Marketing and promotion of the Woman in Black

Firstly 3 things needed to be considered; What the film was, who it was for and how and when will they reach the audience. The film is a classic ghost story which was based of a novel of the same name, which delivers chills and thrills throughout. The marketing campaign thought of many different groups that this film would be suitable for. One of them being fans of theatre, as The Woman In Black was previously a play, so people who had watched this in theatre and enjoyed it may be interested in seeing the film. As Daniel Radcliff is probably most famous for playing Harry Potter, fans of this set of books and film series may also be interested in watching this film as he appears as the main character. Fans of the horror genre who watch horror films quite regularly will also be the target audience, as The Woman In Black is a horror film, and the film is set in Victorian times, so lovers of history may be attracted to this film. The marketing campaign would then think of their goals for the advertising of this film. Obviously one goal would have been to attract the groups mentioned above to the film. Another goal was to target a large broad audience with marketing and publicity in order to make the most money from the film. They would also want the film to become as popular as possible and positioned as a blockbuster.

To start off the actual marketing of this film, the campaign focussed on teasers. Teaser posters were released which only consisted of the title, or a picture which did not give away a lot of information about the content of the film. This would create enigmas for the public and intrigue them. Pictures of the main character, Daniel Radcliff, would be included in these posters in order to attract fans of him. A Halloween competition was also arranged where people were able to win tickets to the premier.This would get people aware of the film.

After the teasers, the main campaigning began. More posters were released but with a lot more detail, revealing more content and clues as to the plot of the film. This would create excitement within the target audience while also giving them more information about the film. The campaign had to think carefully about where they placed these posters. They placed them near bus stops, so that people of all age range can see them in order to create a wider and more varied audience. They were also placed on building so that people could see them whilst driving. As a large portion of the horror genre audience is teenagers/young adults, this film was advertised using social media sites commonly used by people of this age group. The Woman In Black was advertised on sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, in order to win over these young adults. Channels with popular programmes watched by teenagers or young adults such as Big Brother, Gossip Girl, and The Only Way Is Essex were used to advertise the film too. In order to create publicity, interviews with the cast, filmmakers and author were released, and things like book and play ticket giveaways created more excitement within the public. A worldwide premier was also hosted.

There was a very positive outcome from all of this marketing, and the campaigns goals were reached. The films box office results were record breaking, and the book became placed in the top 10. Due to this great outcome, The Woman In Black 2 is now out in cinemas.

Representation of sexuality

The first scene of this clip shows a medium long shot, and the mis en-scene depicts a woman helping another woman choose an outfit. The lighting is quite soft, there is no music and the editing is quite slow which makes the scene all together quite slow paced and relaxed. A two shot close up shows that one of the women begin to stare quite longingly and mesmerised at the other, and then we hear the words "she looked so beautiful" in a voice over. We can assume that this is the voice of the woman staring, and by this sentence and the way she looks at the other woman, it is implied that she may be attracted to this woman and be homosexual. The other woman appears quite innocent and does not return these stares. She focuses a lot on the dress picked out for her rather than the other woman, so we can assume she may not be interested in the same way. The scenes slowly fade into one another which works with the slow music and slow editing to reinforce the relaxed atmosphere and slow pace of the clip. A long take shows the homosexual woman hovering her hand above the other woman's body, and the camera pans to show this in full. These actions imply that this woman may be in love with or very attracted to this lady. She seems slow and hesitant, from her hesitant actions we can assume that she knows what the consequences will be if she was to really touch the other woman. We can see from her expression that she is afraid and nervous, as if she is worried about being caught. Here homosexuality is being represented as taboo or frowned upon, as we can clearly see this woman is aware of the consequences of her actions, and does not want the lady to find out about her feelings for her because of this.

The next scene slowly fades in as the previous scene is fading out so that they overlap. The homosexual woman is shown in a close up reaction shot staring longingly at the other lady. The non-diegetic music is slow paced, which along with the slow editing creates a rather slow paced and relaxed sequence all together. The slow music includes string instruments to emphasise the desire this woman has for her. The mis-en-scene in the next shot depicts a medium long shot of the woman which we assume the homosexual woman is in love with. She is shown as being quite feminine and angelic, as her long pink dress is spread out around her and she gently rests her head on the boat. At this point the femininity and beauty of the heterosexual and  woman is emphasised, and she is being represented as girly, gentle and pretty.

The music suddenly changes as a male character approaches the homosexual woman to something which sounds more uncomfortable and mysterious.  The man whispers to her "she must think we love each other." From this homosexuality is being represented as taboo and I know from my own knowledge that in the era this clip is set, which Is hinted by the costume, homosexuality was not accepted the way it is today but in face frowned upon. Later on in the clip the man also says "she'd laugh in your face if she knew" which again reinforces the idea of homosexuality being viewed as wrong, and also implies what peoples reactions are to it. A long shot of both of them show the man looking around cautiously and simultaneously there is a high pitched burst of music playing to create suspense. This along with the whispering creates a sense of secrecy, as if something bad or wrong is being done. While the man is talking to the woman he is positioned above her. This represents their positions of power. The heterosexual man has more power as he is what is sometimes seen as 'normal' however the homosexual woman is more vulnerable as there may be consequences if people find out her secret.

There is a relatively long shot reverse shot sequence including close up reaction shots of the homosexual woman, and close ups of different areas of the sleeping woman which emphasises the admiration she has for her. The editing is a lot faster compared to at the beginning of the sequence, and the music becomes louder. We see towards the end of this scene a medium close up of the homosexual woman hesitantly agreeing to pretend to be in love with the male character, but from her expression we can see that she is very uncomfortable with this. Here homosexuality is represented as wrong or frowned upon, as the girl tries her hardest to hide the fact she is homosexual because she knows what the consequences may be and what people will think of it. The music becomes very eerie to emphasise the girls fear. The next scene slowly fades in and the music becomes a lot more gentle and slow paced like at the beginning of this scene.

 Audiences are changing the way they want to consume – for example home cinema and downloads versus costly cinema. Identify trends by referring to our own experience.

Personally I do not go to the cinema very often, and when I do it’s usually to see one genre of film. Disadvantages of a cinema would be the price of food and drink. This is where the cinema make the most money, which is why I do not usually buy any, however they have things that you cannot get anywhere else. Advantages of a cinema would be the large screen and cinema sound, however because of new technology people can watch films on a relatively large screen with surround sound. Because of this the trends are changing and other alternatives to the cinema are becoming more popular.

Netflix is something that has become very popular recently. You are able to watch an unlimited amount of films for a monthly price. This saves money for the audience but at the same time makes money for the company. This is because using things like Netflix means you do not have to invest in a separate disk for each film, like a DVD or Blu-Ray player, which appeals to the audience. Because of the popularity of this the company makes a lot of money out of it. Another thing which makes Netflix appeal to the audience is that you can use it on a range of devices such as iPad, iPhone, laptop and tablets. This means that it is more practical and can be used out of the house. Some people may prefer to watch films of their TV and may not wish to watch films on other devices due to the small screen size, so they might be happy just buying individual DVD disks. One disadvantage of Netflix would be that it takes quite a long time for the film to be available once its been released, meaning that going to the cinema would give you the priority and enable you to see the film earlier.

 Because of these new modern ways to watch films, DVD and Blu-Ray are becoming a less popular option. This is because both of these require paying for individual disks as well as the DVD or Blu-Ray player, and there are now options like Netflix where you do not need to pay for each individual film. Despite this, advantages of DVD and Blu-Ray disks is that they are tangible things that can be taken with you and used on other DVD or Blu-Ray players. I own a DVD player but not a Blu-Ray player, and would not be interested in one. This is because although the quality may be slightly better, the disks are more expensive and you have to buy a whole new player just for Blu-Ray disks. Some people may argue that the quality of Blu-Ray is worth the money.

Some people decide to illegally download films so that they do not have to make any payment so can watch and keep films for free. This is very beneficial for the consumer but not ideal for those production companies. This is because they are not getting the money from these consumers and are not receiving a large enough profit.

Because of new and modern home technology, the trends are changing and more people are watching films in ways that allow them to stay at home, or watch on the go rather than going to the cinema.

Representation of Ethnicity

In the first scene we can see a well dressed man wearing a suit and badge attending people by a pool side. He speck very politely for example saying "thank you very much" and greeting passing people. the mis-en-scene of a long, panning shot depicts a very large pool, and people laying down in spa robes. From these features we can tell that this must be some sort of successful hotel. because the man attending the customers, and is wearing a badge we can assume that he works at this hotel, so therefore has quite a successful job.

When another man appears in a shot reverse shot sequence, he refers to the hotel worker as the slang terms 'bro' and 'blud', while the hotel worker replies with polite phrases such as "how are you" and "you're looking good." This man challenges the stereotype which black men are often giving of using slang quite often in their speech. As well as terminology, we can also see a clear contrast in the appearance of these two men. The hotel worker is dressed for business with a smart hairstyle, while the other man is wearing 'bling' on his ears and around his neck, and has dreadlocks and tattoos. This kind of style is stereotypical of people of this ethnicity. 

The hotel worker insists to "get back to the desk" while the other man insists on a party consisting of "booze, girls, and ganja". Here people of this ethnicity are being represented as being drug takers and people who like their alcohol, however the hotel worker hesitates and tries to get back to work, so he is represented as sensible and more interested in his job and becoming successful than having a party. The camera zooms into the hotel workers face to show a reaction shot. He looks quite disapproving and worried, giving the impression he does not like the idea of the party. In this scene, two people of the same ethnicity are represented as being very different, with one man being a stereotype for his ethnicity, while the other man challenges all of these stereotypes.

In another scene we are shown a medium shot of two women pushing trolleys of cleaning equipment down a hallway. They are wearing matching uniforms so we can assume they are at work. There hair is neatly tied up as if they are going to be doing some practical work. As we know from that the last scene took place in a hotel, it would make sense if these two women were the chamber maids. When we hear one of them speak in a medium two shot, we can hear they have a strong eastern european accent. It is quite stereotypical for chamber maids in the UK to be from other parts of the world, particularly Eastern Europe.

 

In the last scene, the mis-en-scene depicts a rather large, clean and busy kitchen. A man dressed in a cooks hat with olive skin speaks with a strong accent Italian accent and refers to a woman as "madam". He uses stereotypical Italian hand actions when speaking, and talk very loud and

 repeats words quite often and uses a wide vocabulary. Here Italian people are represented as quite excessive which contrasts with the British man. For example in shot reverse shot sequence when the two men are arguing, the Italian man uses the phrase "big ugly English cretin" while the British man replies "you prat". Here the difference in Italian and British terminology is clearly shown, with the Italian man using more words and being quite excessive, while the British man speaking more simply with less words.

 

Another way Italians are represented as excessive in this scene is the picking up of the knife, and by the close up reaction shot of the British man which is held for quite a long time, we can see he looks afraid and surprised. During this sequence the editing is very fast to emphasise the action and conflict between these two men of different ethnicities.