Essay Question and response.

'“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices.” To what extent would you agree with this statement remedial study?'
(In other words: Successful films depend as much on marketing and advertising as well as distribution to an audience as much as the overall production of the film. Would you agree with this statement?) 

I do agree with this statement to a certain extent because films (especially Blockbusters) rely on advertising to attract audiences to watch their film so they can gain as much money as possible and reach their target profit. However, I don't agree with this statement completely because if the films production isn't to a high standard then no one will go to see the film.

Films can be advertised an many different ways. One way could be through the use of Synergy. Synergy is when two companies are making a profit out of one thing. An example of synergy is the happy meals in McDonald's. McDonald's often make toys for their Happy Meals and the toys are usually characters from the big Blockbuster films that are made in the summer (Eg. Avengers). In this process McDonald's is making some of the profit through the Happy Meals and Marvel is also making some of the profit because they own the copyright of those characters.

Another way in which films are marketised are through the use of posters and trailers. This is an effective way to advertise a film before it's released because people will see the film poster daily because many film posters are displayed outdoors on billboads and on the sides of buses which will make people see the poster regulary. Trailers are a useful way of advertising because they can be shown on the television during the advert breaks, this is effective because a lot of people watch television daily so the trailer will be unavoidable to watch. Trailers are also often played before films in the cinema which is also a good use of marketising.

Video games and merchandise are also a good way of promoting films. For example the Avengers have a huge range of merchandise from action figures to character costumes. This is a good use of marketising because if people liked the film then they'll buy the merchandise which will give the companies in charge of the film and the companies that own the copright of the characters a large profit. This is another use of synergy. Video games are also a good way to advertise films because if people enjoyed the film then people are more likely to buy the video game too. Again, this is another use of synergy because the company that made the computer game will gain a percentage of the money and the company that made the film will also get a percentage of the money, also the company that own the copyroght of the characters and storyline will also gain a percentage of the money.