Film is Good? No, there is risk!

When it comes to the film industry, people always regard it as a brilliant, high earned and safe career. Is that true? Days ago, my friend and I talked about this topic. I answered her questions about the relationship between the film industry and the PR jobs. Below are our conversations.

Q: Is there any risk when promoting a film?

A: Yes, there is, absolutely. Every industry has its own weakness including the seemingly brilliant film industry. The risks come from many different areas. The most serious one is the regulation. In the US, there is the movie rating system that can severely affect the scale of audiences. In China, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) highly control the theme, the story and the scenes of each film. The film can’t be shown publicly until it gets through the SARFT’s review. There are risks that you have done every promotion proposal ready well but hear that the film cannot be released. In addition, you have to notice what your competitors do. Sometimes, the company will change the releasing dates of some films, which may outgun your film in terms of word of mouth and box office. Plus, there are chances to encounter natural or manual disasters. 

Q: What is the best example of handling the risk management in the film industry?

A: I want to mention the thunderbolt in the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012. In July, Warner Brothers planned a midnight show to firstly release the film “The Dark Knight Rises”. At that night, a crazed gunman murdered 12 innocent people and wounded 58 others. This tragedy forced Warner Brothers immediately reevaluate its PR plans for the movie. Luckily, it took a quick action and drew positive reviews. The studio, at the very first time, began to defer other major premieres, canceled all advertising and asked for the movie stars to comfort and support the victims. Also, the studio delayed the showing of “Gangster Squad” that depicted four men shooting up a movie theater.

Remembrance Book from Warner Brother
posted in the website of "The Dark Knight Rises"

Q: What’s your suggestion to best practice risk management?

A: Risk situations, although very rare to see, really exist. As PR people who protect the organizational reputation, we have to be ready to confront risks at any moment. We can’t treat potential risks slightly, assuming these would not befell our films due to low probability of happening. On the contrary, when we develop the PR plan, we have to consider some possible risk situations and come up with solutions to each risk. This prepared thinking can be written into a Risk Predicting Sheet to inform all the employees the proper action of handling risk communications. If the risk really comes, we have to be calm first and take right actions fast.

Learn Mastery at Reporting News: from Broadway to Films

Broadway musical shows are one of the famous New York’s interests to people all over the world. But should we always go to Broadway’s theaters in Manhattan for that? Years before, the answer was surly yes! In little more than a month, I will say no. Broadway Worldwide is endeavoring to translate its musical work “Of Mice and Men” into film version, which will be beamed into thousands of film theaters around the US in November.

From NYTimes, Oct 7, C5

The article “CatchingBroadway on Camera” in Today’s (Oct 7) New York Times tells us this good news and even deeply analyzes this process of “From Broadway to Movie Screen”. Rather than a press only telling the basic fact, this article is more like a feature story about the entire offstage happenings contributing to this Broadway breakthrough.

In terms of public relations, this article has two values. One is to publicize “Of Mice and Men”, to inform the audiences that this shows will be filmed to get released next month. Publicity is better than advertisement because it’s cost-effectively and credible. If “Of Mice and Men”, for example, post its advertising pictures on NYTimes, the production will pay 180,000 dollars for one-page once, which means too much for an organization that doesn’t gain many profits. However, by publicity like this, the production can only spend a minimum on coffees or snacks that give reporters when discussing this pitch. Also, from an unbiased voice, rather than a self-based ad, all the sentences in the article serve as stronger persuasive tools to tell audiences Broadway is trying its best to do better.

The other is to trigger discussions and thinking about the new method Broadway can make credits. Broadway, in this Internet era, faces more strong competitors such as online videos. It needs changes and also more exposures via various outlets. In this sense, this article seems like a promotional plan within Broadway’s business proposal.

As a PR person, I actually learn a lot from this article about how to conduct an appealing, newsworthy and creative story. I think there are five elements:

(1)  CONTENT: This article chooses a “new” format as its reporting angle. The translation of musical shows to films is something never seen before and thus will get audiences’ interests.

(2)  RESULT: Actually, it is New Yorkers’ or worldwide people’s habits to watch a Broadway show in a Broadway theater. If Broadway stars to make shows films, people will have to make a choice when they want to see Broadway shows. This action, therefore, has a great impact on millions of thousands of people’s daily entertaining life and can draw attentions easily.

(3)  STYLE: This article tells a long story concerning not only the progressing steps of “Stages-to-Screens” but also the challenges and following endeavors of this progress.

(4)  QUOTE: In this article, the author quotes many executive members’ sayings, like the creative star James Franco, the producer David Binder, the co-president of a distributor company Julie Borchard-Young and even the movie star Orlando Bloom. These celebrities certainly are from each part of this translating chain, from shows’ production, to distribution, and to the film industry. All these third-party endorsements lend credibility to this article that set a good sample of discussions among audiences.

(5)  ATTITUDE: Reporters must remain natural, objective and indifferent when writing articles. The author of this article, Lorne Manly, shows his unbiased opinion as soon as he edits the title “Catching Broadway on Camera: Possible Progress in a Longtime Effort”. “Possible” and ”Longtime”, two conservative words, implicates that the effort doesn’t make sense right now. And at the end, he quotes Orlando’s comment of no guarantee of box office success. However, he also refers to some positive facts like Broadway’s endeavors and other successful examples. This balance between good things and bad ones give audiences chances to further discuss after reading.

Film Promotion Gets Diversified

Nowadays, promotional process of the commercial movie works become essential, especially due to the fierce competitions in film market. All film makers want audiences discover and be appealed to their works. Thus, promotion diversity comes.

Traditional Method:

#1 Press Release

Many film production firms and distributors send pitches to film editors among various target media to post their press about new works. However, this traditional tool needs following promotional methods to offer newsworthy resources.

Movie News Page at IMDb.com

#2 Video Release

It is traditional to edit series of trailers showing through theaters, televisions and website to attract all kinds of audiences.

DreamWorks TV official channel at YouTube.com responsible for releasing film preview videos

#3 Press Conference

Prior to getting shown, many films tend to hold many kinds of press conference to make news and attract eyes. Some of them even hold first-showing conference to some reporters and film critics to create deep discussions among audiences.

Chinese movie "Golden Era" held its press conference in Nanjing.

Creative Method:

HARD Mode

This refers to present films’ names very clearly and directly to the public.

#1 Advertising

Films now start to make posters covering every corner of its target market country, even in a place originally impossible for advertising.

Chinese movie "Gone With The Bullet" makes advertisement in fields using grass to spell film's name and releasing date.
WORDS AS SHOWN "3D Great Movie: Gone With The Bullet, December 18, Jiang Wen"

"Gone With Bullet" Creative Field Advertisement Video, CLICK HERE

#2 Re-Sponsorship

Previously, films need investments to support its making. Thus there are many brands inserting in some films. But for now, films themselves can sponsor other project and make marketing amazing.

"Gone With The Bullet" also cooperates with China Open tennis game releasing its own postcard-like memorial tickets  and setting a visiting room with its posters and stage photos on the wall.
WORDS AS SHOWN "Just One Step Between You And China Open"

SOFT Mode

This refers to “hide” films’ brands behind a well-designed campaign.

#1 TV Show

The combination of popular TV programs and new films is an efficient way to direct audiences to theaters. People who love to watch TV will receive the info that a new film is coming soon. And they also could identify which directors and actors mainly create this work because many creative staff will attend the TV shows.

The famous actors in Chinese new film "Breakup Buddies" attended Chinese popular TV show "The Voice of China".

#2 Spot Event

Films begin to walk along the street to attract people’s eyes. The events are creative, novel and excellent enough.

Several muscle men were dressed up as Sparta warriors in London promoting the DVD releasing of "300: Rise of an Empire".

PR Comes In Film

ON Stage

Recently, the famous tennis player Li Na announced her retirement via Weibo. On September 22, the official Weibo from ChinaOpen updated a piece of photo saying “Jiang Wen’s Wish : Li Na, Good Luck ! Photographer: Jiang Yi Lang”. In the photo, Jiang Wen post his gesture “LI” to send his wish.

OFF Stage

1.     Right Content

As a Chinese pride, Li Na’s retirement appeals to most of people, including some celebrities. This is surely a hot issue that triggers much discussion. Jiang Wen and his family are fond of Li Na so there is no strange that he follows up this trend and send positive thinking.

PR Code: Right Content comes from hot trends and your own experience at the right standing.

2.     Right Time

Jiang Wen, in fact, is involved in the promotion process of his new film “Gone With The Bullet” to be shown on Dec 18 across Chinese mainland. During this period, each of his action will be related to his film, and also influence the audiences’ thought about watching his film.

PR Code: Right Time is during the best period to deal with campaigns.

3.     Right Way

Jiang Wen uses a creative picture to convey his thinking, rather than a literal paragraph. People prefer visualized pictures due to their vividness and frankness. In addition, the photographer Jiang Yi Lang, Jiang Wen’s daughter, also attracts more attention.

PR Code: Right Way depends on what form you use to convey the idea.

4.     Right Medium

Unlike other celebrities who deliver their feeling about Li Na’s retirement via personal accounts, ChinaOpen official account is the medium that post Jiang Wen’s wish. The third party, or an official one, creates Jiang Wen’s credibility and extends his popularity from among his own fans to among tennis enthusiasts, even to a worldwide level. 

PR Code: Right Medium can enlarge your spreading scales.

5.     Right Goal

Jiang Wen’s goal, at least at present, is to gain more box office of his film “Gone With The Bullet”. The action like this not only delivers his own wish but also serves as a promotion tool of his film. Some web friends have stated that they would go to watch his film because he conveyed his cherish of Li Na. Apparently, this is what he wants.

PR Code: Right Goal is a result of the right usage of Content, Time, Way and Medium

MARVEL Families Get All Together

 “Guardians of the Galaxy”, which got shown across North America on Aug 1, recently started its promotional actions in China. This great comic work is going to hit Chinese film market on Oct 10.

Two days ago, a promotion trailer attracted my eyes. In this video, Marvel reviews each classic comic hero itself creates by editing them together logically and preview the stories of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Avengers: Age of Ultra”, two Marvel’s new works, in the end. This video, by means of its fluent and smart clips, triggers audiences’ interests on watching “Guardians of the Galaxy” and, more importantly, earns a great reputation for Marvel.

Screenshot from Marvel video of "Guardians of the Galaxy" : Prior Works from Marvel

In recent years, the amount of films is growing at an exponential speed, thus besides the creating process, how to promote the film afterwards is also essential to the creators and the production firm. As films gradually become a kind of commercial goods, their production teams have to better understand their target market and existing resources to think up with an amazing way to appeal to most of audiences. Only in this method can they gain the maximum of box office.

There are many approaches of advertising a film. Among them road events, press conferences and spot shows are all good choices. However, the trailer of “Guardians of the Galaxy” drags me back to think about the most traditional but also innovative way, the videos. Videos act as the most useful promotion tool because of, in my opinion, their three characters –

1.     VISUAL:

Videos are so special because they can make some visual effects that shock audiences. Compared with boring literal texts, people tend to watch visualized videos because scenes and stories are much more vivid and appealing.

2.     SHORT:

Videos used to publicize a film are always short, often no more than 5 minutes. They convey a very concise message easily understood by all audiences, thus they could be shared and spread very easily. Although one video cannot tell every thing about the film, there is always a set of videos making up an entire promotional chain. Videos could be divided into Featurette, Trailer, TV Spot and Interview for different purposes.

3.     VIA VARIOUS CHANNELS:

Actually, different kinds of videos should be post on different platforms. However, they together advertise a film from every aspect of daily life. Featurettes on theater screens, trailers on film websites and TV Spot on TVs all effectively deliver that a specific film is coming soon. Additionally, in this era of web 2.0, all these episodes could be shared on social media, like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  

Marvel Entertainment YouTube Site: Various Videos of "Guardians of the Galaxy"

But what does this Marvel’s video draws my attention? This video released two days ago is different from other trailers I have ever seen. Other videos just focus on one film while this one combines all Marvel works. Through the creative and interesting video edits, this new video not only advertises “Guardians of the Galaxy” but also promotes the production company, Marvel Entertainment. In addition, because this video includes all Marvel heroes, the fans of “Iron Man”, ”The Thor”, “Captain American” and ”Avengers” all become its target audiences, which makes the spread scale even larger. This video is also special at ending with a seamless join of a scene from “Guardians of the Galaxy” and one from “Avengers: Age of Ultra”. The dialogue “Avengers are coming back” foreshows the “Avengers 2” being coming next year.

Marvel Video of "Guardians of the Galaxy" from Mtime

  

Another important thing involved in the promotional chain is to issue press releases matched with these videos. I got the idea of this video from a report post on Mtime, a film industry website. So if you want to make publicity of a new film, one thing is to make an excellent video, and the other is to report your video to create a hot discussion among audiences.

Mtime Report about This Video, but in Chinese 

VIEWS TO BE CONTINUED...