Mass Marketing for Hollywood Films

[Curt Kay]

Hey everyone-

For my senior project in high school, I am writing a 10 page paper about independent films. I am turning to all of you for your help. I need to conduct an interview and I figured the easiest way is to post the questions on the dvinfo board. There are 4 different sets of questions; feel free to answer them.

Topics:
Marketing in Films - http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17508

Sound Importance - http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17507

‘Hollywood’ Films vs Independent Films Questions - http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17509


In this part of my paper, I am proving why the quality in Hollywood films have decreased over the years due to the fact of mass marketing.

These questions are aimed at the marketing in movies
Edit: Okay, questions need to be revised. Here are the updated questions.

There are many types of marketing in films, some make a film seem more real, others just try to promote items to you. Do you think advertising in films have any artist reasoning or purpose in films?
Example: The H2 Hummer in 'The Cat in the Hat' and Fedex in 'Cast Away'

Is there a sole purpose for companies to bluntly advertise to the audience? Does it add the film and the meaning behind it?
Example: Nokia in the Matrix

Do you feel like sometimes when you see a film, your just watching a comerical after comercial?
Example: 2 Fast 2 Furious, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

What is your opinion about advertising such as Coke or Pepsi, Nike or Reebok, etc?


Anymore input on this subject is welcome,

Thanks again guys!!

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

"Is marketing in films bad?"

The answer to this question might end up being, "What do you mean by marketing, and what do you mean by bad?" Both terms are so general as to be vague--try rephrasing, and at the same time, give the opportunity for the interviewee to get creative with his/her answer by making it more open-ended. Something along the lines of

"What effect does compensated product placement have on a film's artistic integrity? What if it signifies an implicit endorsement?"

BTW, an excellent case study for your project might be the extensive and uncompensated use of FedEx in Cast Away. Let me know if I can help out with getting that interview with Bob Zemeckis.... !

[Rob Belics]

FedEx didn't pay for that? I'm surprised!

The sole purpose of recognizable items in films is those companies paid, in cash or other means, for their prominent display. Sometimes they supply the crew with shoes for their own use in exchange for showing the swoop. Othertimes it makes the story more believable to use a real logo (like the FedEx example). Other than that there are no artistic reasons to "advertise" during films other than that.

The toys that are spunoff from the films are always secondary to the film themselves. Yes, it's a selling point to the studios to get them to make the film in the first place, but it's not the primary consideration. Off the top of my head I don't recall the toys themselves shown prominently in the movies either.

[Michael Wisniewski]

Here's an interesting article:

Mental Real Estate