CASE STUDY - The impact of Twitter

THE HUNGER GAMES:

Twitter Accounts:

For The Hunger Games, there are hundreds of accounts made – some verified and made especially by the producers of the film, and lots and lots that are fan made.

 ·         The verified accounts, such as @ThehungerGames and @HungerGamesUK connect with fans of the movie,        post updates about the filming of the new movie and often ask questions and do small polls etc. to find out fans favourite parts of the film and what they expect to see from the new films, in order to get an idea of what the fan base want from the trilogy.

·         Other accounts which aren’t verified/are fan made accounts tweet all sorts of things such as quotes from the books, book reviews, and often tweet with lots and lots of other fans about the film. By doing this and trending things on Twitter, the word is consistently getting around social media about the release of Catching fire, the new film.

·         An article from  http://fishbat.com/the-hunger-games-impact-on-social-media/ stated ’A Twitter account was created to represent The Capitol, the authoritarian system set up in The Hunger Games series. The account tweeted stories, warnings, and encouragement in character. With teens checking their twitter accounts multiple times throughout the day, this was a great way to keep the fans engaged and always looking for more information, building the excitement about the movie’s release as well.’

Social Media Campaigns:

Using Twitter, The Hunger Games Advanced Screening Program presented by Nook allowed users to tweet special Hashtags to unlock cities to show the movie before its release. If the city you tweeted was ‘unlocked’ you also were entered into a drawing to win free tickets to attend. Yahoo! also sponsored a giveaway to the red carpet premiere in which you received more entries for social sharing. As a consolation prize to participants, they also provided a live stream from the premiere hosted on Facebook to those who weren’t chosen. And finally, in the spirit of giving back, The Hunger Games also partnered with Feeding America and World Food Programme to fight against hunger. By taking a short quiz, fans can be entered to win an autographed poster and spread awareness to their networks. The tab also allows users to donate through PayPal, SMS or Credit Card.

This campaign was from - http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-examples/hunger-games-social-media-marketing/

 The Spread of The Hunger Games:

Although this diagram is based in Australia, this shows how social media has impacted on the popularity of The Hunger Games.

54.7% of people found out about the movie through social networking, including Twitter, with more of a male audience actually using Twitter.

 Recreating Panem:

Through a dynamic digital campaign, you can become an official citizen of Panem. First, you have to visit the Capitol Network and register for your District Identification Pass. By logging into Facebook or Twitter, the system will register you as a citizen of Panem and assign you an occupation, district and Panem Citizen Number. Your District Identification Pass (DIP) also holds a QR code that scans back to the Capitol website. You can download your DIP as a Facebook profile or cover photo, Twitter profile photo, Google+ profile photo or even a mobile or tablet wallpaper image. You can also go as far as ordering a physical DIP through CafePress for free off Facebook. Unfortunately, you have to pay a few bucks for shipping but the ID card is good quality.

The mayors act as leaders for the Districts, and are responsible for celebrating its citizens and relaying communication from the Capitol on Facebook. The recruiters help spread the word through the Districts primarily on Twitter and the journalists (who are established bloggers) receive ‘tips’ from citizens and periodically write about Hunger Games news.

Racist Tweets:

Racist tweets were sent regarding the actor which played Rue during the release of the film. The decision to make Rue and Thresh African-American weakened the film's impact. "Why does rue have to be black not gonna lie ruined the movie," one dismayed fan tweeted. "EWW rue is black?? I'm not watching," bemoaned another. "Kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad #ihatemyself." Many more tweets, some employing the "n-word," have been collected on a Tumblr page called Hunger Games Tweets, which seeks to "expose the Hunger Games fans on Twitter who dare call themselves fans yet don't know a damn thing about the books."

http://theweek.com/article/index/226225/the-hunger-games-stomach-turning-racist-tweet-scandal

TWILIGHT:

Twitter Accounts:

Like The Hunger Games, there are hundreds of Twitter accounts for the Twilight Saga, from verified and official accounts, to fan made.

·         The official Twitter profile ‘@Twilight’ is one of the few verified Twitter accounts for this movie saga. This account tweets updates from the actors who played the characters in the film, and also asks fans to tweet their favourite Twilight memories etc.

·         There are hundreds of fan Twitter accounts online. These accounts often tweet fan fiction, interact with other fans online, as well as run their own mini competitions and tweet facts etc.

·         Data from Trendrr shows that tweets, around the time of the premiere, peaked at more than 12,000 tweets per hour. New Moon related tweets are now climbing at an exponential rate, with over 81,000 tweets on Tuesday, November 17th. http://mashable.com/2009/11/18/twilight-new-moon-stats/

·         92% of the tweets paint a very positive picture for New Moon ticket sales. 13% of tweets include twitterers who are trying to plan ahead for their New Moon events, going so far as to use the medium for coordinating viewing parties. As to be expected, the majority of tweets, 59% to be exact, are expressing excitement and counting down the days and the hours until they can catch the flick in theatres.

This grid is taken from an article - http://mashable.com/2012/05/26/true-blood-twilight/

This article shows how programmes and films based around vampires are having a major impact on social media, and this grid shows some of the impacts and volume of popularity Twilight has on Twitter.

Twilight - One Million Twitter Followers:

’The Twilight Saga's Twitter account (@Twilight) surpassed 1 million followers this month. It's the first movie franchise to reach the seven-digit mark, beating its closest competitor, @HarryPotterFilm, to the milestone.

To help celebrate, the films' studio Summit Entertainment unleashed a fan-filled video Monday. Cast members are also using hashtag #Twihards4EVER to thank fans, including actor Kellan Lutz, who plays Emmett Cullen in Twilight.

The @Twilight handle launched in October 2009 and has helped the series become a global phenomenon. And with the final instalment in the vampire trilogy set for Nov. 16, the account shows no sign of slowing down.

http://mashable.com/2012/08/20/twilight-1-million-twitter-followers/

SUCKER PUNCH:

Twitter Accounts:

Twitter has had far less of an impact on Sucker Punch, due to the film not being as successful as The Hunger Games and Twilight.

http://thechrisvossshow.com/the-ways-social-media-is-changing-the-rules-on-entertainment-everything/

Social Media’s collective power is re-writing the rules when it comes to media and choice. Whether its government, life or entertainment people want CONTROL over their choices now more than ever. THEY want to decide how good it is, the when, why and how they get it. They are finding they can as a group demand quality and choice. Recently, the movie “Sucker Punch” got panned and killed at the box office on opening night by movie goers lighting up their disappointment broadcasting it over the Social Media airways. This is a HUGE signal to movie companies to stop dumping crap movies on the public. The Movie reportedly cost $82 million to make and looks like with ticket sales won’t even make back it marketing costs.

Companies and entertainment firms take note. Slinging crappy products, hoping consumers will take it, will backfire. Lady Gaga and Beiber came up through consumers who chose them through Youtube, rather than be forced to buy whatever is handed to them. The same with the rest of entertainment all the way up to governments. The power of information is in the hands of the people ushering in a new age of service to constituents and consumers.



Do you believe that lifestyle programming creates and fuels negative ideologies?

Lifestyle programming, for example, Supersize VS Superskinny and Don’t Tell the Bride could be considered to create and fuel negative ideologies due to the way faults within the public are picked out and exaggerated in order to create an interesting programme.

In Don’t Tell the Bride, we are shown couples who are organising their wedding, which is supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, but they are constantly arguing and do not trust each other to make sure that they get everything right for their wedding. The men in the programme are usually portrayed as stupid, as clips of the programme are often edited in a way which shows the man looking either venues or dresses which he would like to choose for the wedding, followed by a clip of the woman horrified at what he has chosen and threatening to call off the wedding. This suggests to the audience of the programme that although traditions portray weddings to be the happiest day of a couples lives; programmes such as these show that the expectations of the big day and the planning rarely goes accordingly and it is normally very unlikely that both people in the relationship get exactly what they want from the day. Applying the Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory, the audience of Don’t Tell the Bride could watch the programme for a number of different reasons. One reason this programme could be watched is for personal identity. If someone is in the same situation as the couples shown on this programme, it is likely they may be watching in order to see how the wedding goes, and to see all of the planning process. This could create negative ideologies for these particular people as showing marriage in a negative light could affect their thoughts for their wedding.

Other lifestyle programmes such as Supersize VS Superskinny can also fuel negative ideologies on the viewers watching them.  This particular lifestyle programme presents people in a negative light and shows them to have bodies which are considered unhealthy and unattractive. By creating these negative body images, this programme could create seriously negative ideologies for their audience as woman in particular may feel a lot of pressure from the media and society to look a certain way; and by promoting these kinds of programmes, the women are likely to feel they need to set themselves unrealistic goals to ensure that they are not considered to have the same body image as the ones shown on the programme. The hypodermic needle theory could be applied here as the passive audiences watching this programme will immediately be effected by the message that is being told from the programme, therefore creating a negative ideology surrounding health and body image for these viewers.

Although lifestyle programmes can be seen as influencing negative ideologies, this is not always the case. One example of a positive lifestyle programme is Gok Wan’s How to Look Good Naked. Unlike Supersize VS Superskinny, where drastic lifestyle changes are promoted, and the people on the programme are criticised for the way they look, How to Look Good Naked is based on activities which helps to build the woman’s self-esteem. This programme helps to create positive ideologies, as Gok Wan, the presenter completely discourages the participants of the show to undergo surgery or to lose weight in order to look good, but to embrace their bodies and make small changes to their wardrobe in order to be proud of their bodies. This is a complete opposite to Supersize VS Superskinny, as the audience of this programme will be able to pick up positive tips from the show in order to help build their own self-esteem; and a positive ideology will be created as the viewers are shown that real people do not look like celebrities, and they don’t have to ever make themselves look like that in order to feel good.

Overall, although programmes such as Don’t Tell the Bride and Supersize VS Superskinny fuel negative ideologies for the audience by picking out flaws in everyday people’s lives and bodies, other programmes such as How To Look Good Naked are complete opposites to these kinds of negative programmes, and achieve positive ideologies by focusing on the positives of these everyday people who take part in the programmes and making things work for them. 

MEST 3 - FILM CASE STUDY 

Webliography:

The Hunger Games: 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahsweeney/2012/03/20/social-medias-intense-power-play-in-the-hunger-games/ < Social Media’s impact of The Hunger Games promotion. Twitter pages, Facebook pages, blogs and fan sites etc. have played a massive part in the advertising of The Hunger Games and they have created a massive fanbase for the film.

http://hungergamesdwtc.net/2012/02/advertisements-for-the-hunger-games-featured-on-youtube-yahoo-movies-and-more/ < Online advertising for THG. Yahoo and YouTube had The Hunger Games themed sites for days surrounding the release of the film, creating a new and wider audience by making everybody aware of it.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2012/03/debate-is-the-hunger-games-too-violent-for-young-kids/1 < Violence in the Hunger Games. Assesses the audience that the film is based at, and whether the violence we are shown of children killing children is suitable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/movies/the-hunger-games-books-become-a-movie-franchise.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1360834371-uanlHrSBdIbCXOFOkYZuSA < Analyses the audience of The Hunger Games – the positives and negatives of the age range.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57403323-501465/the-hunger-games-marketing-team-turns-to-social-media/ < Website which tells readers how The Hunger Games marketing team have turned to social media in order to gain fans of the film. Similar to the Forbes article.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5ANq4sAL0 < Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBuaevxZ9ho < Cast Interview

Sucker Punch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xp68Wo5C5g < Sucker Punch fan reviews. This video shows reviews from fans about the film.

www.facebook.com/SuckerPunch < Sucker Punch Facebook page – 102,000 likes

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/sucker-punch/ < Review & casting from Yahoo

http://thechrisvossshow.com/the-ways-social-media-is-changing-the-rules-on-entertainment-everything/ < why Sucker Punch did so badly – because they didn’t advertise through social media

http://suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/index2.html < Official Website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnF4SpS9gUw < Official Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0yAszMbVo < Unscripted cast interview

Twilight:

http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/1076-twilight-dominates-the-box-office-and-social-media < Twilight social media – Facebook. Shows posts from the official Twilight Facebook regarding the release of Breaking Dawn.

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/comment/vital+stats/1016209/Twilight-Saga-Eclipse-delivers-15-million-impacts-Volvo/ < The use of Volvo cars in the Twilight films have impacted Volvo in an extremely positive way, with increase of sales since.

http://newyork.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/twilight-is-no-1-movie-on-social-media-ibm-analysis-shows-1.4263965 < Number one film on social media. ‘Taking the biggest buzz of online bite.’

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/6098-twiling-eclipse  < use of social media for advertising release of Eclipse

http://celebrity-gossip.net/twilight/twilight-marketing-campaign-breaking-breaking-dawn-735858 < twilight marketing campaign

http://www.tofurious.com/marketing-tips/twilight-new-moon-intense-marketing/ < Marketing campaign

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/20/river-island-releases-first-cinema-ad-campaign-alongside-twighlight-breaking-dawn < Adverts being released with Twilight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2T7d8j6I5I < Twilight official Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrH_xoWFRoA < Cast interview

Lesbian Vampire Killers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmRcZivttYY  < Official Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JgAnA_qiXo < Behind the scenes

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/892824/ < Online drive for Lesbian Vampire Killers

http://mediacentre.ideageneration.co.uk/items/news/pdf/greenroommomentum__lesbian_vampire_killers.pdf < Lesbian Vampire Killers press release for online drive

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/review/a149611/lesbian-vampire-killers.html < Film review 

THE BIG BANG THEORY - TV CASE STUDY

 

 The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady which has been running from 2007 to present. It is based around the everyday lives of 4 scientists and their neighbour who is a ‘girl next door.’ The programme follows a basic structure, similar to Two And A Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, Friends and The IT Crowd, where the audience follow the lives of a small group of people, normally based in a few places every time, such as their living room, work place, and the same restaurant etc.

Channel and Brand Identity

The Big Bang Theory is aired on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) which is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, and is the second largest broadcaster behind the BBC.  CBS broadcast daytime and evening time TV programmes such as The Price is Right, soaps such as The Young and the Restless, and they also provide programmes such as CBS Morning News and a 2 and a half hour Sunday political talk show called Face The Nation.

In the UK, The Big Bang Theory first aired on Channel 4, in 2004, averaging audiences of 1 million viewers. After the first and second seasons, season 3 started airing on Channel 4’s sister channel E4, bringing in some of the highest ratings the channel has ever received, with the first episode of season 6 bringing in 2.31 million viewers.

The Big Bang theory was commissioned by CBS and Channel 4 from Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television who made the programme in 2007. Chuck Lorre Productions has produced successful TV sitcoms such as Two And A Half Men - which aired in 2003, and has become the highest-rated sitcom in America- and he also created Dharma and Greg and Mike & Molly. Two And A Half Men and Mike & Molly draw in similar audiences to The Big Bang Theory, which means that Chuck Lorre Productions are likely to have audiences for all of their TV programmes based on previous ones they have made, ensuring that they will always have a decent viewing figures.

The sitcom has been nominated and won People’s Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Primetime Emmy awards.

Target Audience and Scheduling

Due to the intellectual language used throughout The Big Bang theory, this could mean that the target audience gets changed from the average sitcom. According to the socio-economic grouping, the audience are more likely to be A, B, C1 and possibly C2. The audience is very wide for this sitcom because although the characters are have genius IQs and use a lot of technical terminology and clever language, the sitcom is also a comedy, and the audience do not necessarily have to understand the terminology to realise the humour of the programme.  It is likely that the audience of The Big Bang Theory are generally a younger audience of 16-25 due to the demographics of E4 being younger than channels such as BBC and ITV, and also the cast of the programme are in their 20s – making it more appealing to this age range.

The show made its UK debut on Channel 4 on February 14, 2008 bringing in an average audience of 1.0 million viewers. The second episode, shown the following week, also received 1.0 million. For the third episode an average of 1.1 million tuned in. The show is also shown as a 'first-look' on Channel 4's digital offshoot E4, and brings in 400,000 viewers on average. The fifth episode received 880,000 viewers. After the first five episodes, the average number of viewers continues to hover around the 1 million mark. Episode 13 was watched by 1.3 million viewers and was the most watched episode.In the UK, new episodes of The Big Bang Theory are shown on Thursdays at 8:30pm for half an hour. This is primetime TV, especially for teens and young adults, as families are more likely to watch TV before 8pm. Reruns of this TV show are very regularly on Channel 4 and E4, normally showing back to back episodes, around the same time as similar TV shows such as The Rules of Engagement and How I Met Your Mother, which appeal to the same audience. Episodes are also available on 4oD online and on YouTube, opening the programme up to a wider audience as it is available for people to watch whenever they like, instead of being tied to a TV slot.

The Big Bang Theory is filmed in front of a live studio audience and has no laughter soundtrack. Although the laughter we hear in each episode is real, it still leads the audience into understanding the jokes said by the characters as they are made aware of where they are supposed to laugh, in order to comprehend the humour.

This programme could be considered to follow the three-act narrative structure, taking, for example, the episode ‘The Ornithophobia Diffusion.’ At the beginning of the episode we are introduced to the characters, specifically Sheldon, who has a fear of the bird who refuses to leave their window ledge. Sheldon takes steps to get rid of the bird, which only leads to the bird flying into their apartment, doubling the fear. Sheldon then calls for his friends to help him, and in the end they come over and help Sheldon to remove his fear of birds, but also to remove the bird from his apartment. Although this is an extremely simple structure, it could be seen to follow the three-act structure.

The audience of The Big Bang Theory are an active audience as they need to decode the social and personal context of the programme, and this could be effected by things such as family background, education, culture and interests; instead of passive audiences where information could be seen to have an intended message which is directly received and accepted by the audience. Applying Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory, The Big Bang Theory could be watched for diversion – as this programme is a comedy, it is likely that the audience will watch this in order to escape everyday problems and routines – and personal identity – young students or graduates may watch the programme in order to recognise their lifestyles and friendships from the programme and for self-understanding.

Format and Technology

The Big Bang Theory seasons 1-5 are available on DVD and Blu Ray, and can also be downloaded through iTunes which has links on the Official the Big Bang Theory website. Extra clips and footage are also available on the Channel 4 website for the audience to access, as well as 123 full episodes. On the DVDs, at the end of each season there is an extras option, which includes lots of different extras such as gag reels, deleted scenes and interviews with the cast. By including these extra options, it is more likely that the audience will purchase the DVDs as they will be getting something else that they can’t watch anywhere else, making the idea of spending the money instead of illegally downloading more appealing. 

The impact of new and digital media:

Modern film companies today face challenges from the impact of new and digital media. As the internet progresses even further and audiences are starting to access films in different ways, the institutions of major films such as The Hunger Games and Twilight must ensure that they are keeping up with the changes to media, in order to keep their films current and at the top of the box office.

The Hunger Games (2012), which was produced by Lionsgate, have changed their marketing campaigns in order to keep up with new and digital media and in order to attract new and wider audiences. The Hunger Games had a social media marketing campaign, and produced advert for YouTube and Yahoo movies. These adverts were used as themes for the two website on days surrounding the release of the film, in order to attract new audiences. YouTube receive around 5 billion hits a day, which means that in order to keep up with new and digital media, using popular websites such as YouTube and Facebook for advertising and promotion, modern audiences are likely to increase, as they use these kinds of websites daily.

With the release of the first Twilight film in 2008, the franchise has become enormous, due to the use of new and digital media. Twilight has used social media throughout the release of all 5 films. The producers, Summit Entertainment, has especially used Facebook as a way of interacting with the audience, with constant updates surrounding the films, the cast and have games and competitions in order to keep fans interested in the films, even though there are none left to produce. Facebook is used by a lot of teenagers, which is Twilight’s predominant audience. By creating and updating pages on this website, the producers are keeping up with new and digital media, as well as providing information for the fans on a new platform that they use regularly.

Sucker Punch has not kept up with the impact of new and digital media as well as big box office films like The Hunger Games and Twilight. Sucker Punch only has one Facebook page which has around 100,000 likes, which is rarely updated, and no Twitter pages. As the audience of this film cannot interact with other fans of the film, and they cannot find out extra information about the film, the film no longer has an active fanbase, like films such as Twilight.  No advertising for the film was done through social media and online around the release of the film. This means that it was harder for the producers to attract a wider audience, as there was nowhere for modern audience to research and find out more information about the film, unlike the YouTube adverts for The Hunger Games which linked the audience to the official Hunger Games website.

Overall, major film companies such as Lionsgate have adapted the way the films they produce are marketed, in order to keep up with the changes of new and digital media, and in order to keep their audiences interested, and wider.