Paranormal Activity: Marketing Analysis - Term Paper Example

 Paranormal Activity: Marketing Analysis Executive Summary This report looks at the marketing strategies involved in promoting an independent film thriller called Paranormal Activity. This report is based on the success of marketing strategies and outlines how these strategies were adapted to suit the unique features of the product, Paranormal Activity. This paper is based on the research conducted by the researcher. The data has been collected using structured questionnaires and the responses have been compared with the strategies adopted in promoting the movie. Table of Contents 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………5 2 Marketing Strategy………………………………………………………….7 3 Findings and Analysis…..……………………………………………………18 4 Conclusions ……. ……………………………………………………………23 References Appendix Marketing Questionnaire List of Figures and Charts Figure 1: YouTube Authenticity of the Promotional Trailer Figure 2: Starting message creating curiosity Figure 3: Relating Paranormal Activity with Experience Figure 4: Showing fear and experienced by Audience Figure 5: Claiming the movie to be the scariest Figure 6: Showing the fear to support the claim of scariest movie Figure 7: The Outcome of the screening included state of participants Figure 8: End frames included information about the cities and opening along with date Chart 1 Age Chart 2 Gender Chart 3 Source of information for Movie Chart 4 Information of Paranormal Activity online Chart 5 Intention of watching movie Chart 6 Movie Appeal 1. Introduction Paranormal Activity is a horror movie in which a couple’s nights have been documented as they have been experiencing bizarre activities in their home. Katie and Micah is a couple who had just moved into their new house in California. Katie, who has a curiosity and interest in the paranormal, believes that she has been followed by wicked and unruly spirits from her childhood. However, Micah is not in her favor at all. All the same, uneasy sounds and noises are heard throughout the house, and weird and odd situations arise in their house on a daily basis prompt him to believe in Katie’s beliefs and fears. Nobody helps them to solve this trauma, so Micah takes charge in finding a solution to their problem and puts video cameras in the house to see the ongoing activities of the haunted house. Finally, these recorded activities of the ghosts are taken into consideration by an Ouija board. The film was written and directed by Oren Peli. The cast consists of Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, and Ashley Palmer. The director says in regard to the movie’s subject matter: “I read a lot of books on the subject. Many interviews, accounts of exorcisms and stories about haunted homes. All accounts on the topic, so now I have a large library about every angle of haunting, possessions and exorcisms. There are even some good TV shows. So, yes, I got my hands on everything. From my research, I learned the more violent entities are demonic. We wanted to be as truthful as we could be”. Oren Peli (March, 2008) The film set records at the box office for the biggest grossing independent film showing in fewer than two hundred theaters (Independent Print Limited, 2010). It won the Festival Trophy award in the year 2007 and was nominated for the category of best horror picture and favorite independent movie for the Empire Award, Independent Spirit Award and People’s Choice Awards in 2010 (IMDB, 2010). Paranormal Activity had been selected for numerous awards for a vast array of reasons. Paranormal Activity is not just a movie; it is an experience. One striking feature of this movie is that it creates a sense of terror among the audience, which they find difficult to forget. They take this terror with them back to their homes as well. This movie is so horribly graphic and realistic that nobody could get rid of its terror after watching it. The posters used in advertising helped the audience to get a clear idea about the subject matter of this film. These posters played a role in the success of Paranormal Activity’s box office gross. The theatrical poster more noticeably played up to the movie’s plot and took a more thrilling approach by promoting the reactions of audience members from pre-screenings of the film. The poster of the movie was not as attractive and showy as other posters would be, but it did a more thorough job of promoting the genre of the film. It was designed in such a way that people viewing the poster could feel the sense of horror emanating from the audience portrayed on the poster. The outlook of the poster tempted further audiences to watch the film. Director Oren Peli states about the making of this film: “The pre-production period involved a lot of research. This was the first film I ever made so I directed, edited, audio mixed and did the casting - basically everything including getting the house ready, which took about a year. So that was a year before we started physical photography.” Oren Peli (March, 2008) The film is a product of Paramount Pictures, and was first premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival in the United States on October 14, 2007, and was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008. On October 9, 2009, it was released in the United States, but in a limited number of cities due to it being an independent film, which is seldom released to more than a certain amount of theaters (Simonelli, 2002, pg. 189). The film was later released as a full limited release nationwide on October 16, 2009, due to petitions that were passed around demanding release in other theaters (Miller, 2009). 2 Marketing Strategies Movie marketing includes posters, trailers, TV spots, print ads, online ads, and cross promotions; some films are even backed by publicity stunts as a form of advertisement. The branding and marketing of a film should present a unified vision and purpose, which is to display the film in a way that is pleasing to potential audience members, inspiring them to see the film. The main motive of advertising and promoting a film is to sell the movie. In terms of economics, one can consider the production and selling of a movie somewhat as ‘supply’ and when audiences watch this movie it can be termed as ‘demand’. Filmgoers demand promising movies to watch and film studies do what they can to supply them with these films. The more the demand of the audience members, the higher the profit becomes. The goal is to make the movie a blockbuster hit as well as for the studio to get back the money that they spent in making the film. This goal is somewhat achieved by the film festivals that are organized each year across the globe. These provide a good platform for the upcoming films to be recognized and a venue for talented artists to promote their work in front of a competent, interested audience at the international level. With a bunch of artists seeking for exposure, the film festival industry now has the ability to reach extreme and wide and, in fact, it finds willing consumers around the globe. This is why, according to Anderson (2004), the “cultural benefit of all of this is much more diversity, reversing the blending effects of a century of distribution scarcity and ending the tyranny of the hit.” New well-defined media is contributing a lot to sell a movie. Moreover, access to cyberspace has become easier, which makes the audience capable of knowing everything about a movie, allowing them to develop a proper understanding of whether or not to watch a specific movie. The distribution range is going wider, which makes the audience dynamic to fluctuate. Using the right digital marketing strategy, a filmmaker, whose film deals with even the most obscure subject matter, now has its slot audience at arm’s length, and can draw those people in without burning through resources the way they might have during a pre-long period. Many filmmakers create a platform for the masses to give feedback on the movie where visitors are allowed to vote on the trailers with a thumbs-up/thumbs-down or one-to-five-stars approach. Pre-screenings are also done, implementing the same rating techniques, except that viewers are entitled to watch the entire film for free, just as long as they leave their feedback afterwards. Websites are created where short trailers of the movie are reflected and from there people can get an idea of the exact theme of that very movie. The easiest way to promote a film on the Internet is to use the video uploading website YouTube as the host. The marketing for Paranormal Activity made great use of advertising through clips and trailers that were made available on YouTube. Figure 1: YouTube Authenticity of the Promotional Trailer Figure 2: Starting message to create curiosity Figure 3: Relating Paranormal Activity with Experience Figure 4: Showing fearful reactions of the audience Figure 5: Claiming the movie to be among the scariest Figure 6: Showing the fear to support the claim of one of the scariest movies Figure 7: The Outcome of the screening included the emotional state of participants ‘Experience it for yourself’ Figure 8: End frames included information about the cities and openings along with dates It is evident from the various frames of YouTube above that the promotion footage covered all the aspects important for an effective advertisement, such as the responses of the audience members as the movie was running. The sharing of experiences on YouTube and Twitter helped in promoting the movie further. Games were also designed based on the movie so that people could play for prizes that were arranged by the filmmakers. This created a buzz of the movie among the different sections of society. Besides these methods of advertisement, many reality shows were organized by the producers to advertise the film. Televisions are the main sources for these types of shows, which involves the cast of the movie to have guest appearances and thus target rating points (TRPs) of that TV show increase while helping with the promotion of the movie. “Using a campaign of limited showings, social media and word-of-mouth fan buzz, the film has managed to become a breakout hit without the aid of a glitzy marketing campaign -- or even a traditional movie trailer.” (France, 2009) The late-night screenings in college towns by the Paramount studio and the involvement of fans on Twitter and other websites helped to share their views and spread word of mouth. This increased interest for others to look at the movie. The movie was promoted as one of the scariest movies and the experiences of the people who participated in the screening were shared. The fans began to demand local theaters and the film’s distributors to show this film in even more theaters so that other filmgoers would have the opportunity to see the film themselves. The movie that started off in a limited number of theaters was now in demand by potential audience members that did not have a theater near them, thus other theaters started showing it until it was as widespread as a typical mainstream blockbuster. In addition, the actors and actresses gave public appearances. Interviews of the cast and reality talks are the greatest happenings and biggest benefits to film marketing. One more thing needs to be considered in the marketing analysis of a film, which is the personal blog of the members of the movie. The crew and cast members had their individual blogs where they ‘tweeted’ about their movies, some of which were open for the public; audiences were able to respond to the ‘tweets’ as well. If a film cost hundreds of millions of dollars to create, its advertising and market budget will be far greater than a film that cost only tens of millions (Luuk, 1997; Wyatt, 1997). Paranormal Activity had an ingenious marketing plan that enabled people to vote to get it released on a nationwide basis, as it had not initially been released everywhere. The film adopted a number of marketing strategies. To begin with, even though it had started as an independent film, not having been owned by a large mainstream company, a big studio purchased Paranormal Activity. However, the film itself and its acquisition did not cost Paramount or DreamWorks a lot of money, only what was needed to buy the film from the original owners and to distribute it. The production cost of this film was only $15,000, which is considered quite modest even for a low-budget independent film, yet it made a total gross income of over $61 million in two weeks. Exact figures are not known but the film reputedly cost roughly $11,000 to make, while the studio purchased the film for just under $1,000,000 (Respers-France, 2009). The movie kicked around at film festivals for a year or so before it made itself known internationally on a mainstream scale. As aforementioned, being a low budget film enabled it to be shown in only a small number of select theaters. The trailer of a film should clearly speak the theme of the film. It should also directly reflect the film’s story and genre. A trailer of Paranormal Activity shows the audience watching this film and screaming and crying with fear, a tactic that worked for this film. An official website was created for this film in which the middle part of the homepage consisted of the promotional poster. Unfortunately, the website was considered as incomplete; its various sections and links were incomplete or unavailable. “About” was almost blank and the “Video” section just included the same trailer that was accessible on other websites. To receive regular updates about the movie, the “Newsletter” section was created on the web page. The bottom of the web page had a button named “Demand It”. Upon clicking this, one could go to another page where they could vote for the movie to be played in their city. There was also a button named “Tweet Your Scream”, which would take the person to the Twitter login page where messages could be posted. A Facebook page was also created that included information regarding the film. The button “Demand It” was also shown on this page. The main motive of the production team was to promote the film among youths, teenagers, and young adults so that they could spread this as a virus in their own society. The marketing approach, therefore, reflected the more targeted and careful approaches used by independent filmmakers, including word-of-mouth, critical reviews, and festival releases (Bosko, 2003). The production teams played more towards their intended audience, so that they may, in turn, attract their friends. 3 Findings and Analysis Marketing Questionnaire The marketing questionnaire was based on the surveys done across the cities of the United States. Questions were also placed on the Internet to analyze the views of the audiences. Private shows were arranged to calculate the popularity of the movie. Various Internet profiles, such as Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes, were used to get the reviews. Respondent Profile Chart 1 Age This graph shows the age groups that have seen the film and liked it. Most of the people were between 18-24 years of age. Chart 2 Gender This graph had shown the gender of the people most common in the theaters. Through this graph, we can see that most of them were women that had seen this movie. Chart 3 Source of information for movie This graph shows that many people had heard about this movie from online sources. Information on Paranormal Activity online Chart 6 Online Source This graph shows the online source from which people came to know about the movie. Most of the people came to know about the movie from web ads. Chart 5 Intention of watching movie After gaining knowledge about the movie, many people were ready to see it. Some of them were not sure, but they were still eager to watch the film. What appealed to you about this film? Chart 6 Movie Appeal The main appeal in this movie was the theme, though the majority of viewers saw it because of the word-of-mouth that was taking place in regard to it. The marketing strategy of the movie Paranormal Activity was ingenious for numerous reasons. Since it was an independent movie, attempts were done to present this movie in such a way that the suspense could well connect itself to the mind of the audience and force them to fear what they were watching while they were watching it. About this film, audiences said, “Authentically unnerving, exploiting basic fears with flashes of real brilliance and creating something that lingers long in the memory -- and definitely will come back to haunt you in the dark of night….”, “The climax is deliciously scary, and Peli gets considerable mileage from the simple matter of lights inexplicably going on in another room.…..,” etc. In an interview, Oral Peli states: I think a lot of people can relate to the question of what happens at night when you’re most vulnerable. You have no idea what’s going on. This taps into the most primal fear, if something is lurking in your home and there’s not much you can do about it.” (Oral Peli, 2009) Campaigning had been done to present the film as an eye-catching choice not only for kids but also for adults; horror buffs and lovers of the paranormal or documentary-styled films were also considered as potential audiences. No cross-promotions were done, but some online advertisements were a big part of the promotion of the film. In terms of media and publicity, the caption “Demand It” worked, providing a low-budget film with a blockbuster opening. Many social networking websites were also used to promote the movie such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, as well as many more. A particular website was targeted and a profile of the movie was created where the trailer of the movie was located. Pages and communities were also created with the name of the movie, which helped to spread the title around. The film marketing was done among the social networking websites as well. Facebook and YouTube were used. It soon became apparent that people loved to experience the horror. 4 Conclusions The overall success of the Paranormal Activity box office was contributed by the combined contribution of filmmakers and involved marketing strategies. Some buzz had been created by the appearances in the film festivals by the filmmakers, but 99% of the campaigning was done within three weeks outside of the film festivals. The campaigning strategy had been fast, more so than typical blockbuster campaigning. The movie lost its grip in terms of marketing plans and promotions. In fact, the Internet was not used as a major source of promoting the film. No striking contents were placed at the official website of Paranormal Activity. Social media was used, but not to the fullest extent, but still emerging wider media was used as a key source of promotion. The movie was a successful hit only due to its strong plot and its ability to make people react emotionally to the film’s content and imagery. The effects, graphics, and imagery were enough to keep a steady stream of fans coming in through theater doors. The movie had the themes of thriller and horror. It had been shot in the single room, though with a few glimpses of other rooms of the house, and was a low budget film. The marketing of this movie was done with the help of students who had seen the film prior to its release and wrote their reviews on the social networking sites like Twitter and posted them in their blogs. That was the ultimate way of doing marketing for the movie. These campaigning mediums are common haunts for the intended audience of the film, and the production company put this knowledge to work for them. The marketing of the movie can be done with the help of group text messages or quizzes and contests. These were also among the simplest and cheapest ways of marketing the film. People can play the quizzes based on the upcoming movie, as well as participate in contests that also helped to advertise the plot, theme, and genre of the movie. As per the findings, the best method of marketing chosen for this movie was the group SMS services. 75% of people in the country use mobile and WAP services, making it easier for them to access SMS and texting. The games were developed based on the theme of the movie, with many of them revealing so of the aspects of the film. That is also a good method of marketing. The pictures and the film’s name printed on T-shirts, cups, etc. were also helpful in the marketing of the movie. References Anderson, Chris. ”The Long Tail”.October, 2004.Available at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html?pg=5, accessed at May 27, 2010. Bosko, M. (2003). Complete Independent Movie Marketing Handbook: Promote, Distribute and Sell your Film or Video. Los Angeles, Michael Wiese Productions, accessed at May 27, 2010. Ebert, Roger (2009), Review: Paranormal Activity,Marshell and The Movies, Available at http://marshallandthemovies.com/2009/10/10/paranormalactivity/, Accessed at May 27, 2010. France, L S (2009) Surprise hit 'Paranormal Activity' scares money out of moviegoers available at http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/12/paranormal.activity.movie/index.html. Goss, William (2009-10-11). "So What Was 'Paranormal Activity's Original Ending?". AOL News available at http://www.horrorsquad.com/2009/10/11/so-what-was-paranormal-activitys-original-ending/accessed at May 27, 2010. Hall, Peter (2009-10-09). "Interview: Oren Peli, Writer-Director of 'Paranormal Activity'". Cinematically available at http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/09/oren-peli-paranormal-activity-interview/accessed at May 27, 2010. Luuk, T. (1997). Movie Marketing. Los Angeles: Silman-James Press accessed at May 27, 2010. Miller, Ross. “Paranormal Activity Adds More Showtimes and Theaters”. Screen Rant. Available at http://screenrant.com/paranormal-activity-wider-limited-release-adds-showtimes-theaters-ross-29207/, accessed July 27, 2010. "Paranormal Activity - Widescreen Dubbed Subtitle AC3 - DVD". Bestbuy.com. accessed at May 27, 2010. "Paranormal Activity Production Budget". Hollywood Reporter., accessed at May 27, 2010. “Paranormal Activity Scares Up Box Office Delight.” The Independent. Available at http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/paranormal-activity-scares-up-boxoffice-delight-1809121.html, accessed July 27, 2010. "Paranormal Activity (2009) - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Available at http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=paranormalactivity.htm accessed at May 27, 2010. Paranormal Activity (2009) available at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/awards accessed at May 27, 2010. Respers-France, L. (2009). Surprise hit ‘Paranormal Activity’ scares money out of moviegoers. Cnn.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/12/paranormal.activity.movie/index.html, accessed at May 27, 2010. Rosenberg, Adam (2009-10-08). "'Paranormal Activity' Producers Hope To Channel Hitchcock for ‘The Jealous One'". MTV Networks., accessed at May 27, 2010. Rotten, Rotten. Exclusive Interview: Oren Peli, March 10 ,2008.Available at http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/slamdancenews.php?id=5123, accessed at May 27, 2010. Simonelli, Rocco. Shoot Me: Independent Filmmaking from Creative Concept to Rousing Release. Allworth Press, 2002. Wyatt, J. (1997). High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood. Austin: UTP, accessed at May 27, 2010. Images taken from screenshots of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074 Read More