Genre Analysis - Marketing Movies, Mousehunt

Marketing Movies - MouseHunt

Type of documentary:
Along with every other documentary, this documentary was also mixed as it consists of interviews of which some were experts in the field, voice over which lead the narrative, reconstructions and archive footage.

Themes:
There were numerous of themes incorporated in Marketing Movies, these included, films, production, distribution, merchandise and exhibition.

Narrative Structure:
The narrative structure of this documentary was pretty simple. During the beginning the documentary maker set out an exposition question. This question was, Why is marketing important? As the audience we start to question this question, and then we are shown why marketing is such an important factor in making a film successful or not and how should be done. By the middle of the documentary the documentary maker provides conflict, in order to make the documentary more interesting. It tells the audience how to overcome such bad press, and how a bad marketing campaign can result in a film being unsuccessful. As the documentary continues we begin to see a case study within this documentary, this was Mouse Hunt, we began to build up this image of if it would be successful or if it wouldn’t be successful. However the documentary could not be concluded because during this documentary the film was going through its marketing campaigns, therefore the ending was pretty open-ended. This documentary would have then made people watch the film to see if it was a good film, and also to see if there marketing campaign had worked.

Camerawork:
Throughout Marketing Movies, the camera angles used were relatively simple and this documentary lacked a variety of them. This represented that the content mattered more than camera angles, so people began to become more focused on what the documentary rather than all the fancy camera angles. There were close ups of people being interviewed, to show that the topic was more important than the actual camera angles. Cutaways were used, in order to show relevance to what people had said, therefore cutaways of money being handed over at the cinema. There was a panning shot of the merchandise and there was also a high angle which showed the whole of London. The fact that during some interviews to camera went from deep focus to shallows focus meant that the documentary makers were able to tell the audience what to concentrate on.

Mise-en-scene:
During this documentary all the mise-en-scene within it had complete relevance to what was being said by the interviewees. A lot of the cutaways and interviews were based around the cinema, to give a more realistic feel. The fact that posters and images related to what the documentary was about, meant that they were able to remarket the film Mouse Hunt, this would then either increase the overall audience or keep its existing audience. We soon came to London, during this documentary, and London is meant the be the capital of UK film making, so this was a rather important thing to add in, and premieres were also shown to give that feeling that a lot of people have seen this film and enjoyed it. It also shows that this is a successful way in marketing a film. Throughout the documentary, exhibition and distribution were showed through the premiere of Mouse Hunt and also distribution via the box office and people buying tickets, this then backs up the idea of why marketing is so important and how such advertising and marketing this film has gained a successful marketing campaign and has been rather successful.

Sound:
Sound within Marketing Movies wasn’t really used to anchor any meaning what so ever, an upbeat music bed was used throughout to keep the audience interested but there wasn’t a lot of importance of music, along with this sound was also continued over a new set of visuals. A part from the odd music bed, most other sound used within this documentary has very natural and realistic, for example the sound used during interviews was natural but it also fitted with the theme of the documentary.

Editing:
During Marketing Movies the editing was pretty simplistic, there were a lot of cutaways used, a lot of cuts and a lot of dissolves and fades to introduce a new chapter were also used. The cutaways that were used were used to anchor meaning, to what the interviewee had said therefore the relevant cutaways enabled the audience to get a better picture of what the documentary was talking about. The fact that when an interviewee spoke about money or something a long that nature, cutaway shots showed people buying ticket at the cinema box office, this kept things highly relevant within this documentary and would then keep the audience’s attention. Cuts were used between the actions, in order to give the audience time to allow what had happened to sink in.

Archive Material:
There was a lot of archive material used throughout the documentary, to imprint that meaning for the audience and how important marketing a film is, if you want it to be successful. Film trailers were used, to gain more of an audience, this would then create a wider and broader audience as numerous trailers would have been made specifically for a certain age group, therefore a lot more people would have been interested in watching Mouse Hunt. Actual footage of the film meant that if people hadn’t seen the film yet, they were able to get a broader insight into what the film was like and if they would enjoy it. Again, footage from the premiere was used in order to market the film some more, the fact that people went to London for the premiere meant that this film already had an audience and that people might have only watched the film because of the star that was in it. The archive material also supported the idea of how films were successful and also how marketing would be an important part in creating such a successful film.

Graphics:
In terms of graphics, these were a lot interesting that graphics within other documentaries I have watched, there was a cartoon man which announced the next scene which could have broadened their target audience, meaning that children could also watch this and still be entertained. The documentary was also self-explanatory meaning that it didn’t have to be explained into much detail and also that the colour graphics meant that people wouldn’t get bored, this could also be used as a specific target audience. This then created that idea of keeping the audience wanting more, things weren’t really given away until the end of the documentary, meaning that this would enable to audience to watch it through till the end, and this is a rather usual factor within documentaries.