Marketing of Avatar

Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time without the aid of a franchise, an A-list star or a historical event. It was produced by Lightstorm Entertainment, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners and Distributed by 20^th Century Fox.  Avatars marketing campaign was mainly above-the-line, partnering with a global business to appeal to the mass audience. Avatar was largely promoted through free publicity and advertising due to there being a word-of-mouth hype and generous reviews. Although there was a large amount of free publicity the marketing budget for the film was expected to be over $200million. Technology such as the Simulcam and Fusion 3D were very important in the marketing of Avatar and making it the highest grossing film however social media was also an important factor as to why the film was so popular.

There was an official Facebook page for Avatar and this had over 770,000 fans, MTV also put together a Facebook-hosted webcast called ‘Avatar live’. MTV News’ interviewed James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, the questions were submitted by internet fans in the days leading up to the event and the 30-minute interview was one of the most effective Hollywood webcast’s to date. There was over 25k followers on twitter and according to a social media analytics firm Sysomos, Avatar was the most talked about film on twitter in January 2010, some of the tweets included ‘tweet to listen’ which meant that fans had to forward the tweet in order to hear the soundtrack and this was effective in spreading word about the film because it meant that followers of someone who had retweeted to hear the soundtrack would then learn about the film with it coming up on their timeline.

There was also an official website for the film, the website offered 14 side-scrolling square boxes that showcase many of the digital initiatives that make the film stand out, the story was published, there were character biographies which meant that viewers could become familiar with the characters, music and wallpaper downloads and even a ‘create your own Avatar’ feature. These were all effective in marketing the film because they meant that they were appealing to a wide range of ages with the variety of things on offer and it spread knowledge and popularity of the film.

August 21^st 2009 was a very big day for the marketing company, this day was known as Avatar day from fans due to 100 IMAX 3D theatres worldwide showing 16 minutes of footage, Ubisoft debuted a trailer for a videogame based on the film and Mattel unveiled action figures inspired by the film characters, these were all important in the marketing of avatar because again the appealed to a wider range of age groups meaning this film would appeal to a variety of age groups. PBS said that “August 21^st was celebrated as ‘Avatar day’. Today it should be remembered as the dawn to the most comprehensive digital marketing campaign ever developed to support a film”

Overall, marketing for Avatar was very important, because of the different ways 20^th Century Fox marketed the film it meant that it appealed to many different age groups and this could be why it was the highest grossing film for all ages, the film was a 12A film meaning that it was available for almost all ages and the use of action figures and videogames meant that it appealed to younger viewers and the marketing via social media meant that other age groups saw the marketing and the nature of the film made it very popular.

Representation of Sexuality

This clip starts with two women in a room, one women is holding a dress up against the other and they are both admiring how the dress looks on the women in the mirror. There is a narrator speaking over the clip, this narrator explains how she thinks the women with the dress is 'beautiful'. This represents sexuality because the women appears to be admiring the women holding the dress and then the narrator also describes her as beautiful so from this we may assume that this women is homosexual.  the narrator then continues to speak of this women in a very loving tone which could suggest that she is fond of who she is speaking of.

The next scene shows the two women in bed, the women who's voice is used from the narrators point of view is sitting up and looking at the other women sleeping with a very loving facial expression, the shot used during this is a long shot to show almost all of the women's body. The women then moves her hand slightly above the women's body from her chest down to her legs, this would represent sexuality because it may show how the women has a lust for the other. The music playing in this scene is very typical of an older period in time however from the tone we can tell that this is a very positive and romantic scene.

The next scene then shows the women sleeping again however they are now outside and the other women is sat under an umbrella painting, There is now a third character in this scene which is a man. There are a few shot reverse shot, shots to show the facial expressions of all of the actors and this is representational of sexuality because it gives us the idea that something is unusual due to the transaction of looks they give each other. Dialogue is then used to show how the man and the women should be in love, the man speaks in a very intimidating way during this conversation. There is then a sequence of close-ups of the sleeping women's body, we know that these are from Maud's point of view due to the angle, this represents sexuality because Maud is looking at areas of the women's body. Because of this, the man realises how Maud feels for the women and uses this to blackmail her, this represents sexuality because by a few looks he can see how Maud feels for the other women.

The man then covers Maud's mouth and drags her away so they can talk. The man is being very threatening and blackmails Maud that he will keep her secret if she appears to love him and also marries him, we then see that se agrees by letting him kiss her hand. This represents sexuality because we learn that he is heterosexual and wants her to love him.

The next scene then shows the other women removing her dress and again we can see that Maud is admiring her however once they climb into bed Maud is covering her mouth slightly and looks slightly guilty.

This whole clip is representational of sexuality because throughout this clip we can see that Maud is in love with the other women and towards the end we also learn that the man is in love with Maud, this is therefore a love triangle which is represented through the clip.

Representation on Ethnicity

At the beginning of this clip we see a black man, dressed very formally in a suit, the man appears to be serving people around the pool, from this we can assume that this man works where the scene is located. The man is then walking next to the pool and another young black man climbs out of the pool and the man stops walking. The two men are then stood having a conversation and from this conversation, we learn that the two characters know each other and we also see how they are quite different. By this I mean that one man is dressed very formally in a suit, is well spoken and is very well groomed however the man who climbs out of the pool is without a top, wearing a silver chain and earing and he also has dreadlocks which he has tied up, this man is less formal. The represents ethnicity because one man is very stereotypical of a black man however the other does not fit into the stereotype. We also learn from the dialogue used in this scene that the man who was in the pool has a slight Jamaican accent whereas the well dressed man does not.

We then switch to the next scene which again shows people working and from the costumes and props used, such as the cleaning trolley we learn that these two women are cleaners. The two women approach a door and one women speaks, from the dialogue we can hear that this women has an accent and although I am unsure of where the accent originates from, I know that it is not a British accent. The music that is playing during this scene is slightly more upbeat and does not sound typically British.Once the two women have entered the room there is an older man sat on the bed and we can see that this man is not British. This represents ethnicity because we can see from the women's accents and the way the man looks that they are not British.

A well dressed man and women walk along a corridor and from this scene we can hear the accents of these two people and they have a very typical British accent. These two people enter a kitchen and approach another man and upon approaching him and having a conversation we can hear that this man has an accent. In my opinion this accent sounds either Italian or French. This represents ethnicity because we would often associate French or Italian men with being very successful chefs.  From this shot we also learn that the chefs name is Gianni which is a typically Italian name so this along with the accent tells us that this man is very likely to be Italian. This represents ethnicity because the man appears to be following the stereotype of an Italian person.

Section B

Section B

Media is a very important part of society nowadays, the vast majority of people watch some form of media, whether it is by going to the cinema to watch films, viewing them online, watching them on television or even by filming their own videos of some sort. Personally I watch media in many different ways however I do not film my own clips other than in media. I do not watch non-professional videos online as I do not find them very interesting and I do not have the internet access at home to watch youtube videos for example.

 I occasionally go to the cinema to watch films however I feel that it must be a very popular film of a genre I will like as I feel it is a very big waste of money if I do not like the film which means I do not go very often. I would say I go to the cinema an average of once a month and most of the time I will go with my best friend however I have previously been in a group but feel it is easier going with only one person as it is sometimes difficult to find enough seats together if the film is very busy. For example I went to see the inbetweeners 2 movie which a group of friends however the theatre was very busy and it was a struggle to find enough seats together.

In my house we have 5 TVs, all of which have free-view channels. Free-view means that I have quite a few channels however there are only a few film channels for example I have film 4, film 4 +1 and movies4men however I am not aware of any other film channels. I watch film 4 every now and then however I watch E4 most of the time. E4 sometimes show films for example St Trinians is often aired however films are not on regularly. My TV also has a normal DVD played which is a way of watching DVDs however I do not buy them very often, I will only buy a film on DVD if it is something I know I could watch multiple times as I think that buying many DVDs would be far too expensive. I have brought myself a few DVDs but I have received more DVDs at Christmas or my Birthday. When watching a DVD I rarely watch them alone, I usually watch them with a friend or with a family member

I also watch films on Netflix occasionally however this is only when I am round my sister’s house as I do not currently have access to the internet at home. When I visit my sister however she has wifi so I usually take either my laptop or tablet as I can watch Netflix on either device. I like to watch films over the internet because you can watch films that you wouldn’t usually watch as it doesn’t matter how many films you watch so you can watch films you do not enjoy so much without a consequence of losing money for example.

Industry Statistics from BARB show that around 98% of British homes own a TV. Studies also show that 91% of adults tune into the main TV set in the living room at least once a week yet around 53% also use other media whilst watching TV often even communicating about the TV shows.

An average household owns at least three types of internet-enabled devices such as smart phones, tablets and computers however the TV set in the living still remains its importance. Tablets however are becoming increasingly popular with watching live TV with around 57% of tablets owners watching TV at least once a week on their device. 56% of tablet users also watch content on downloaded ‘TV apps’ such as BBC iPlayer, 4OD, Demand 5 and ITV Player.