Target Audience

The core target audience for this film is males aged 12-30. However the UK market has also been targeted as a whole in order to maximise box office takings. the target audience has spread out to families, girls and adults.

The core audience was targeted through the use of intense action and gun porn in it's production, online marketing campaigns and a cleverly timed release to coincide with the beginning of school holidays.

The secondary audiences were then targeted through the use of mainstream media such as television and the press. A female figure played a big part in the film to target female audiences and Leona Lewis recorded the soundtrack to target younger girls. The film was rated a 12A so it could be viewed by all age groups except very young children. Cross media convergence, such as the facebook page, has provided a massive global reach for this film and synergy with global companies, such as their links with LG and Coke Zero, has had the same effect.

Posted by Tom P and Hugh

Has Avatar been a success?

Avatar is said to be the most expensive film ever to make and there is no denying that James Cameron has managed to create something spectacular and revolutionary. But has it succeeded in the market place?

The film was a huge success, taking $27m on its opening day, the second largest ever december opening, behind I am Legend. It took an estimated $232m on its opening weekend, the most successful non franchise, non sequel, and original film ever. It has now grossed over $1.1bn, making it the second highest grossing film ever, behind Titanic (1997, also by James Cameron), which grossed over $1.8bn. It is rumoured to be nominated for up to nine oscars including best picture and best director.

The audience on the whole have loved the film with people who never visit the cinema making the trip to go and see it! Lots have people have seen it multiple times, and I think that it is the spectacle that get people going to see what all the fuss is about. Filmed with revolutionary motion capture technology, Cameron has pushed the boundaries of what is possible and people want to be part of this new age of 3D. Cameron says 'we've only just touched on the surface on what is possible here', and with the success of Avatar we should expect a lot more movies to be pushing the boundaries of technology and 3D to become much more widely used.

I think that Avatar definately lived up to all the hype, with James Cameron showcasing a visualy stunning creation which will certainly revolutionise the way we watch films. We are still unsure whether there will be a sequel to Avatar, but Cameron says he has a storyline for another two movies already.

Posted by Tom A and Hugh

Mark Kermode reviews Avatar

Posted by Tom A

IGN: Review

Posted by Tom A

Marketing

Avatar has been marketed by it's distributors as widely as possible in order to gain as large box office takings as possible. Avatar needs to gain these huge box office takings in order to try and compensate for the massive budget put into this film. Marketing campaigns have been put in place to try and appeal different age groups to try and maximise the reach of this film.

The initial marketing process of this film included setting up the official Avatar website and a small viral marketing campaign. The official website includes the trailer, links to social networking sites such as facebook and twitter and some behind the scenes footage. The viral marketing campaign is based on the idea that you can sign up for your own avatar and by doing so you recieve regular email updates from Avatar. The official website also contains a link to the official Avatar youtube channel. Here all users can find the trailers and teasers to watch. The channel has gained over 9 million views proving a massive part in spreading the film across the internet. These aspects of the campaign were essential to build up the core audience of this film: young 'techy' males. They've been targeted through the use of a strongly online based campaign and a gradual release of information which will build excitement. This is also a great example of cross media convergance by using the internet in order to market film.



An Avatar game was also released on all the main games consoles. This was a clever move as it gave a chance for more revenue to be gained from this film. This also directly targets the core audience of this film since young males are the main consumers of video games.The game was released on the 1st of december 2 and a half weeks prior to the release o the film to build interest within the audience while also providing key presence of the film in the market.



The second stages of this marketing process involved releasing extended tv spots in November. These included Gordan Ramseys F Word and Victoria's Secret Fashion Show demonstrating the wide reach this film was trying to create. The trailers were all based heavily on the visuals of the film and on the director. Every trailer included a mention of James Cameron since he is already a well established director who will definitely have fans who watch all his films. The visuals of the film are focused on because they are the biggest selling point. The revolutionary 3D technology is being marketed so audiences watch the film to see this 'technological breakthrough'. Avatar also set up a joint marketing campaign with Coke Zero and McDonald's. Both of these are huge globalised companies and Avatar has done well to get these tie-ins so it can reach its huge globalised audience. This is an example of Synergy between the companies because the tie-in is mutually benficial between both parties.




The UK premier of this film started the final stages of the marketing process. All media platforms were bombarded with Avatar reviews, articles, trailers and more. The day after the premier in the UK most newspapers had a featured avatar article. This below the line marketing was essential for Avatar because it generated the buzz that it needed close to its worldwide release. Reviews were posted all over the internet and the Avatar website took you directly the positive ones. Every media platform had been proliferated by Avatar. Mornign TV shows had special features on the film, The Sun ran an Avatar based competion and the internet had adverts everywhere. This was the kind of marketing that was essential in order to reach the UK as a whole and maximise the film's box office takings.


Posted by Tom P

Audience Reaction

Avatar has received a huge response worldwide mainly due to the fact that it is such a massive production from James Cameron, a brilliant and highly acclaimed director. It has smashed box office records and it is being described as a 'must-see' film. As well as just going to see the movie (in many cases multiple times) the population have been busy making their views heard through sites such as IMDB, Facebook, and many more.

(Click to view full image)

The popular social networking site Facebook has seen thousands of people write good comments about the film on The Avatar Movie's wall, with the number of fans at around 700,000!


Posted by Tom A

Exhibition

Avatar was released worldwide on december 18th, showing in a huge 507 cinemas in the UK. Having such a large cinema release made it possible for almost anyone in Britain to see the film as most of the audience would not have to travel far to see it, which may have attracted people that wouldn't of necessarily gone had it not been showing in the cinema closest to them.

The 18th December was the day that most schools around the country broke up for christmas, which would attract many more school kids - a large bulk of the target audience - to see the film than it would have done had it opened during schooltime. It also meant that families could go to see the during the week running up to christmas had they not seen it on the opening weekend, when previously the kids would have had school the next day and couldn't have gone.

It was released in both 2D and 3D, offering the audience a cheaper option if they wanted it, although afterwards they may have wanted to see it in 3D, so they would go to watch it again. The film was also released in the IMAX, offering audiences the ultimate viewing experience, and the IMAX London was booked out until early February even before the release date.

posted by Hugh

James Cameron's Vision

Posted by Tom A

Performance Capture:

Posted by Tom A

BBC NEWS: Avatar smashes $1bn box office speed record

Avatar has become the fastest movie ever to achieve $1bn (£625.6m) in ticket sales around the world.

Distributors 20th Century Fox say it has earned more than $350m (£217m) in the US and more than $670m (£415m) in the rest of the world in only 17 days.

The 3D science fiction blockbuster was directed by James Cameron, who also made Titanic, the best selling movie of all time.

The latest figures make Avatar already the fourth-biggest film ever made.

Ahead of it are Titanic ($1.8bn; £1.1bn), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12bn; £695m) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07bn; £664m).

Avatar - about a disabled marine who infiltrates a race of giant blue aliens - combines live action with digitally-enhanced performances.

It was reportedly the most expensive film ever made, with a budget of at least $300m (£186m).

Expensive tickets

"This is like a freight train out of control," said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston. "It just keeps on going.

"I think everybody has to see Avatar once, even people who don't normally go to the movies, they've heard about it and are saying, 'I have to see it'," he said.

"Then there are those people seeing it multiple times."

Avatar has now reached most parts of the globe. It opened in China on Saturday and is due to reach Italy - its final market - on 15 January.

The huge box office takings are partly down to the higher cost of tickets for 3D performances, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles.

But as Hollywood enters its traditional slow season, with few big films due for release, Avatar is likely to dominate the box office for several more weeks, he adds.

Posted by Tom A

Production

James Cameron came up with the idea of avatar 15 years ago, but it was then shelved because the technology required to create the film did not exist. The film remained an idea until 4 years when Cameron developed the '3D fusion camera', which allowed him to shoot crystal clear digital 3D, but also release the film in 2D. The result is an epic cinematic masterpiece that brings you deep into the world of Pandora, appealing to techy-types and film fanatics alike and will revolutionise cinema from now on.

The film's official budget was $237m, although some estimates put the cost even higher, closer to $300m, making Avatar the most expensive film ever made, beating Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and Spiderman 3 (2007). This gave Cameron the ability to go all out on the special effects and picture quality, for example, it took the 5th most powerful computer on the planet 100 hours to render each frame of the digital sequences. Many people, not just techies, will be intrigued to see the how good the film really looks and go to see it for that reason.

James Cameron is already an established director having made many mega-budget films such as Terminator and Titanic, so he already has a fan base who love his work. This also meant that his previous successes can be used in marketing to get the people who liked his previous films, but may not know that he made them.

The movie was produced alongside the video game, which preceded the film in its release, to act as a more in depth teaser to the story. The game is rated T in America, and is full of explosions, much like the film, appealing to the film's core audience of 12-30 year old males. The film makers and the game producers, and many of the vehicles and creatures designed for the game were eventually used in the film as well, showing both the cross media convergence between the two.

The film was produced as a 12a, with enough violence, explosions and gun-porn to satisfy the core target audience, but also mild enough to appeal to the family market. A large target audience was hugely important for this film, as the budget was so high, and it would be impossible for the film to make a profit if it only reached a small audience.

posted by Hugh