STAR WARS
Trailer for latest release -
http://starwars.com/watch/ep3_trailer.html
Target Audience -
Star Wars has a cult fan base which is still running now even after the end of the films and books. Large groups of fans have been known to camp outside movie theaters this just shows their dedication to these films not treating them as 'just' a film but as a huge part of their lives. These fan bases are like cults where a member will have a large portion of there lives devoted to the Star Wars Saga. Star Wars targeted audience was directed at the male teenage market, being sci-fi dubbed as a 'epic space opera', it created another fantasy world for viewers to go into and this appeals to a wide audience this is because it has significant help with them forget about problems in their own lives, and lets them go into this dream world. Star Wars is known all over the world, Lucasfilm and AtomFillms holds a annual contest called 'The official Star Wars fan film awards' which showcase the growing genre of 'fan films' which are made for and by the fans about the fans of the Star Wars Saga.
Marketing and success -
Click to see image
Look at the link above, the image displayed is a poster from one of the star wars movies. As you can see the iconic lightsabers are evident, these are one of the most common/iconic props within star wars, this is a good way to market the film because people see the lightsabers and instantly know its star wars. This is a good technique to target the mainstream fans. There is spaceships in the bottom left corner which identify's the film is of sci fi genre. This could attract sci fi fans who may have not seen a star wars movie before. The space orientated background would do the same. The dark atmosphere with darth vader in the back could foreshadow the narrative and attract the explorers within psychographics. This is an effective poster as it attracts two groups of psychographics and it is an interesting eye catching poster. It targets the stereotypical sci fi fans. The whole dark nature of the poster is set within most advertising products for the sega and it has become an iconic layout and fans recognize the theme immediately.
Here is a snapshot from the star wars website. As you can see there is plenty of options for fans to attend. For instance there is links to games and activities,soundboards and even e cards. This is an effective way to market once a film(s) has already been released. fans could then come to the website to see what else star wars they could gain. This is effective as fandom is created for whoever would use these tools and there's a guarantee they will see the next film or product released intertwined with star wars. The Star Wars Novels were not so popular. Of course, they were well known, but not popular. Then, when the movies came by, the graphics on them were top class for that time, and the storyline was beautifully grafted. So people just went for the best there was, and, it was Star Wars. Now, it is popular in games,brands,clothing and even a religion. This gives the star wars sega an amazing amount of power. So, it is becoming popular as an escape route for those who find reality uninteresting. I think the owners and producers of the franchise use these marketing techniques to expand the target audience. Providing mini games online may attract the younger audience where as soundtracks and e cards may attract the older/teenage audience and provide them with something more than just the film. This is a great versatile marketing technique to create a larger target audience and still hold a fandom community around itself.
Fans strive for more than of one of the highest grossing film franchises of all time. Once they have watched the films they want more. This is a great opportunity for the franchise to market towards these fans with the products they release. A 'real' fan would want to purchase books,posters,toys and any other star wars related product they can get their hand on. Look at the picture below, you can see that some toys released by star wars are collectible, and don't go for the cheapest price. Fans strive for these items so much to feel like they are a part of the buzz surrounding the films and almost make it realism.
Since the first release in 1977 until its latest release in 2008, in total worldwide box offices sales Star Wars has generated an average of $4,485,672,683.So in my opinion, the franchise is extremely successful and in most places around the world is a household name. Especially after considering the amount of merchandise the franchise has produced and even smaller independent businesses, it is clear how much of an impact Star Wars has had around the world. Anything from darth vader costumes to fridge magnets to star wars inspired baby clothes. You can find it. While the Star Wars films have been met with much acclaim and form the core of the franchise, it also enjoys a highly successful expanded universe, which features television series, toys, video games, books and even spin-off films. There’s approximately 70 million Star Wars books in print and its range of toys have accrued around $12 billion over the years, eclipsing the revenue generated by the films themselves.
Target Audience -
Star Wars has a cult fan base which is still running now even after the end of the films and books. Large groups of fans have been known to camp outside movie theaters this just shows their dedication to these films not treating them as 'just' a film but as a huge part of their lives. These fan bases are like cults where a member will have a large portion of there lives devoted to the Star Wars Saga. Star Wars targeted audience was directed at the male teenage market, being sci-fi dubbed as a 'epic space opera', it created another fantasy world for viewers to go into and this appeals to a wide audience this is because it has significant help with them forget about problems in their own lives, and lets them go into this dream world. Star Wars is known all over the world, Lucasfilm and AtomFillms holds a annual contest called 'The official Star Wars fan film awards' which showcase the growing genre of 'fan films' which are made for and by the fans about the fans of the Star Wars Saga.
Marketing and success -
Click to see image
Look at the link above, the image displayed is a poster from one of the star wars movies. As you can see the iconic lightsabers are evident, these are one of the most common/iconic props within star wars, this is a good way to market the film because people see the lightsabers and instantly know its star wars. This is a good technique to target the mainstream fans. There is spaceships in the bottom left corner which identify's the film is of sci fi genre. This could attract sci fi fans who may have not seen a star wars movie before. The space orientated background would do the same. The dark atmosphere with darth vader in the back could foreshadow the narrative and attract the explorers within psychographics. This is an effective poster as it attracts two groups of psychographics and it is an interesting eye catching poster. It targets the stereotypical sci fi fans. The whole dark nature of the poster is set within most advertising products for the sega and it has become an iconic layout and fans recognize the theme immediately.
Here is a snapshot from the star wars website. As you can see there is plenty of options for fans to attend. For instance there is links to games and activities,soundboards and even e cards. This is an effective way to market once a film(s) has already been released. fans could then come to the website to see what else star wars they could gain. This is effective as fandom is created for whoever would use these tools and there's a guarantee they will see the next film or product released intertwined with star wars. The Star Wars Novels were not so popular. Of course, they were well known, but not popular. Then, when the movies came by, the graphics on them were top class for that time, and the storyline was beautifully grafted. So people just went for the best there was, and, it was Star Wars. Now, it is popular in games,brands,clothing and even a religion. This gives the star wars sega an amazing amount of power. So, it is becoming popular as an escape route for those who find reality uninteresting. I think the owners and producers of the franchise use these marketing techniques to expand the target audience. Providing mini games online may attract the younger audience where as soundtracks and e cards may attract the older/teenage audience and provide them with something more than just the film. This is a great versatile marketing technique to create a larger target audience and still hold a fandom community around itself.
Fans strive for more than of one of the highest grossing film franchises of all time. Once they have watched the films they want more. This is a great opportunity for the franchise to market towards these fans with the products they release. A 'real' fan would want to purchase books,posters,toys and any other star wars related product they can get their hand on. Look at the picture below, you can see that some toys released by star wars are collectible, and don't go for the cheapest price. Fans strive for these items so much to feel like they are a part of the buzz surrounding the films and almost make it realism.
Since the first release in 1977 until its latest release in 2008, in total worldwide box offices sales Star Wars has generated an average of $4,485,672,683.So in my opinion, the franchise is extremely successful and in most places around the world is a household name. Especially after considering the amount of merchandise the franchise has produced and even smaller independent businesses, it is clear how much of an impact Star Wars has had around the world. Anything from darth vader costumes to fridge magnets to star wars inspired baby clothes. You can find it. While the Star Wars films have been met with much acclaim and form the core of the franchise, it also enjoys a highly successful expanded universe, which features television series, toys, video games, books and even spin-off films. There’s approximately 70 million Star Wars books in print and its range of toys have accrued around $12 billion over the years, eclipsing the revenue generated by the films themselves.
Comparison -
For my comparison I have chosen to talk about the Twilight series.
The whole twilight sega has a similar dark and eerie theme to its marketing products. For example the posters have a similar layout. Using colours to provide an insight towards the narrative. For example look at this poster,
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6dMIJ4iX4eAifUi8cfTw7BGe3XyhWDw2UYjGzDgu_B7kwYsl_nljGh55g7RVtU1p4iSQiY9DzW-JmJ-Kaix7AsLAVtGX9mUGhL8DMaBAXahsKL45lcLS5ZTxg-ManIO_Ikc51qpfPZuyG/s1600/twilight+poster_1.jpg
As you can see its similar to the star wars poster, with a dark and eerie setting containing certain colours to entail what may happen within the plot. Also bringing main characters to the forefront to highlight their importance and role within the narrative. This seems to be a common marketing technique within posters. Twilight also has a huge fan base, just searching the word 'twilight' comes up with the relationship between the actors,fan sites,merchandise and news.
Although there isn't as many films as star wars, and hasn't been around as long. Twilight has still made a huge impact racking up a total of $3,352,322,180 since its first release to the latest one in 2012.
Fans have also been known to go to extreme limits within the twilight fandom community. Giving their opinions on the actors personal life affairs or situations to even giving abuse over social networks such as twitter.
A great marketing technique twilight used was releasing 3 different posters for one of their latest movies. This is aimed at the aspirers who desire to be or look like a certain character within the film. Providing the market with 3 posters instead of one was a great way to make fans triple the franchises profits. Why would fans purchase one poster when they could purchase 3? On top of all the merchandise. Unlike star wars, the stereotypical fans of twilight are aspirers. They aspire to look like a certain character, or even aspire to have a relationship with a certain character. So to market this group of people, alot of posters and advertisements featuring main characters have been modified to make them look better. Giving aspirers more of an urge to pursue the look they want. A marketing product Twilight has used to attract these aspirers is a perfume they have released: look here, this is a great product to market as all twilight stereotypical fans would buy the product to feel they are obtaining the image they desire.
The whole twilight sega has a similar dark and eerie theme to its marketing products. For example the posters have a similar layout. Using colours to provide an insight towards the narrative. For example look at this poster,
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6dMIJ4iX4eAifUi8cfTw7BGe3XyhWDw2UYjGzDgu_B7kwYsl_nljGh55g7RVtU1p4iSQiY9DzW-JmJ-Kaix7AsLAVtGX9mUGhL8DMaBAXahsKL45lcLS5ZTxg-ManIO_Ikc51qpfPZuyG/s1600/twilight+poster_1.jpg
As you can see its similar to the star wars poster, with a dark and eerie setting containing certain colours to entail what may happen within the plot. Also bringing main characters to the forefront to highlight their importance and role within the narrative. This seems to be a common marketing technique within posters. Twilight also has a huge fan base, just searching the word 'twilight' comes up with the relationship between the actors,fan sites,merchandise and news.
Although there isn't as many films as star wars, and hasn't been around as long. Twilight has still made a huge impact racking up a total of $3,352,322,180 since its first release to the latest one in 2012.
Fans have also been known to go to extreme limits within the twilight fandom community. Giving their opinions on the actors personal life affairs or situations to even giving abuse over social networks such as twitter.
A great marketing technique twilight used was releasing 3 different posters for one of their latest movies. This is aimed at the aspirers who desire to be or look like a certain character within the film. Providing the market with 3 posters instead of one was a great way to make fans triple the franchises profits. Why would fans purchase one poster when they could purchase 3? On top of all the merchandise. Unlike star wars, the stereotypical fans of twilight are aspirers. They aspire to look like a certain character, or even aspire to have a relationship with a certain character. So to market this group of people, alot of posters and advertisements featuring main characters have been modified to make them look better. Giving aspirers more of an urge to pursue the look they want. A marketing product Twilight has used to attract these aspirers is a perfume they have released: look here, this is a great product to market as all twilight stereotypical fans would buy the product to feel they are obtaining the image they desire.
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Audience Reactions -
Each star wars film to date has received a rating higher than 5/10 on imdb, for example the 2005's Revenge of the sith movie under the star wars sega received a 7.7 out of ten and was rated by thousands of individuals.
Without such a positive response to each or the majority of the films, there wouldnt of been so many sequels and spin offs etc. So there is definitely an impact.
These results were the same for each star wars film, all reviewed and rated highly from thousands of people. Here is a few small critic reviews both positive and negative about the same film.
Audience theory -
Fans all around the world have connected with the Star Wars films, even to the extent of creating a real life religion dedicated to the Jedi.
Fans go to extreme lengths to feel like they are apart of the whole sensation surrounding or within the film. In fact, 2% of Brighton,UK are of the Jedi faith, which has surprisingly an official and serious religion.
Full length remakes and personal re-creations of the movies are spread all across YouTube. Fans become so connected with a film they need more than just the visuals, they have to have collectors items and every piece of merchandise going. To both their personal enjoyment and to support the franchise. If a movie had no fans, non atall. The company would go out of business, its that simple! The whole idea of 'tell a friend' is what makes fans so powerful, when friends converse the main topic is usually their interests or current events, any big time fan will share their love for the film. Almost like a disease, this will spread between friends which is a great marketing technique created by fans probably unintentionally. If it wasn't for fans Hollywood would probably never of made a sequel for any films. Fans give their feedback and support and contribute towards buying merchandise and anything branded with the Star Wars logo. Without fans, star wars wouldn't of been as huge as it is. Fact.
The official star wars websites features over 10 fan websites, all with their own logos and names relating to a certain event/group within each film. The impact and connection the films have had with individuals is so enormous that these fan sites have made it to the official website.
For an example of fandom, here is a link to a fan made high definition star wars full length film
You can see the detail and effort put into this, how highly fans must think of star wars to create their own 40 minute films. Just this one fan made film out of hundreds,even thousands has racked up over 450,000 views and 5,000 positive ratings! This is just a small percentage of the impact Star Wars have made, fans have gone as far as tattoos and other incredible ideas to show their passion for the franchise.
At the end of the day, without its fans, Star Wars wouldn't be the 6th highest grossing movie of all time.
Unit 26 assignment 3
ReplyDeleteJoe f. There is not a lot of detail in the marketing of star wars in your blog, there are loads of trailers, competitions and other techniques (Find competitions, magazines, merchandising) the film producers used to market the films you should get more examples (camera, text, colours and sound from the trailers and posters) and discuss how these things target the audience (psychographics) and if these marketing techniques worked, by linking to money the film made. You haven’t discussed fandom in any detail either, explaining in detail how fans shown their love for this film (web links etc.) explaining why you think they have engaged so much with this film. You need to discuss in detail why creating a fan base is so important to a film like this. Please can you make sure you use all the supporting lesson notes to help you finish this assignment. It doesn’t seem like you have used the brief and notes, so you haven’t got a Pass yet.