Marketing and Exchange within Film

Evaluate the Digital Technologies used in the Marketing of Film in the UK and Consider How Audiences Use and Consume Film via Digital Technology:

= The use of digital marketing within the marketing of film in the UK can be considered a highly significant factor in ensure marketing reaches a high scale, and thus, reaches the audience to formulate consumption among members of the public. One such example comes from a film by Matthew Vaughn which is in post-production - that is 'Eddie the Eagle' which is using a range of digital technologies in order to market the film in such a way that would result in an audience using such technology to consume the film. Matthew Vaughn is also the producer of 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' and 'Stardust' - as well as the director of 'X-Men: First Class'. Ultimately, this use of digitial technology in terms of previous films may result in a wider level of market - reaching out to a wider audience - who may then use the knowledge of Vaughn's previous works as a reason to watch 'Eddie the Eagle'. Moreover, the two main cast members of Taron Egerton (who plays 'Eddie "the eagle" Edwards') and Hugh Jackman (who plays Eddie's trainer) have both starred in previous Vaughn films; this once again could result in a wider audience-reach in terms of marketing, and so, a greater level of consumerism. Following on, such information is often provided to the public via official adverts which can be found on social media sites like YouTube and possibly through links that one may be able to access on other social media sites such as Twitter. Consecutively, this leads on to the next form of digital technologies that assists in the marketing of film in the UK: social media. Both 'Eddie the Eagle' and another film recently released in UK cinemas called 'The Danish Girl' have their own Twitter sites and Facebook pages, and also have features on other social media sites such as Instagram. Yet when one looks at the digital technologies used to promote a film like 'The Danish Girl' it is not just the film itself that uses social media sites for marketing purposes. 'The Danish Girl' has a vast range of articles featured on highly sophisticated magazines such as 'Variety', 'GQ' and 'W Mag'; and on the front covers of these magazines are usually images of the main cast members; and such a form of marketing can be found on many platforms - social media sites, in shops, online articles etc. Ultimately, the spread of magazine articles through such a vast range of digital marketing platforms also means that any reviews/criticisms or news stories concerning the movie are easily reachable for an audience. For example, one article which 'The Danish Girl' tweeted from their official Twitter page (@danishgirlmov) "Huge congrats to Alicia Vikander on her Best Supporting Actress win at the #CriticsChoice Awards! #TheDanishGirl". Not only does sucn a form of digital marketing on a social media platform create a buzz and spread awareness of the film, but it highlights the evidently high level of professionalism the movie withholds; it has an ensemble of credible actors (Edddie Redmayne's success is already highlighted through his Oscar win) and here we see that other cast members have equal acclaim. So this creates more reassurance for an audience at the possibility of using such digital marketing as inspiration to consume this film. Similarly, referring back to 'Eddie the Eagle', the website for the Sundance Film Festival has reviews for the film (and for 'The Danish Girl') which once again creates an extreme buzz around both films, which is an evident reason for an audience to consume the films in whatever way they can. However, for me, I believe that the way in which one exaggerates the certain connections within a film in the marketing can be key in making sure an audience uses this to consume. For example, with 'Eddie the Eagle' not only have the two main cast members featured in two other films of which Matthew Vaughn has either produced or directed, but the music of this film has connections as well. Recently, it has been revealed via social media digital marketing that musician and member of Take That Gary Barlow is releasing a new album which has songs that'll feature in the soundtrack for 'Eddie the Eagle'. Now fans of Gary and his band Take That may be aware that Take That wrote the songs for 'Stardust' ("Rule The World"), 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' ("Get Ready For It") and 'X-Men: First Class' ("Love Love"); ultimately, the mass following of such a band means that all of these songs have been purchased, people have watched the videos for these songs and, in turn, saw glimpses of the films that the songs accompany. Conclusively, this can be considered an important factor of digital marketing which would result in consumerism among an audience - particularly if they feel a desire to see a film having the knowledge that their favourite musician has also felt excited enough about a media product to write music for it.