For our latest project for college we have been asked to look at other ways that thriller films have been sold to the public. The film I picked is the Departed. The film won several awards, including four Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Director (Scorsese), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Wahlberg was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I think when a film wins a lot of awards and the film did win best picture at the Oscars, I do think that it starts to gain the attention of the viewing public because the people who are selling the film are going to put in the trailer or DVD release the awards that it has won as this will get them more money.
I think the other reason the film draws people in is because it is directed by the legend known as Martin Scorsese. People know he has directed classic movies such as Goodfellas, Casino and Taxi Driver and to draw the viewing public in even more they will put his name on the top of the poster in big letters because everybody knows who he is.
I think the other way they sold the film well was the main Hollywood actors they put in the film for example Leonardo DiCaprio known for films such as This Boy’s Life, The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse. The female audiences also love DiCaprio so they are selling the film well in that aspect.
Another big selling point for the film is Matt Damon as he is known for such film as The Talented Mr Ripley, The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy. The selling point again is Matt Damon is popular with the ladies.
Another big selling point for the film is that they have the legend known as Jack Nicholson in the film. He is known for such films as One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining and Reds. Jack Nicholson will attract the older audiences to come and watch the film.
Another popular actor to add to the film is Mark Wahlberg who is very popular with young people. He is known for such films as Invincible, Max Payne and the award winning The Fighter.
Another way they sold the film was they added two more legends in the film. They are Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen. Alec Baldwin is known for such films as Great Balls of Fire, The Hunt for Red October, The Shadow, Ghosts of Mississippi, Thomas and the Magic Rail Road, Pearl Harbour, Channel Chasers, The Aviator, Rise of the Guardians. The legend Martin Sheen is known for films such as Catch 22, The Missiles of October, The Execution of Private Slovak, Apocalypse Now, The Dead Zone, Judgment in Berlin, Gettysburg, Entertaining Angels, The Dorothy Day Story, An Act of Conscience Spawn and The Amazing Spider Man. I think if you saw all these actors on a poster than you are going to want to watch that film.
I think another strong point in the film is the plot. The plot of the film is that two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence boils and blood is shed when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities. I think the strong storyline would draw people in to watch the film.
Here are some of the selling points the producers used to sell the film and also to get the film ready in time. Martin Scorsese wanted to shoot the film in Boston, where the story is set. But due to concerns on setting up production and politics, the producers chose New York City to double for Boston because of the state's 15% tax credit. The bulk of the movie was shot in New York City while a six-week shooting schedule was split in two for Boston, shooting the first half in June and the second half in August. After the success of this film, Massachusetts created a 25% tax credit for filmmaking. I think it was a smart move for the producers to do this. Some other information about what the producers did was that in the classroom scene, police academy graduation scene, and shooting range scene (all at the beginning of the film) were actually shot near the end of production. Historic Ft. Schuyler on the campus of State University of New York's Maritime College was the back drop. Again I think it was another smart move for them to save time and get the film finished quickly.
I think another big selling point for the film was that it was being released by Warner Bros. This was a smart move for Martin Scorsese because Warner Bros is one of the biggest film companies in the world and one of the most popular. However, in my opinion I do think the Departed would have been a flop or just made less money if it did not have the big Hollywood actors and massive Hollywood director. I think if the film had a low budget with an unknown director and unknown main actors, it could have been a massive flop. Also for people that didn’t know, as Warner Bros kept it quiet, the film is a remake. The original film is called Infernal Affairs. The film was made in Hong Kong. Because of the popularity of the film the Americans wanted their own version which in a way I think hurts the original film’s status in the market meaning more people are going to know about the American version than about the Hong Kong version. This is because American films always do well in the market but small films like Infernal Affairs suffer because it is not a mainstream film in any way shape or form. I also think another thing that hurts the film is Americans are not going to know the lead actors in the film so it puts them off.
There can also be a lot of advantages and disadvantages with certain media platforms. What I mean by this is some films get wide mainstream success because of the company that sells the film to the public are well known. For example I think the movie Avatar was a massive success because of the well known company that released the film. The company was 20th Century Fox known for films like Star Wars which was a massive hit, XMen which was another massive hit for them, Die Hard another massive hit, Alien which was another massive hit for them, Revenge of the Nerds which was a sleeper hit, Night at the Museum was another huge hit for them, Predator was another sleeper hit for them and later came to be a massive hit in the 90s. Another hit they had was Independence Day but I think that movie was only popular because of Will Smith because he is loved by audiences around the world, the last hit that I can think of is The Simpsons which aired on TV in 1989 and still makes seasons to this day because it is loved by audiences around the world and the movie they did of The Simpsons was an even bigger success becoming one of the highest grossing films of 2007.
The film company that made The Departed which was Warner Bros had their fair share of hits. One was The Maltese Falcon staring popular actor Humphrey Bogart and also Casablanca again starring Humphrey Bogart. Another hit they had was a film called A Streetcar Named Desire which had the popular actor at the time, Marlon Brando in the lead role. Another hit they had was the film Rebel without a Cause starring another popular actor called James Dean. Another hit they had was Bonnie and Clyde which caused some controversy about the amount of violence the film had. A sleeper hit that the film company had was a film called A Clockwork Orange which was hugely controversial because of the amount of violence that was in it. It was banned in the United Kingdom for years. It had loads of gang violence in the film and the strong theme of rape. The title character also had a strong love for Beethoven.
Films like Saw struggle because one the lead actors is not known. No one had heard of the company before the film Saw which was Lions Gate. They are known for sleeper hits like American Psycho. The way they sold the film to the public was Lions Gate made an online game called Make a Calling with American Psycho in which players invest using fake Hollywood money in actors or films. I think this was a clever way to promote a low budget film. The massive hit for them was Saw. It made a lot of money at the cinema and even more on home video. Monster Ball was another hit for them as well as the Punisher.
Another company that was not well know was the company called Orion. The company was shut down after flop after flop and not very good marketing. Some of the films which they released are: Hoosiers which was a massive hit for them. Another one was Robocop which is now a classic. The studio was also closed down because of bankruptcy. Other films which were massive because of the film company I think are the original Mummy not the poor remake with Brendon Fraser, Spartacus and Airport.
I think the reason that Universal studios have been around as long as they have is because they always release the big summer blockbusters that young adults really want to see. Also people like action films.
One film company that I know uses the market well is the Disney Company. Founder Walt Disney founded the company in 1923 and had hits after hits. Because Disney became so popular he opened up Disneyland, Disneyworld and Disneyland Paris. Disney is an international success and is loved by audiences around the world. Another marketing strategy that Disney uses is that they have 4 icons in the studios they are Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. Another selling point that Disney use is the Disney vault where they re release classics that have been loved for many years. Some of their classics are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Make Mine Music, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, The Rescuers, The Black Cauldron, Oliver and Company, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, A Goofy Movie, Pocahontas, Toy Story, Hercules, Mulan, A Bugs Life, Tarzan and Toy Story 2.
Other ways in which they now sell their products is to make video games for the big Hollywood movies that are coming out. All though the games are popular with younger children, critics are harsh and the games are reviewed negatively by mainstream critics. Because the games reviews are negative the games under sell. Another thing they do is that they sell their film product by giving a small toy to McDonalds and put it in the kids Happy Meal. They do this so that young kids will want to see their film or the other reason they do this is because after the kid has watched their film they will want to collect all the toys. Another that they do is to make a TV advert so kids know about the toy in the meal. In most of the adverts they say for a ‘limited time only’ so that will make them want to get the toy before it leaves the market which I think is a smart idea.
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