Assessing the Audience
Gaining the market
The success of a film is measured by profit not always by the number of people actually seeing the film although box office receipts are usually given as an indication of a film’s success
Consider the following statistics:
Titanic (1997) $601 million
Star Wars (1977) $461 million
E.T. (1982) $400 million
Forest Gump (1994 ) $330 million
The Lion King (1994 ) $313 million
These are some of the most successful films in history. What is it about them that makes them a success?
The audience
• Films / Movies are targeted to specific audiences.
• The target audience is affected by the ratings films are given by Censorship authorities in the countries the films will be screened.
• Censorship ratings are affected by concepts of:
• “acceptable” language decisions. (Virgin & Mistress were once unacceptable - even for adults.What words do you think are unacceptable?)
• “acceptable” behaviour. (Indian films still forbid kissing or physical contact between sexes. In the 1950-60s men & women slept in single beds, even if married, in USA films.)
• “acceptable” belief - political or religious.
Film Industry
• Film makers also need to consider how far out of the social “comfort zone” their audiences will move.
• If a film is seen to be too far ahead of its time, not easily understood or too threatening to traditional ideas and values it could fail at the box office.
• The aim is to “place” the film in such a manner that the audience will accept the premise even though it may “threaten” traditional values or ideas.
Geography & Demographics
• Film marketing can be tailored to meet the specific target audiences.
eg: The Omega Code had strong Christian concepts. Released in the “Bible Belt” of the USA. Publicised in Churches & Christian TV programmes.
The Shaft films were targeted at black audiences although their appeals cut across race & demographics.
• Market decisions will be made against educational levels of the audience… a film dealing with cultural alienation (The Namesake) will appeal to tertiary educated market while one dealing with animated toys (Toy Story) will appeal to the young children / family market.
• Decisions will be made on possible urban-rural or, in the USA, North-South backgrounds of the audiences.
This can mean that a film with a sexual theme will be more acceptable to (in the USA) will be pitched at educated persons who grew up in the northern states as research would indicate that such a film would not succeed with a less educated small town Southern states audience.
(Age, while a factor, is not such an important determinant as it used to be. )
Some interesting factoids
• Horror films do best in the Mid Western States - North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska.
• Comedy films do best in the New England States.
Questions
• Check out the theatres where Berkeley & Hoyts place particular films. Do you think that the theatre chains in NZ are influenced by similar concepts about demography & geography?
Predicting success is not easy: e.g: The film Melena received two Academy Awards yet the reviewers panned it as one of the worst they’d seen.
Some audiences reacted adversely to the themes of adolescent sexuality the film dealt with.
On the other hand My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont were panned by the critics but became a box office successes
Film Makers will consciously structure and market their films to attract their target audiences as the campaign for the CG film - The 300 demonstrates.
• The box office success of The 300 was seen as a gamble as the audience reaction to such costume action films since the 2000 success of The Gladiator was not good.
e.g: In the USA:
Gladiator grossed $458 million + 5 Oscars.
Troy grossed $133 million.
Alexander grossed $43.3 million.
Kingdom of Heaven grossed $47.4 million.
Changes were made to the script to cater for the possible markets.
• The battle scenes were filmed Matrix style - slow to fast motion action. ( A ballet of death” - Deborah Snyder.)
• The role of Queen Gorgo was enhanced to appeal to the female audience - given a sub-plot about political corruption as well as made a very passionate role beside King Leonidas.
n.b. Advertising was placed in female friendly TV shows rather than the male friendly Super-Bowl.
• Xerxes was pitched as a hero to a possible homosexual audience with his costume & behaviour.
The Film Industry has changed since the 1940s when ticket sales were at a peak.
The number of screens (in the USA ) dropped dramatically in the 1950s as TV grew in popularity.
From the 1970s the number of screens began to increase. In 1970 there were 10,000 screens - in 2001 there were 2001 screens.
The changes have been reflected world wide. But film profits have declined.
• While revenue has increased in the period 1071 - 2001 the number of tickets sold has remained much the same.
• The increase in box office revenue is attributable mostly to increases in the cost of tickets. From approximately $5.60 in 1971 to $10.00+ in 2001.
• From 2005 theatre attendance dropped due to such factors as: poor “theatre experiences”. The screening of commercials, petrol price increases, growing popularity of cable & satellite services, new home theatre technology.
• Theatres have responded by offering new incentives - food & drink service, better seating, greater leg room…. (Check out the marketing by Berkeley and Hoyts Theatre chains in NZ as examples of this.)
There are other factors that have influenced the film industry and the identification of audiences.
1. The star attractiveness and costs.
2. Production costs - settings and locations.
3. Revenue streams other than ticket sales.
Costs as a factor in success:
Remember success of a film is usually measured by profits measured in $c.
• Increasingly films are made outside of Hollywood as U.S. labour and location costs increase. It is cheaper to film in NZ or Australia than it is to film in California.
• Salaries paid to “Stars”. These can exceed $20 million per Star per picture. Studios bargain on the audience interest in the Star will be returned in increased profits. Note: Tom Cruise reportedly had his studio contract terminated as his popularity waned.
Costs as a factor in success:
Other Revenue Streams: Movie attendance is affected by the ticket price - too high a ticket price the lower the audience.
Ancillary Profits come from:
• Network TV rights
• Foreign distribution
• Sales to independent TV stations
• Pay for View TV channels
• Airline in-flight movies
• Music rights for soundtracks
• Merchandise - plastic toys etc.
• Book publishing rights - the book of the film.
• Product placement in the film.
To gauge the market effectiveness of a film Studios will screen a cut to a selected audience then assess their reactions to it.
The analysis of the reactions will determine how the film is cut and or ends.
e.g: The reaction of women to The 300 altered the role and portrayal of Queen Gorgo.
Reactions to endings in Amercian test audiences has forced directors to film alternate endings for films to meet different audience demands are filmed - e.g. American audiences prefer an up beat ending while European audiences accept a more down beat conclusion. The film 28 Days Later has a “happy” ending for the US market while the European version ends more ambiguously.
Other films that have been altered to ensure audience share:
• Sweet Home Alabama originally had Reese Witherspoon apparently being killed after being struck by lighting then, when carried into the wedding reception, looking up and smiling. Cut to finish.
• Fatal Attraction - originally the woman suicides and her husband gets arrested for her murder.
• Blade Runner originally implies that the hero was really a robot.
• Napoleon Dynamite has been filmed with a wedding and the loving couple heading into the sunset.
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