Tuesday 14 December 2021

Film Industry: Black Widow

Our first Film Industry CSP is Marvel blockbuster Black Widow.

For film, we only need to study the industries key concept - so this means the companies behind the film, the budget, the marketing and promotion and finally the box office success.

Reminder: industry terminology

In our Introduction to Media unit, we learned a range of media industries terminology that we may well be tested on in the exam. Make sure you know the following:

Conglomerate
Most major media companies are conglomerates that own a range of smaller companies (called subsidiaries). An example of this is Disney owning Marvel.

Vertical integration
Vertical integration is when one conglomerate owns different companies in the same chain of production. E.g Disney owns film studios, CGI specialists, film distributors and TV channels such as the Disney Channel. This gives Disney the chance to make money at every stage of production. Complete ownership = more profit.

Horizontal integration
Horizontal integration is when one company buys other companies at the same level of distribution. E.g Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 (at a cost of $1 billion) so that they could cancel out the competition by making money from both. Horizontal integration allows companies to widen their audience and find other ways to make money.

Synergy 
Synergy is when a company creates a brand that can be used across different media products and platforms. E.g Disney makes movies but then also has related stage shows, theme parks, merchandise, soundtracks and events.


Black Widow notes

Black Widow is the 24th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It raises many industry issues surrounding the production, distribution and exhibition of film in the digital age.  

Film franchise

A film franchise is a series of films or multi-picture stories, often including some of the same characters from film to film.

Franchises have become even more important than individual stars. They consist of connected universes (e.g. Star Wars, Marvel's Cinematic Universe, DC Extended Universe etc) and many sequels (or prequels).

Blockbuster movies

Black Widow is a blockbuster movie. A blockbuster is a major studio movie that's made with a large budget, big stars and often involves a franchise. 

A true blockbuster is extremely popular and brings in a lot of money. Typically, a blockbuster is a summer movie that audiences line up to see the first weekend it's released (which coincides with the school holidays and more family time).

Disney and Marvel

In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for US$4 billion. The Walt Disney Company now owns Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and Pixar.

Walt Disney Studios are one of Hollywood's major film studios and generated an income of $2.4 billion in 2017.  This means that they can afford to make more expensive films, market them around the world at great expense and ensure that they are hugely profitable.  

Marketing and promotion

Star Power implies that people will want to see a film with a certain star in it. Most mainstream films and blockbusters will use Star Power to attract audiences to their film. The main star in Black Widow is Scarlett Johansson who is very well known and has established fans. 



Walt Disney Studios had a huge budget to make and market Black Widow although the success of the film was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic closing cinemas. Some of the strategies used included:
  • Traditional methods such as posters and teaser trailers on TV and in cinema.
  • Stars of the film appeared on a range of TV chat shows and press events. 
  • Film trailers were released on YouTube and in cinemas. 
  • Specific IMAX promotions with 22 minutes of the film shot in 1.90:1 aspect ratio especially for IMAX cinemas.
  • Section of the Marvel website with gallery, story synopsis, character posters and opportunities to buy or stream the movie.
  • Social media profiles on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Social media and YouTube advertising was also heavily used by Marvel to promote the film including using tweets from audience members on massive billboards.
Star interviews and TV appearances:



Specific IMAX promotional videos:


The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the film industry and changed the release strategy for many films. While cinemas are still the primary way of making money for the film industry, some movies are being released to streaming services alongside cinema - or bypassing cinema altogether. Watch this report on Black Widow with an interview with IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond:

Social media marketing

The film used tweets from audience members to help promote the film:



Was the film a global box office hit?

Black Widow’s success is difficult to judge due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Black Widow’s budget was $200m and it only made $379m at the worldwide box office due to the pandemic. Marvel would have spent well over $100m on marketing the film globally so the profit level is very low. Most Marvel films have made around $1 billion at the box office. 

However, this doesn’t take into account revenues through Disney+ so Black Widow may well still make Marvel and Disney a profit in the end.


Film industry: Regulation

Films in the UK are regulated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

Black Widow was awarded a 12A by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).  It was deemed to have “moderate violence, injury detail”, yet was not too graphic.

With a 12A, no-one under the age of 12 can see the film unless accompanied by an adult. It is quite a new classification (1989)  and was introduced due to the large gap between PG and 15.

It is important that all MCU films are 12A at the most as the major film companies want to keep the young audience for:
  • Merchandising opportunities.
  • Better potential box office.
  • 47% of cinema audiences were aged 7-24 in the UK in 2014.  Word of mouth and peer influence is important in generating interest.

Black Widow: blog tasks

1) List the companies involved in the creation of Black Widow. You may wish to use Black Widow's IMDB entry to help with this but the answers can also be found above.

2) What is conglomerate ownership and how does it link to Black Widow?

3) Analyse the film trailer for Black Widow. What aspects of the trailer tell you this is a big-budget blockbuster movie?

4) How was Black Widow promoted to an audience? List at least three different methods used by the film's marketing campaign.

5) What was the production budget for Black Widow and how much did it make at the box office?

6) Would you consider Black Widow a successful Hollywood blockbuster? Why?

7) Who regulates the film industry in the UK?

8) What age rating was Black Widow given? Why?

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Guardian report on Scarlett Johansson suing Disney over the release strategy for Black Widow. Do you agree she is right to be angry with the multiplatform release strategy?

Read this feature on how Black Widow shot 22 minutes of IMAX footage to give viewers an incredible widescreen experience in IMAX cinemas. Why is IMAX an important part of marketing a blockbuster movie?

Look at the Marvel Black Widow website and note down the different promotional devices used.

Read this feature on Marvel using a fan's tweet to help market the film. Why is audience interaction such an important aspect of modern film marketing?

Look at this Guardian website page allowing Marvel fans to discuss Black Widow. What interesting opinions do you notice in the comments? 


Complete for homework what you don't finish in the lessons - due date on Google Classroom.

Thursday 9 December 2021

Film Industry: Marketing - Marvel Cinematic Universe

Our first exam Close-Study Products will be from the Film Industry.

In our lesson, we learned the importance of film marketing and what a risky business it is for film studios. 

The two Close-Study Products (CSPs) we'll be studying for the Film Industry are:
  • Black Widow (2020)
  • I, Daniel Blake (2016)

A summary of the notes from our research activity:

Risky business
The creative industries are a risky business for companies - it costs a huge amount of money to create a media product like a film and there's no guarantee the audience will like it.

No brand loyalty
A new, original film has no established brand or audience - it has to generate all the interest through marketing. This is why film companies prefer to make sequels, reboots or films from an established franchise (like the Marvel Cinematic Universe) - there is an existing audience ready to buy the product. 

Star power
If the film isn't from an existing franchise, film studios use star actors or directors to help generate interest in the film and find an audience. Star directors like veteran political filmmaker Ken Loach have an established audience that will always watch his films regardless of subject matter.

A matter of timing
Marketing campaigns need to be carefully timed to create excitement about the film's release. Often, the first teaser trailers will drop up to a year before release - particularly for established franchise films like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Social media marketing
Once the film is out, the marketing campaign has less power - because audience word-of-mouth will take over. In the digital age, people will post online about the film immediately after seeing it - which means word-of-mouth is more important than ever. 

Why does Hollywood keep making sequels?




Film Industry: Marvel Cinematic Universe blog tasks

Read this BBC article on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and answer the following questions based on the article:

1) How many films were there in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) at the time of this article?

2) How much money have the MCU films made in total according to this article?

3) Why did Marvel create the Avengers films?

4) Who owns the rights to Spiderman and why is the character now appearing in Marvel films?

5) Which company owns the rights to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men?

6) Look at the very end of the article. What has Disney announced regarding TV shows on their new streaming service Disney+?

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Guardian review of Black Widow to prepare for studying our first CSP. What did the Guardian think of the film?

Read this BBC feature on Marvel at 80 years old. How has it survived so long and why is the Marvel Cinematic Universe so important to the recent success of the brand?

Complete for homework if you don't finish in the lessons - due date on Google Classroom.

Music Video: Final index

We have now completed our Music Video unit and two more Close Study Products for Paper 1.  We now need to create a short index to ensure we ...