive

male within the film industry, especially previous Bond films. As well as this, the colours appear

much brighter in this poster; the reds and oranges featured in the background are more eye

grabbing from a woman’s point of view, however there’s still the use of the scary mask and gun

imagery to keep the males interested. The colours in the poster can also resemble moods and

themes, for example the red could indicate danger or death and the orange could resemble fire as

these things do occur in the film. I think the middle aged male target audience would appreciate the

female character on the poster as she looks quite sexy with the way her body is positioned and her

facial expression looks quite mean and flirtatious.

Both posters were placed in busy cities such as Manchester Town Centre and around London to gain

maximum coverage and multiply the amount of people that will go to see the film. For the purpose

of the target audience, the posters were also placed in magazines such as GQ and Empire that

contain high fashion and supercars to attract males to watch the film. Expanding the location of the

film posters will also help to attract alternative audiences in hope for the production companies to

gain more profits from the film.

There are four different types of trailers for each film that give the target audience a better idea of

the plot: a teaser trailer, theatrical trailer, TV trailer and audio trailer. The two main ones I will be

analysing for Spectre are the teaser which gives the audience an initial idea of the film and make

them aware that it’s being released and the theatrical which gives off a lot more detail on terms of

characters, narrative and the storyline.

Teaser trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ashLaclKCik

Theatrical trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqClqvlObY

Megan Hughes

The music featured in the teaser trailer was very

mysterious diegetic music, which made the scenes

appear a lot much more intense for its audience as it

added climax and suspense. An example of this is

when you see Bond sailing across a lake to begin his

mission and the music becomes very heavy and with

deeper tones to show the dark themes. Also when

he’s approaching an abandoned house not knowing what’s inside, the music gets more intense with

a vague beating noise in the background as if it’s his heart racing because he doesn’t know what to

expect and the climax is building up. Then towards the end of the trailer you can hear chimes, pianos

and other eerie instruments that give off mysterious

themes as we look at a man sat at a desk in darkness so

all you can see is his silhouette as he says ‘finally here

we are’ before there is an intense gunshot at the screen

in order to stun the audience. This makes the target

audience ask questions as to who this man is and why is

he wanting to see and speak to Bond?

Another audio element I noticed in the teaser trailer is when Moneypenny, Bond’s colleague, quotes

‘You’ve got a secret, something you can’t tell

anyone because you don’t trust anyone’ which

allows the target audience to think that Bond’s

past life will be explored within the film Spectre.

The short trailer also features a very vague image

of an Aston Martin supercar which is iconic in all

James Bond films with a loud revving engine sound

which will immediately appeal to most middle

aged males as it’s a common dream that many of

them share to own and drive a supercar. I think if there was more than just a split second of the

Aston Martin being featured in the trailer, there would be more interest from younger males as

they’re stereotyped to like fast cars and manic driving. As well as this, the teaser trailer, as expected,

didn’t feature as many elliptical elements, it didn’t show any high key moments with e xplosions or

fighting and not many gadgets and weapons were featured to try and attract a wider range audience

but as it was only a teaser trailer to make the public aware that the film is being released it was

satisfactory in portraying a storyline and giving the audience an idea of the genre.

On the other hand, the theatrical trailer for

Spectre was action packed and contained a

sufficient amount of elliptical elements

which would be more likely to intrigue the

target audience into watching the film. The

theatrical trailer attracted a much broader

target audience as it spoke more about

Spectre as an organisation and gave the

Megan Hughes

audience a reason to watch the film and find out who it is that runs Spectre and what it’s all about.

As well as this, due to the trailer being longer

and much more detailed, certain visual

elements could be included to attract a wider

range of audience in terms of social class and

the ABC1 scale. A substantial quote within the

film trailer is when Bond’s assistant, Q, says:

‘Do you know links them all?’ meaning the

Spectre organisation and James Bond replies

‘Me’ which will make the audience wonder why

does Bond connect this sinister organisation and what role does he play in it? This scene in particular

shows elliptical elements as when James replies ‘me’ in the conversation with Q, the shot cuts to his

name written on a stone wall in blood which could

indicate that Bond is going to die or be in danger.

The trailer featured many more explosions,

gadgets and fast car chases as expected in a Bond

film which would attract a wider range of male

audiences as they’re expected to love intense

action. The theatrical trailer also gave off more

clues to the target audience in terms of location

and narrative. The film had clear settings in Mexico City, in specific the ‘Day of the Dead’ festival,

Rome and London which could broaden the audience through demographic profiling. Additionally, in

contrast to the teaser trailer, the theatrical trailer starred two bond girls, Lea Seydoux and Monica

Bellucci which would attract an alternative audience as females might be attracted to watch the film

through the actresses starring in it. Besides this, these particular two actresses are likely to appeal to

a broader male target audience as Lea, being an attractive young woman will attract a younger male

audience, and Monica will attract an older male audience as she’s an elder actress. One other quote

in this trailer is when Moneypenny tells Bond ‘you’re finished’ and it’s unclear whether she means it

in the way of death or he’s been fired from being an agent, this makes the audience wonder how

Bond is in danger. Alongside the fast paced editing and low key lighting, the use of the protagonist

(Bond) and several antagonists allows the male audience to know the action film will be thrilling and

substantial in terms of the genre. Propp’s theory could be applied to this theatrical film trailer as you

see roles of the hero which is Bond, the villain played by Mr. White, love interest as Madeline and

helpers as Q and Miss Moneypenny.

The film Spectre (Mendes, 2015) had a large financial determinant which meant they were able to

internationally market the film all over the world to increase their chances of a larger, broader target

audience. They also marketed Spectre in particular publications, which attracted males or females in specific.

From this, it’s easier to know what to feature in certain publications and how it would encourage certain

genders to go and watch the film. Press articles were issued in male/film global magazines such as Empire,

GQ and Total Film had pages or covers featuring the Spectre film or characters from such as Bond himself to

promote and raise awareness of its existence in the film industry at the time. One of Spectre’s most

recognisable film reviews was issued by The Guardian newspaper which had a headline of: ‘Spectre review

roundup; critics impressed by Bond’s latest outing’. This newspaper knowingly attracts a very wide

Megan Hughes

demographic profile worldwide so in result the article, which glorified the film, would have maximum

coverage enhancing the chances of influencing multiple types of people to go and watch the film.

Main stars Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci featured on a cover of GQ

alongside four other covers GQ released featuring articles on Spectre,

which was very formal and classy being aimed at a high profile target

audience such as males with money that

have taste in fashion and cars. Whereas

Lea Seydoux, another bond girl, featured

on the cover of Loaded magazine which

is known to be a ‘lads mag’ which fits in

well with her seductive image to appeal

to the younger male targeted to watch

the film. This could influence these

young males to watch the film because they want to see more of her

as an actress and see how she fits the role of Bond’s woman.

Furthermore, Top Gear also released articles on Spectre in their

magazine through discussing ‘Bond’s garage’ and comparing all the

different cars he’s drove in his films with the Aston Martin he drives in Spectre.

One other form of marketing is the use of The Internet including official websites such as IMDB and

Rotten Tomatoes which contain fan forums and film reviews to prolong the film experience of

Spectre (Mendes, 2015) and other films for the

intended target audience. When looking at the

film reviews for Spectre, I noticed a many

members of the public had said they’d liked the

film however it didn’t compare to the previous

Bond film Skyfall (Mendes, 2012) and they set

the bar too high in the past. Overall, most

review websites like this have the power to

either attract or distract audiences from

watching a film based on its reviews and star

rating. For example, Spectre gained a 6.9 rating

from the IMDB website which is positive because more than half the people that have watched it

liked it, however I think if you then saw a film with a higher rating being marketed, you’d be more

likely to watch that instead. From this, depending on the audience, they are ether influenced or not

to go and watch the film Spectre. Alongside this, there are also many unofficial websites on the

internet which contain the likes of fan forums, fan fiction and fan art to make the film, Spectre, more

interactive with its target audience because there are so many out there being created by members

of the public that are Bond fans. Positively, these official and unofficial websites do help to extend

the pleasures of a film like Spectre. The Spectre film also created an official website which involved a

series of interactive features that would appeal to different types of demographic profiles such as:

Q’s workshop, trailers, Bonds characters and exhibitions, behind the scenes information with cast

and crew, posters, car gallery, and shop. In addition to this, there is also a link on this page where

you can buy tickets in hope that seeing all the interactive aspects might lead the audience of this

website, males, to go and watch the film. It is noticeable how the website would appeal more to a

Megan Hughes

member of the male public as appose to a member of

the female public due to the bland black, white and

grey colours used as the background of the website, the

very bold and sharp fonts and the central double

exposure image on the page showing Bond in a suit and

in the background again wearing a mask at the Day of

the Dead festival.

Similar to this there is also Web 2.0 which primarily entails social networking sites such as Instagram,

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr allowing the cast and crew of the film Spectre to be more

interactive with its target audience. There is a Facebook Spectre page made up of reviews, questions

and other information about the film developing the relationship between both the producers and

their audience as both parties can comment and access one another’s

quires. Also during filming Spectre, Bond girl Lea Seydoux posted an

image of herself filming the scenes in Austria and hash tagged ‘Spectre

Selfie’ which will trend wide world also appealing to a wide range of

audience; including females that follow her page from liking her as an

actress or fashion icon. Using Web 2.0 as a form of marketing increases

the chances of attracting a broader audience to go and watch the film as

it’s been quoted that 74% of the public aged 18 to 65+ all use some form

of social media so when it’s being viral marketing using sharing or liking,

the content will become noticed by a wider range of demographic

profiles. Also attracting a massive audience by advertising when the film

will be issued on DVD and blue-ray is YouTube, who also aired the Premiere for the Spectre film

including a Q&A with Mr Bond himself.

The merchandising for Spectre shared a target audience of prominently males but also females by

releasing a series of items such as fragrances, 007 necklace pendant, Spectre notebook and

Moneypenny style handbag aimed specifically at women. However, as males are the more dominant

target audience, there is a wider choice of merchandise aimed at men such as the Aston Martin

DB10 keychain, Spectre/007 style clothing including snapbacks, t-shirts and jackets, a car driving

track, a briefcase similar to the one Bond had himself, 007 aftershave, Spectre cufflinks and so on.

Although, the marketers of Spectre successfully tried to

attract female demographics in order to maximise the

production companies profits. There were also tie-ins

available from other companies such as the Spectre watch

by Omega but would ideally be aimed at males judging

from the chunky wrist strap and Spectre labelled Belvedere

vodka also ideally aimed at men by using the colour blue on

the label – both aimed specifically at the target audience of

males to try and draw their attention into watching the

film. By issuing these tie-ins, Spectre are able to attract a

much wider demographic audience as most of the

companies such as Belvedere took to social media to help

promote the film as well as their own product.

Megan Hughes

In addition to these marketing techniques, promotional interviews also take part in the marketing of

films by allowing the cast of the film or members of the crew to answer questions and give out

information about the making of the film. Spectre (Mendes, 2015) in specifc did interviews with

Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux, Bond and his lady, on the Spectre set when filming in London before

the release of the film. Also, post the film being released, Daniel Craig appeared on national TV show

‘The Ellen Degenerous Show’ to tell the broad demographic audience about his time filming and

what it was like to work with the other cast members. Due to this show being popular in the US and

the UK, Daniel Craig being heart-warming and comical with the audience would have definitely

attracted them to go and watch the film Spectre. The increasingly positive reviews of Spectre also

enhanced the chances for the film having good word of mouth feedback encouraging more of the

population to go and watch the film. Depending on social class of the male target audience, the

higher class audience on the ABC1 scale may pleasure from the film due to the formal characters in

suits or interesting storyline; however the lower class or younger males may pleasure from the use

of fast cars, high action activity or Bond women.

Furthermore, I also decided to analyse Frozen for my second film in terms of marketing and

discussing the relationship between the producers and audience. Frozen was directed by Jennifer

Lee and released in 2013. The popular Disney film is a story about a newly queened girl named Elsa

who accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite weather while

her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer and a snowman to change the

weather conditions back to safety. The target audience for this film would mainly be children of all

ages due to it being a Disney film; however I would say it would appeal to the female gender more

than male due to its two main characters being princesses. Frozen was marketed all over the world

by the use of posters, trailers, magazines and newspapers, the internet, web 2.0 and especially

merchandising. Here are two posters I have analysed to show how they will appeal to their intended

target audience:

Megan Hughes

This first poster is designed to attract its target audience of children through the use of animated

characters, vibrant colours and central Disney logo. Disney specialise in creating animated films for

children such as Frozen. The animated, lifelike characters and quirky fonts appeal to them as an

alternative style to other film posters alongside the vivid colours that are extremely eye catching and

draw in a lot of attention. The young, female target audience would appreciate the dominant

princess character in the top left corner of the poster with her realistic long blonde hair and sparkly

dress along with the castle in the background as it’s stereotypical that female children like

princesses. However, male children could be attracted through the pastel blue colour that is very

attractive and takes over the poster as well as the fun looking characters in the bottom right corner

that include male characters as audiences are usually attracted to their own gender. The poster has

many visual aspects that younger children can enjoy as they might not fully understand the wording

however for the older children that can be up to 18years old, they might decide to watch the film

based on its ratings, actors that play the animated characters or narrative. In addition to this, across

the top of the poster it says ‘From the creators of Tangled and Wreck-it-Ralph’ which are two fun,

exciting Dinsey films aimed at both genders of children and both have IMDB ratings of 7.8 which is

very high and successful encouraging older children to go and watch the film.

I would say that this second poster appeals more to the female target audience due to the two main

characters being central of the poster envisioning princesses with lovely hair and beautiful dresses.

The poster is cartoon making it fun an appropraite for it’s intended age group of young children and

the vibrant colours also help to grab attention as the bright pinks and blues stand out boldly. The

fact that the characters have a very friendly, smiley facical expression will also be comforting and

Megan Hughes

appealing for a younger person to see making the poster more appropachable. Besides this, younger

children prefer to learn and look at picture images rather than words so this poster has an advantage

that it only has the film title and cinema release date in the bottom right hand corner. As you can

see, the smaller text is writen in a foreign language showing that it was marketed virally all over the

world as well as the UK with the intention of creating a larger target audience.

Both posters were again placed in busy cities such as Manchester Town Centre and around London

alongside billboards to gain maximum coverage and multiply the amount of people that will go to

see the film. However, for the purpose of the target audience, the posters were also placed in

children’s magazines such as the Disney film magazine and nearby to kids theme parks such as

Disneyland. This was done in order to catch the eye of the target audience while also trying to

appeal to alternative audience such as male children and teens by expanding the location of the

posters.

I will also analyse two film trailers from the Disney film Frozen (Jennifer Lee, 2013), one being a

teaser trailer and the other being a theatrical trailer to show help understand the relationship

between the producers and its audience when marketing a film.

Teaser trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1x76DoACB8

Theatrical trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc

The teaser trailer for the film Frozen gives away no clues in relation to the storyline, narrative or plot

behind the film. It’s a short clip featuring two of the characters Olaf the snowman and Sven the

reindeer who are two minor characters in comparison to main stars Anna and Elsa but still play a

large part in the film. The teaser trailer opens

with a series of bright, vibrant text, appealing

to a younger child, on a blank page stating

that the film was made with the same

creators from previous Disney films Tangled

(Bryon Howard, 2010) and Wreck-It Ralph

(Rich Moore, 2012) which will automatically

draw in the attention of Disney fans that

have watched and appreciated those films.

The first character we meet is Olaf, a playful jolly snowman that is fun and friendly appealing to the

younger generation. He is introduced in a humorous way as he sniffs a flower and sneezes losing his

carrot used as a nose and it flies across an iced

over lake towards Sven, the excitable, loving

reindeer who chases after it. The two

characters then battle it out slipping and sliding

all over the iced lake to see who can get to the

carrot first as Olaf fears that Sven might use his

nose as food with the intention of making the

audience laugh and giggle while the humorous

battle continues. However, when Sven beats

him, he approaches Olaf and puts his nose back in for him showing a positive and friendly

relationship between the two in order to warm the audiences heart. This shows that the film is

Megan Hughes

approvable by parents and will show fun,

mischievous characters that will allow their children

to laugh and explore the delights of the film. The

background images on the teaser trailer show a

winter wonderland environment that looks peaceful

with the use of bright colours to keep it attractive

ensuring the audience look into the setting of the

film in order to propose a story line. There isn’t any

specific music featured within the teaser trailer, the only sound we here is the non-diegetic sound of

the characters speech and instrumental tunes in the background that help to influence the mood of

the film. For example, when the two characters are battling in a humorous manor, the sound

becomes more fast pace and higher pitched to keep the humor feeling for the audience. The

instrumental sound also mimics the characters footsteps to add depth to the tone of the trailer.

In comparison to this, the theatrical trailer tells the target audience exactly what the narrative of the

film is and gives more detail in relation to the characters and their roles within the film. It starts off

with an image of the setting, the town of Erindale filled with houses, lakes and greenery alongside

one special castle where two main characters

Anna and Elsa live. Although, as the friendly

voice over artist introduces us to the beautiful

town he tells us ‘it couldn’t be warmer, it

couldn’t be sunnier but that’s all about to

change’ which is followed with a fierce sound of

thunder and flashing screen informing the

audience that maybe the film isn’t going to be

happy and jolly as expected. At this point the

audience would already have a complete different view of the film in comparison to the teaser

trailer as this film begins with a negative vibe telling the frightful story of how Queen Elsa has

disruptively frozen the town putting everyone in

danger. The target audience is first introduced to

Princess Anna in a humorous scene when she’s

walking in ice and snow with just a dress on saying

‘cold, cold, cold’ repetitively. The young audience

would find this funny and the females would relate

to her princess style character which instantly

forms a connection between the audience and the

film. The film trailer then takes a dark turn when the Duke of the town voices ‘If you don’t do

something soon, we’ll all freeze to death’ which while

being daunting is then faded out by an upbeat, chripy

soundtrack that would make the audience feel excited

and energetic. The trailer then goes on to give more

information about the characters by showing images

and giving names which immediately gives off more

information in compairson to the teaser trailer. This

gets the younger target audience prepared for the film

Megan Hughes

as they know who the characters are and what role

they play instead of having to figure it out for

themselves. This could help to attract an alternative

target audience of male children and teens due to the

two masculine characters as well as Mr Olaf the

Snowman as they know it’s not strictly going to be a

storyline based on Princess Anna and Queen Elsa.

The colours featured in the trailer are eyegrabbing

and vibrant making it appeal to younger children as they prefer to work with colour and images as

appose to text at a young age. The trailer is positive and humurous from this point onwards as we

see Chrisoph and Anna playing catch with Olaf the snowmans head, the couple arguing over silly

incidents and Olaf falling over several times which most chilren will find comical and silly ensuring

the audience are laughing and positive. The theatrical trailer features small amounts of text in large,

bold font to make it easy for the younger target audience to read. The producers of the trailer have

also used a bright vibrant neon blue colour for the background to make it stand out but also enkeep

with the theme of the film of frozen land and ice. All iconography expected in a Disney film is there

in the theatrical trailer from the animated characters, excitable storyline, upbeat music and vibrant

colours that all help to pursaude the Disney lovers to go and watch the film in cinema.

Frozen (Lee, 2013), similar to Spectre, also had a large financial determinant which meant they were

able to internationally market the film all over the world to increase their chances of a larger,

broader target audience. Due to this they were able to release a series of magazines in hope of

promoting the film and getting people to view it in cinema. Disney have several magazines in which

Frozen took the cover and in some cases a full spread inside to try and make the film appeal to all

children by putting it right in front of their eyes. The animated princess style characters, bright

colours, bubbly font and wide range of accessories that come free will immediately grab the

attention of a young female child that loves Disney as they as stereotyped to want to be like

princesses making the characters inspirational to them, further influencing them to want to watch

the film. Disney even designed their own version of vogue magazine for kids adding the opportunity

of it appealing to a teen female audience hoping a fashion magazine might influence them to watch

the film.

Megan Hughes

The internet plays a large role in advertising and marketing a film. Official film review websites, as

previously mentioned, such as IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes hold positive reviews of the film with a

7.6 star rating out of 10. However, in my opinion this can be seen as an unfair misjudgement due to

the fact that the intended target audience of younger children not being able to comment and

review upon the film as they’re simply too young to use the internet. As seen in this image, this

review has been writen by

someone who is at least

20 years old based on

their comment. They

could have watched it as a

parent or as an adult that

enjoys watching Disney

films like myself. This review on a whole is positive and might encourage other people of this age to

go and watch the film creating a larger chance of an alternative audience. On the other hand, this is

an image of a negative review

in which insults the film saying

it hasn’t lived up to the

expectations of previous

Disney films such as

‘Rapunzel’ and ‘Princess and

the Frog’ which are old

classics made many years ago.

A parent or adult who enjoys

Disney films who reads this review might be discouraged to go and watch it in cinema as they might

not want to waste their money if they think the film wont live up to previous expectations.

Besides these film review websites that the intended target audience will struggle to access and

understand. There are also offical and unoffical Disney Frozen pages that contain fan forums, facts

about the characters, games and oppurtuniutes to play games and have fun.

http://frozen.disney.com/ is an offical website that features videos, galleries, blogs, quizzes and

activities which are more appropiatite for the intended target audience. The attractive website filled

with bright colours

allows children to

access fun games, sing

alongs and

information making it

an excitable learning

experience. The uses

of images will make it

more eye grabbing

and quizzes such as

‘Which Frozen

Megan Hughes

character are you?’ will make them giddy and encourage them to appreactiate the film more and

more. Teens are also fond of using the internet making it an experience for an alternative audience

to enjoy too. Unofficial websites are ones with no authority made by the public for the use of fan

forums and usually discussing the film. I wasn’t able to find any when searching the internet which

could possibly relate to the fact the intended target audience are too young to use the web.

Similar to the internet there is also Web 2.0 which primarily entails social networking sites such as

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and

Tumblr allowing the cast and crew of the film

Frozen to be more interactive with its target

audience; however due to the issue of the

intended target audience being too young to

use social media there is a barrier in

between the producers and their audience.

Despite this, Facebook, Instagram and

Twitter pages have been made as well as

accounts on YouTube that show clips of the

film or the songs that the characters sing

with lyrics allowing parents to get their

children involved as well as teens who are

more often than not on social media.

Through these accounts, the film is achieving

a larger range of target audiences as

alternative audiences that pick up the film

marketing on social media can range from

ages of 12-100+ because social media is

becoming more advantaged allowing more

people to sign up and use it easily.

The merchandising for the film Frozen was a massive thing all over the world due to the film being

released by popular Disney Company that several have shops, theme parks and other establishments

worldwide. Up to now, three years after the release of the film, you can get Frozen everything…

Frozen bedding and pillows, Frozen dolls and toys, Frozen hair accessories, Frozen clothing and

pyjamas, Frozen shoes, Frozen shampoo and conditioner, Frozen backpacks, Frozen earphones,

Frozen dinner sets, even Frozen wrapping paper. The list goes on of merchandising products and

they are all aimed mainly at female young children and teens but items such as the stuffed Olaf and

Sven toys can be useful for male fans too. All of these products, that’re available at theme parks, in

Disney stores and even online the official websites, help to extend the film pleasure and keep the

target audience excited about the film, influencing them to buy the DVD and

watch it again.

Megan Hughes

Tie ins were also used by the producers of Disney film, Frozen (Lee, 2013). They intelligently thought

of giving away free Frozen toys with every Mcdonalds happy meal all over the world to incease the

chances of children seeing and noticing the film by virally marketing it. Mcdonalds happy meals are

made especially for children of a young age so this way the producers are putting the film straight in

front of the audiences eyes and making them excited by it with a free toy. On terms of promotional

interviews, when searching the web I wasn’t

able to see any of the crew or cast members

Q&A’s that would inititally help word of the film

get out more easily. Perhaps this was due to the

fact that the target audience, again, have

trouble accessing the internet to view these

things. However, when visiting toy stores such

as the Disney store and Hamleys, there are

more often than not characters dressed up in

costume as Anna, Elsa and the rest of the cast allowing the audience to make contact with them and

create a bond with the audience, especially younger children that are liekly to believe that they are

the realistic characters from the film. As well as this, when visiting the Disney theme parks whether

it be in Paris or the USA, there are rides and activities based on the film allowing the children as well

as teens and adults to get involved and be influenced to watch the film. Word of mouth would have

been a positive form of marketing with this film as its imaginable that young children will go to

school and dicuss the vieiwng of the film and continue to ask their class mates and friends if they’ve

been to see it an compare opinions on the storyline and characters.

To conclude, I think the marketing of a film and creating a relationship between the producers and

their audiences is extremely important in the way that it helps to attract a larger target audience to

watch the film resulting in maximising the film profits.