New ways of reaching audiences in distribution

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - released 12/03/2010

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/uk-film-council-digital-innovation-case-study-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.pdf

1) Who was the audience for the film?
The target demographic are predominantly female, over their 20s. The majority have enjoyed reading Stieg Larsson's trilogy; Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first book. The demographic casually consumes small games and mini puzzles who often interact with others via social network such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc. Momentum Pictures, chose to use their digital innovation award on a campaign which would focus on finding and targeting these readers. Fans of the book had already gathered in clusters online, such as in Facebook groups and websites. In addition, Momentum could identify those who had bought the books online, through booksellers such as Amazon.

2) What went well with the marketing campaign? 
The online marketing campaign was successful because Momentum utilized the digital space cleverly. The ad campaign was spread across various digital platforms when Momentum decided to partner up with Facebook, Amazon and Google. These ads were aimed to recruit fans to the Facebook page and were able  to identify who liked Larsson's books; who bought the book, who searched for related terms etc. With the average Facebook user having 130 friends, this method surely received attention. An estimated amount of 6,600 fans were active and had influenced their friends to watch the film; this meant 660,000 people may have found out about the film through the digital campaign on Facebook in particular. Facebook users were invited to take part in exclusive poster competition giveaways which also helped to generate awareness. For £7000 this was a worthwhile investment because over 600k people found out about the film which is what Momentum wanted.  

7 weeks prior to the release, the trailer on Yahoo gained 65,000 views whilst the Metro featured the movie on the front page of its website causing a large spike in Google searches. This was the most effective aspect of the marketing campaign because the ads were presented to the audience; all they had to do was click it to find out more about the film. The audience were likely to have spread the word about the movie via social networks as well as by word of mouth. Overall, the digital campaign generated enough interest and ensured people were active so that their friends knew about the upcoming film release. The strong audience and critical reaction surpassed Momentum’s expectations and overall the film earned over £2m at the box office across a run of more than ten weeks. It played in 120 sites and became the highest grossing Scandinavian film of all time. 

3) What did not work? Even better if...  
The interactive task-based 'Superfan' game system was the least useful marketing tool. It only gained 150 participators because it required too much effort of the audience. Sharing the game with friends and requesting a paid pre-release screening gave the audience too much to do. When promoting something to an audience it is important not to ask too much of them. In this case, the seven-week task-based game was "too long and overly complex". The campaign would have been better if the preview was free; this would have been a better incentive because no one wants to pay for a preview when they can just wait and pay full price to watch the entire film. In terms of interacting with the fans, a series of short mini games would have been better than a 7-week long task based game. Reason being that females in their 20s were probably studying at university or working therefore the game would have been one of the last things on their agenda. A short, mini game that can be accessed on their phone and does not require much effort will be used more because they can use it to occupy their time perhaps during travel. 

Poster Analysis (in terms of audience)

The film poster for 'The Girl with the  Dragon Tattoo' is simple yet effective in grasping a specific audience because the majority of the poster is dominated by a dark colour scheme and low lighting. This suggests that the poster aims to entice people who are interested in edgy characters involved in something that needs to be concealed aka kept in the dark hence the colour scheme of dark colours i.e. black, grey, and a deep hue of violet on the character's leather jacket and hair.   

The theme of mystery and suspense resonates throughout this poster illustrated by the smoke effects to construct an eerie atmosphere. Dragons and mythical beasts are often portrayed as intimidating, scaly creatures however the dragon in this poster does not appear intimidating. Because it doesn't have a harsh outline, the dragon looks quite feminine. The colour red is synonymous with passion, anger and love; emotions felt by young adults and adults more than children which tells us about the age of the target demographic. The smoke effect softens the image of the dragon and the way it caresses the model's face supports the idea of femininity. This brings me on to the model.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the female model is a young adult, immediately, young adults and perhaps teenage girls will be able to identify with the poster because the focus is entirely on her. The fact that there are no men will intrigue the female audience who believe in women's empowerment. The photography influences the audience's interpretation of the character's persona. Getting the model to gaze directly into the camera, the poster becomes alluring because it appears as if she is acknowledging the viewer as one of her allies. Her facial expression supports this ideal because she appears strong and confident by tilting her face down, her blue eyes piercing at the viewer. Her make up is very natural and the cold tones of the light illuminating her face makes her seem like an apathetic but strong person. In addition, her short hair expresses her lack of care for her appearance because it is not a hairstyle that requires much maintenance like long silky hair. The sharp ends of her fringe almost resemble sharp fangs biting into the dragon which makes the model appear even more powerful. 

At the very top of the poster reads "based on a worldwide bestseller" which informs the audience that this is a renowned book. Font style of the title links to the fact that this is the first book in the trilogy and will appeal to those who have read the book. Naturally, the title is also the largest font of the page and is positioned in the centre of the right hand side so the audience remembers the name of the film. The colour of the title is white, against a black background, it stands out more than the grey quotes and draws attention to the poster. Quotes from significant establishments like Total Film and Daily Mirror: "heart stopping" and "thrills" as well as the 5 stars will convince the audience to see the film.because they are generally good reviews and informs the viewer of the film's genre which seems to be 'Thriller'.