Topic II: Persuasive Techniques
Advertisement 1 (the good, or rather, clever one): Frozen's teaser
1) Now hopefully you've seen the teaser as provided above, but for those of you who did not, it is basically a short comedy skit. Olaf the snowman accidentally sneezes his carrot nose off and it lands in the middle of a frozen-over lake. He then races against a reindeer to reach it, both of them having to use comedic methods of moving due to the ice. Eventually the carrot gets flung back to land and the reindeer runs off ahead of Olaf. Olaf believes his nose gone, until the reindeer returns and gives him his nose... only for Olaf to sneeze again thanks to reindeer fur, except he holds his nose this time, which blows his head off instead.
Now what stands out about this ad is how little it ultimately tells you about the movie it is advertising. When one thinks of a movie trailer, or even teaser, they usually picture them telling at least a few things about the movie. But this one does not. Compare this teaser to that of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This teaser at least shows you the new characters and teases other elements. Frozen's teaser by contrast tells you little to nothing and seems, for lack of a better word, childish.
2) This is an ad for a Disney movie, who do think the main target audience is? Children; although if you want specifics, probably anyone 12 and younger (not that you have to be that age to enjoy it).
3) This teaser does not really use persuasive techniques, instead it deliberately undersells the movie by making it seem like it is going to be some silly kids film that adults and older kids will not get anything out of; in doing this it persuades older viewers that the film is going be purely for little kids. However as time went on and the release date got closer they eventually released this trailer. This one is a bit more epic and interesting is it not? Releasing a deliberately "bad" trailer got people talking and the kids interested, and as the movie got closer the trailers got more traditionally interesting to everyone. What this ultimately was was a major gamble by the studio, to undersell the film so that when people did see it (because parents have to accompany their younger kids) everyone would be saying the movie was better than they expected thereby persuading others to see it. It was just as much a persuasive advertising campaign as a campaign of trickery and audience manipulation.
4) Frozen remains the highest grossing animated film and the twelfth highest grossing film of all time to this date. You tell me if the advertising method worked. This is also reflected in general audience reception to the film, although if this were a film critiquing class I could tell you why I personally don't like it that much.
1) These are all basic posters for the horror movies, all of which deal with supernatural elements, ghosts, daemons and what have you*. The posters are all ominous and unnerving like most horror movie posters, but you'll notice upon looking at them that they all claim to be based on a true story, something that is commonplace in a lot of movies like those based on history.
2) I honestly have no idea who the target audience for these posters is. I have no idea who the target audience is for horror films, period. I can only imagine it is those people who enjoy being scared because of the adrenaline rush it provides. Which I totally get, although I prefer to get it from video games myself.
3) Basically these posters and the advertising in general claiming these movies are based on real events are trying to persuade you accept the more ridiculous things in the movie. According to Joel Coen (of the Coen Brothers), claiming a story is true gives it that feel of authenticity so that the filmmakers can try to get away with things that the audience might not accept as realistic, like ghosts, daemons, or what have you in the case of horror movies. There is no such thing as ghosts or daemons, and those "true stories" horror films claim to be based on can never be verified because the eyewitnesses who allege they were real were either delusional, lying, or mistaken. In all likelihood their eyes were playing trick on them, the eye is a mysterious thing and it has a habit of doing that, it why Obi-wan says "Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them."
4) Not all of these horror films were super successful, either critically or financially. Some did better than others so the whole "based on a true story thing" gimmick probably is unimportant to the films success or failure.
*Fun fact, in Greek mythology, daemons are considered good and benevolent instead of evil.
I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT ABOUT MOVIES. Especially the Frozen one! Here I was thinking food and beverage brands when you're over here hitting points I never even thought to put into perspective. Of course I want to go see a movie with a super vague trailer that gives me no insights as to what I'm about to see. This whole post was a very interesting read.
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