The basics
1) What is the name of the film, the director and notable stars?
Paddington.
Director: Paul King
Main stars: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters
2) When was it released?
23rd November 2014
3) What genre is the film? What are the generic conventions that tell you the film belongs to this genre?
Comedy and family, This is because the trailer instantly makes the audience at the protagonist acting dopey.
4) What was the critical reception? What is the film rated on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes?
The movie was rated 7.7/10 on IMDb
Broadcast
1) Write a close-textual analysis of the trailer using the MIGRAIN key concepts of Media Studies.
2) Find examples of television promotion on YouTube (adverts, chat shows, ‘red carpet’ interviews etc.) and post them to your blog along with an explanation of how these promote the film.
The trailer helps to promote the film as it allows its
target audience to gain an insight of what the movie is about. It also allows them to see short dramatic clips of scenes within the movie and some leave a cliff hanger which intrigues the audience into it more persuading them to watch the whole film.
This poster helps to promote the film as it shows a still image of a scene within the movie, which is of Paddington himself in a bath tub sliding down the slide, with great amounts of water surrounding him, almost like a water slide. This is very effective as it shows how dopey and ridiculous the bear is which adds to the humour of it. The fact that that he's managed to create a huge mess on his owns shows how dumb there bear is making people want to watch more of it. It also, shows the release date of the film which allows the audience to watch as soon as it comes out.
3) Does the broadcast promotion use stars to create interest in the film?
The broadcast uses a couple of famous stars in the film to create interest. The fact that they've only used a couple is to make the film seem more realistic.
1) Read at least THREE reviews of the film and provide a quote from each one.
- 'A total delight'
- Paddngton is absolutely, positively delightful
- Sweet. charming, amusing and classy. The sort of movie kids will still love when they're old and cynicial.
3) Choose ONE print advert and write a textual analysis of what it communicates to the audience.
The first thing the audience realise is that it is a comedy.
The colour scheme used is bright, which adds to the family and comedy genre of it. It also makes it seem friendly and approachable to all ages. In addition, the central image is a picture of Paddington himself in a bath tub floating at the top of the bathroom with large amounts of water underneath him. Also, the colour of the water has been exaggerated a lot, making it seem artificial and fake. This could have been done to tell the audience that it cannot happen in real-life, but in Paddington's little world it can. This attracts the target audience as it shows them how clumsy Paddington is, as he caused the mess surrounding him. In addition, the title of publication is effective as it stands out amongst the blue water. This also attracts the audience as they instantly realise that he is the bear from London, making them want to watch the whole movie. Also, the paw print on the title, is effective as it links with Paddington bear. Finally, the Release date is also effective as it allows the audience to know when the movie is coming out so they can watch it as soon as it comes out.4) How is the film’s brand constructed? What does the brand connote? Does it remind you of any other brands or similar films?
The brand is of an English bear, with several other merchandises with it. The brand connotes an English society.
E-media
1) Research the film’s presence on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. How does the film’s social media presence help promote the film
The films social media helps to promote the film as on twitter, it shows hilarious scenes and still images of the bear, which intrigue the audience into watching the whole film.
Instagram helps promote the movie as it also shows a wide range of pictures from the film as well as having short dramatic clips of scenes within the movie.
2) Analyse the official website for the film. How does it use the film’s brand? What examples of synergy can you find with the other platforms?
As soon as people The official website includes the trailer of the film which allows a wide range of people to view it.
3) Did the film run any kind of e-media based campaign to generate interest in the film?
Their campaign was about inviting people to the sets of Paddington and trying out the things the brea himself did in the movie e.g at the train station.
The campaign is underpinned by the aim to:
- Highlight film locations in Britain
- Data capture
- Increase visitor spend in Britain
Another campaign is that they had a 'colour me in' picture on their website for children to complete. After they did this their parents could upload it on twitter and uses the hashtag #Paddinton which went viral
4) Can you find any examples of the two-step flow theory online – did celebrities or journalists tweet or post about the film in order to promote it to their followers?
Audience
1) Who is the target audience for this film? Demographics and psychographics.
The target audience is aimed at families in the psychographic group of mainstreamer and explorers and in the demographic group it is aimed at people of C1 and C2.
2) How does the cross-media promotional campaign target this audience?
They did this by embedding trailers, posters, adverts etc. onto their sites to help promote their film. This allowed a variety of people to access the information about the movie which will eventually interest them.
3) What audience pleasures does the film provide? Think about the BFI lecture on audience pleasures in British film.
4) What similar films would the target audience enjoy? Justify your suggestions.
In my opinion, the audience will like Mr Beans holiday as firstly its also aimed at families and secondly its a comedy. Mr bean and Paddington are both dopey characters and do hilarious dumb things, meaning they get into stressful situations which interests the audience into it more.
Institution
1) Which film studio produced the film? What other films have they produced? Do they have a track record with this kind of film and this target audience?
Studio Canals.
Studio Canals produced the films : Million Dollar baby, Mr Beans holiday, Johnny english: reborn and loads more.2) Which company distributed the film in the UK? What other films have they distributed?
Heyday films. This company produced all the Harry Potter films, i am legend , the boy in the striped pyjamas and loads more.
3) Do they have a track record with this kind of film and this target audience?
4)What was the budget for the film?
38.5 million euros
5) How successful was the film financially? Why do you think this was?
I think that the film was very successful financially. This is because it had millions of people watching it all over the world in cinemas and so meaning it had gained a lot of money from them. Also, it had a small budget compared to other big films and to think it came out very successful like the big budget movies. Furthermore, it has passed $200m
6) Was this film more successful in the UK or worldwide/USA? Why do you think this is?
Paddington was no.2 on the 2014 list in the UK for films and was more successful in UK hitting $53.5 dollors, whereas it hit $8.7m in the USA
7) What certificate was the film given (12A, 18 etc.)? What was the reason for this certificate? Is the certification important for this film in terms of targeting its audience? Why?
The British Form of Film Classification gave the film a PG
Representation
1) What representations of people, places or groups can be found in this film?
I think that the bear portrays a dominant representation as it reinforces the stereotype that bears are clumsy and dopey and just fall over whenever, which exactly how Paddington acts within the movie.
2) What representation of ‘Britishness’ does the film contain?
The whole theme of the film is British. This is firstly due to the accents. The characters accents are British which had to the Britishness of it. Also, the fact that the colours used in the trialer symbolises the England flag also adding to the Britishness of it. Finally, the words on screen says from the producer of Harry Potter, suggesting that a British person had produced this film.
3) How does the representation of Britain differ to Ill Manors? #
The representations are both different because it firstly they are both completely opposite genres. Ill Manors is a crime/thriller and Paddington is a family/comedy. Also, the storyline's are different as ill Manors is about someone trying to track a phone down but comes along many obstacles and Paddington is about a bear who needs to find a home in the UK.
4) What values and ideologies can you find in your chosen film? (E.g. The King’s Speech is extremely patriotic, pro-monarchy etc.)
There are not many ideologies in the trailer as there are no purposes to the film, its just about having a bit of a laugh, whereas The kings speech is based on a true story, telling the audience about England's past. However, the only main ideology Paddington has is it being based around the England culture.
Case study comparison
1) What similarities and differences can you find between Ill Manors, A Field In England and your chosen case study film? List all that apply.
Similarities:
- All 3 films are set in England
- They all entertain their target audience
- Ill Manors is based around violence and crime, whereas Paddington is based around enjoyment and laughter and A field in England is based around real events in the past.
- Paddington uses a bright colour scheme like yellow, blue and red, whereas the other two uses a dull colour scheme such as grey and white.
