Yerzat Tursunkulov
BA Media Studies/Media Comms., level 6
Popular Cinema. Assignment I
Discuss the use of advertising, marketing or ‘hype’ in the cinematic success (or lack of it) in one or more films
Notion of blockbuster mainly relates to a very successful product or production either in film industry or theatre. If a certain film hits top box office results and gets popular in a certain period of time then that film is called ‘blockbuster’. Statistics say Titanic (1997) is the biggest grossing blockbuster film in the history of film industry with $ 1,835,300,000 worldwide gross. According to the most of academics, Jaws (1975) was reckoned as the first blockbuster film ever. However, there were many other films which are counted as the blockbusters of their era. Those ones include such films as Gone with the wind (1939), The Sound of Music (1965) etc. Films of such classical Hollywood directors as Hitchcock, Ford, Welles, Hawks made big contribution to original evolution of blockbuster. In the classical Hollywood era the notion of blockbuster was measured by ticket sales, theatre opening and box office grossing[1]. For example Gone with the wind’s weekend gross was $945,000.Total gross including USA and worldwide since December 15, 1939 to nowadays summed $390 525 192. However its production budget was only $3 900 000. $1 000 000 was spent for promotion, advertising and printings[2]. So in these terms even The Birds of Hitchcock can also be counted as the blockbuster film of its era. The emergence of the New Hollywood era brought new aesthetics to film industry which was reflected in their films. The new Hollywood directors rejuvenated films wrapping them up with new technologies and filling film narratives with new ideas, new content elements thus refining and redefining genres. Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Graduate (1969) of Mike Nichols and Easy Rider (1969) of Dennis Hopper were the products of the New Hollywood era. Those were absolutely new films with new content wrapped in unusual stylish narrative pushing boundaries and bringing new aesthetics. However in that era there were other group directors which were not influenced by French new wave or Italian neo-realism. Those were directors which were keen to use new film technologies as well as new narrative forms. They were known as the Movie brats who started the new era of film making which was based on high concept narrative and new technologies.
Since 1975 the mainstream Hollywood has changed to blockbusters. Warren Buckland in his book Directed by Steven Spielberg explains emergence of blockbuster era:
‘The year 1975 witnessed the phasing out of the New Hollywood in favour of the blockbuster era, a politically conservative, neoclassical style of filmmaking. Of course, blockbuster constituted an integral part of classical Hollywood, but as exceptional productions that run counter to the regular output of routine movies. From 1975, blockbusters increasingly became Hollywood’s standard or dominant practice of filmmaking. Most blockbuster directors were college educated..., and are known as the Movie Brats (especially Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg to some extent). They recycled classical Hollywood films, especially B-movie genres, which they remade using A-movie budgets’[3]
So since release of Jaws (1975) with $100 000 000 in ticket sales filmmakers and audience found main criteria for the blockbuster. It must be entertaining which have to have action, catastrophe, romance, quest, adventure and elements of science fiction - all wrapped in one plot. Thus Hollywood studios started to produce high budgeted blockbuster films which heavily relied on massive advertising and promotion campaigns such as Star Wars (1977) of George Lucas. Lucas and Spielberg were the first filmmakers associated with the beginning of the blockbuster era.
However, the meaning of what blockbuster is doesn’t come from the academics or film professionals. Audience is the one which defines should the film be blockbuster or not. In the end everything depends on how audience will receive certain picture. If they would receive it as good as they received, say, The Lord of the Rings trilogy then the film will be a blockbuster. However it also depends on how certain film is promoted. Film studios try to promote film as good as possible. They use different promotion campaigns which mostly include advertising (trailers, teasers) on theatres, television and print advertising. According to Warren Buckland blockbuster can be defined by two aspects: by ‘the huge sums involved in production and marketing’ and by ‘the amount of revenues received’[4]. At present situation blockbusters are minimally requested to reach $100 000 gross in the US market and to achieve $ 100 000 in production cost. According to Buckland such New Hollywood-inspired films as The Blair Witch Project (1999) with production cost of $ 35 000 and $ 140 000 US box office revenue cannot be counted as blockbuster. However it is one of the most financially successful films of 1990s. According to Buckland one specific feature for blockbusters studios is that they always search for the introduction of new distribution patterns. The studios prefer the saturation release instead of the platform release which has been practiced since the Classical Hollywood are. The platform release means the distribution of films across the country from big cities to towns and small villages. Meanwhile the saturation release is for showing certain film in all cinemas across the country in the same time. Many blockbusters premiere in minimum of 3000 venues at the same time. However the saturation or even supersaturation release, Buckland states, leads to heavy advertising campaign throughout country which leads to big advertising budget.
Because blockbuster production is based on heavy financial spending they have to have their ‘break-even point’. According to Buckland, the break-even point for today’s blockbusters must be at least 2.5[5]. It means, if film costs, say, £60 million it has to make around £150 million to break even financially. These hard requirements are explained in several points. Firstly, there is production and promotion cost. Then there is the exhibitors’ share of the profits. Also studios have their interest share. And finally, there are production crew including director, stars, actors and other team members.
Blockbuster has to be made for a big audience in order to reach vast range of people. That’s why most of them combine different film genres and subgenres put together as in an example of, say, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Krystal Skull (2008) which generically can be classified as action, adventure, science fiction, comedy etc. So the film must contain some elements of action, horror, romance, catastrophe, love, friendship, aliens, creatures, heroes, adventure and etc otherwise it just can’t be popular. It has to be something what Geoff King termed as ‘impressive spectacular realism’. King says:
‘It combines spectacle that draws attention to itself as spectacle, something to be ‘wowed’ by with a realism (self-effacing, in that ‘the joints cannot be seen’) usually understood as seeking to draw us into fictional world of the film. It can work either way; maybe both at the same time’[6]
So in blockbusters the characters must be simple with clear-cut morals; film must have easily recognisable elements and its plot must be of high-concept which can be summed in 25 to 50 words. According to Buckland the first film which fitted these criteria was Jaws (1975) of Steven Spielberg. It combined several classical Hollywood genres such as monster movie, thriller, slasher film, buddy film, chase film. The film itself was actually based on the novel which sold nearly 7 million copies. It was artistically wrapped with action sequences like shark attacks and other dangerous moments[7]. Jaws was one of the must see films of 1975.
There were several ways which made Jaws so popular at that time. Firstly the film itself which is an action, drama, thriller as well as horror packed in one narrative as mentioned above. It draws viewers’ attentions; it keeps them watching the film. The film is unlike other blockbusters: there is no big catastrophe, no big explosion, humanity is not dying and the big hero is not saving. Well, some of these elements are present in Jaws in certain extent but not in a global format as they are usually shown in many blockbusters. Jaws is like a mini version of all these blockbuster elements: there is a little harbour with demonic shark attacking people, several people have already been found dead, it is a catastrophe in small format and there is not a big hero as well - local sheriff - who killed shark with tank of explosive gasoline and saved others. The other way which supported Jaws popularity was its promotion campaign. According to Justin Wyatt marketing campaign of Jaws was insured firstly by pres-old property: the book of 7 million copies. Jaws promoters have also adapted the artwork from the book to the artwork of the film promotion. The film’s marketing campaign has also adapted strong visual identity for the film: it was an image of a swimmer tiny in the ocean against huge shark with jaws wide open attacking its prey[8]. Except the print advertising Jaws also used television advertising to support its wide opening in 409 theatres at same time on June 19 1975. It was the biggest national television spot campaign in the film history at that time. According to the Numbers website $4 million was spent for Jaws advertising[9]. Thus television advertising, presold property, and strong playability overall created massive weekend opening gross of $14.31 million and overall worldwide gross of $470 700 000. Jaws surpassed The Godfather and became the largest grossing motion picture in film history by September 5 1975. Justin Wyatt states that:
‘The commercial performance of Jaws demonstrated many lessons to the film industry, not only reinforcing the power of large scale national television advertising and wide release, but also illustrating the potential of a presold property and an early summer release date... By setting a new box office record in such a short span of time, Jaws also redefined the concept of a blockbuster or breakthrough hit’[10]
Wyatt continues that after Jaws success $100 million was set up as a benchmark for the blockbuster. Spielberg’s film also started the new era of filmmaking a.k.a. blockbuster era which is the era of high-concept film where narrative of the film can fit in one single sentence and then promoted visually through different sorts of media. The blockbuster producers played with marketing assets: certain stars for ensuring success, popular film genres and sub-genres, targeted audience with specific demographic segments. Wyatt states that after Jaws success the same marketing campaign was used to promote The Omen, King Kong , Star Wars, Superman etc.
However not all films use same sort of marketing campaign or even same sort of budget to succeed. There are many other films which became popular without any big budget (thousand dollars) and still grossed millions. The Blair Witch Project (1999) can be an example. The film telling about three film students making a documentary on local folk legend was one of the most profitable films in film history in terms of its return on the initial investment. Made for nearly $35,000 and grossing over $248 300 000[11] worldwide, this financial victory of a low-budget independent film over the major studio produced blockbusters showed a lesson of how viral marketing techniques on Internet can be used in the film's commercial success. Although in 1997 Web was still rising and still wasn’t counted as a mainstream media it was used as a supplementary or alternative source of information. For major Hollywood studios at that time the web was only alternative way to reach audience but not the mainstream way. Heavily expensive advertising campaigns on television and theatres was the main way to promote film. According to Steven Schneider, for The Blair Witch Project the Web became the central medium for promotion and creating hype around it[12]. The Blair Witch promotion campaign was launched year before the film’s theatrical release. Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez launched The Blair Witch Project Website (www.blairwitch.com) in June 1998 on Haxan.com’s (production company) website. It contained additional materials about the Blair witch, about the filmmakers lost in Maryland forests and anchoring information proving that the Blair Witch legend was true. If we consider that in 1997-98 the Web was still rising and internet users were still naive for unknown tricks of the new medium, most of them believed that the Blair witch project really happened. In January 1999 after the film premiered in the Sundance film festival independent distributor Artisan Entertainment bought the Blair Witch Project rights for $1.1 million. Later the studio redesigned the website putting in more information about the mythology around the Blair witch project, police investigation reports and about the lost filmmakers. Promoters also hustled the film clips on John Pierson’s Split cable show and premiered trailer in the Ain’t it cool News website instead of television and theatre premieres[13]. After acquiring the rights for the Blair Witch project Artisan spent $1.5 million out of $20 million for web promotion. In addition, before its screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1999, "MISSING" flyers with photos of filmmakers Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Josh Leonard were put up all around town.
Using guerrilla marketing tactics a.k.a. viral advertising the Blair Witch founders showed an example how cleverly written spooky film can be cleverly promoted. What made this film popular is its documentary, amateurish and realistic style touching core human fears of unknown, mystery and darkness. What creates the creepiest and eerie feelings is that this fiction looks just so real. Its website states that it really did take place thus merging boundaries between the real and the fictional. This is how viral advertising tactics can be applied to the new media to create hype around certain events. The Blair Witch Project originally casting less than ten actors and produced for ridiculously, comparing to other major studio made blockbusters, $ 35 000 made $140 539 099 total US gross and $248 300 000 worldwide.
In summary this paper has discussed what blockbuster is and how advertising can be used to promote blockbusters in example of Jaws (1975) and The Blair Witch Project (1999).
Bibliogaphy
- Buckland, W. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Poetics of the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster. Available at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ADxbmQZY6mgC&dq=blockbuster+era&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
- King, G. Spectacle and narrative in the contemporary blockbuster. In Williams L.R., Hammond M.(ed.) Contemporary American Cinema. Berkshire, Open University Press, 2006. P 334.
- Wyatt, J. From broadshowing to saturation release: majors, independents, and marketing/ distribution innovations. In Lewis, J. (ed.) The New American Cinema. Duke University Press, Duham&London, 1998. P 64.
- Schneider, S. The Blair Witch Project. Available at http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Bh-Bo/The-Blair-Witch-Project.html and http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Internet-THE-BLAIR-WITCH-PROJECT-PARADIGM-AND-ONLINE-FAN-DISCOURSE.html
- Time Magazine. RICHARD CORLISS;GEORGIA HARBISON/NEW YORK, JEFFREY RESSNER/LOS ANGELES. Blair Witch Craft. Monday, Aug. 16, 1999. Available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991741-1,00.html.
- The Numbers website. Available at http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1939/0GWTW.php
[1] Buckland, W. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Poetics of the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster. Available at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ADxbmQZY6mgC&dq=blockbuster+era&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
[2] The Numbers website. Available at http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1939/0GWTW.php
[3] Buckland, W. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Poetics of the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster. Available at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ADxbmQZY6mgC&dq=blockbuster+era&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
[4] Ibid. P 17
[5] Ibid. P 19
[6] King, G. Spectacle and narrative in the contemporary blockbuster. In Williams L.R., Hammond M.(ed.) Contemporary American Cinema. Berkshire, Open University Press, 2006. P 334.
[7] Buckland, W. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Poetics of the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster. Available at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ADxbmQZY6mgC&dq=blockbuster+era&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
[8] Wyatt, J. From broadshowing to saturation release: majors, independents, and marketing/ distribution innovations. In Lewis, J. (ed.) The New American Cinema. Duke University Press, Duham&London, 1998. P 64.
[9] The Numbers website. Available at http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1975/0JWS.php
[10] Ibid. P 79.
[11] The Numbers website. Available at http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1999/BLAIR.php
[12] Schneider, S. The Blair Witch Project. Available at http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Bh-Bo/The-Blair-Witch-Project.html and http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Internet-THE-BLAIR-WITCH-PROJECT-PARADIGM-AND-ONLINE-FAN-DISCOURSE.html
[13] Time Magazine. RICHARD CORLISS;GEORGIA HARBISON/NEW YORK, JEFFREY RESSNER/LOS ANGELES. Blair Witch Craft. Monday, Aug. 16, 1999. Available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991741-1,00.html.
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