Blockbuster

1. Blockbuster An introduction to the genre of Blockbuster in film.

2. What IS A BLOCKBUSTER? • I would like you to think in your table groups about what movies are blockbusters and why you believe this is so • We will then write on the board some responses until we can narrow down a working definition of the term.

3. What the dictionary says • Blockbuster: • Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The term blockbuster in film generally speaks to the size of both the narrative and the scale of production. • Do you agree with this definition? Why or why not? • What do you think the first blockbuster might have been?

4. Jaws – the first blockbuster • In 1975 the usage of 'blockbuster' for films coalesced around Steven Spielberg's Jaws, and became perceived as something new: a cultural phenomenon, a fast-paced exciting entertainment, almost a genre. Audiences interacted with such films, talked about them afterwards, and went back to see them again just for the thrill.

5. Introducing the genre • Before Jaws set box office records in the summer of 1975, successful films such as Quo Vadis (1951 film), The Ten Commandments (1956 film), Gone With the Wind, and Ben-Hur were called blockbusters based purely on the amount of money earned at the box office. • Jaws is regarded as the first film of New Hollywood's 'blockbuster era' with its current meaning, implying a film genre. It also consolidated the 'summer blockbuster' trend, through which major film studios and distributors planned their entire annual marketing strategy around a big release by July 4 (Northern Hemisphere summer)

6. Introducing the genre • After the success of Jaws, many Hollywood producers attempted to create similar "event films" with wide commercial appeal. Film companies began green lighting increasingly high budgeted films and relying extensively on massive advertising blitzes leading up to their theatrical release. Spielberg and his fellow filmmaker George Lucas (whose 1977 film Star Wars was the most successful film of that decade) are the film-makers most closely associated with the beginning of the blockbuster era.

7. Introducing the genre • Although the term 'blockbuster' was originally defined by audience response, after a while the term came to mean a high-budget production aimed at mass markets, with associated merchandising, on which the financial fortunes of film studio or distributor depended. It was defined by its production budget and marketing effort rather than its success and popularity, and was essentially a tag which a film's marketing gave itself. In this way it became possible to refer to films such as Hollywood's Godzilla (1998) or Last Action Hero as both a blockbuster and a box office disaster.

8. Introducing the genre • Eventually, the focus on creating blockbusters grew so intense that a backlash occurred, with critics and some film-makers decrying the prevalence of a "blockbuster mentality" and lamenting the death of the author-driven, 'more artistic' small-scale films of the New Hollywood era. This view is taken, for example, by film journalist Peter Biskind, who wrote that all studios wanted was another Jaws, and as production costs rose, they were less willing to take risks and therefore based blockbusters on the 'lowest common denominators' of the mass market. • An opposing view is taken by film critic Tom Shone, who considers that Lucas and Spielberg's reinvention of blockbusters as fast-paced entertainment reinvigorated the US film industry and deserves greater artistic and critical recognition.

9. The biggest blockbuster to date • The biggest blockbuster ever made was Avatar, production cost $500 million, and it earned more than $2.5 BILLION in theatres, after it came out in the summer of 2009. No other movie has ever earned as much as Avatar did in movie theatres. • Avatar has its own Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter pages. That’s getting to be standard these days. The 18,000-follower Twitter account has tellingly not been updated since a few days after the film’s theatrical release; once the word was out, the job was done. While it was active, though, its followers would retweet updates to their followers, who (if interested) would do the same, spreading the word all over the web. The Facebook Page is even more impressive, with over 700,000 fans. • Facebook’s updated Page features make it the place to be for brands seeking exposure. The site allows brands to push updates to fans. Those fans see the updates in their personal news feeds, and they can then share them with others, just like on Twitter. Avatar’s Facebook Page is also where the MTV-hosted live webcast was hosted.

10. How to ensure a blockbuster is a hit • According to research sociologist Brian Uzzi, Ph.D., of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., constant chatter about a movie, called movie buzz, can help a film become a blockbuster hit. • Movie buzz creates a "tipping point." This is the point where so much has been heard about a movie, it hits a threshold, and the likelihood of seeing it sky-rockets. "Once you hit the tipping point, everyone wants to go and it acts like a blockbuster," Dr. Uzzi said.

11. How to ensure a blockbuster is a hit • To ensure this tipping point occurs, marketing strategists use social networking, the success of this method was proven with the recently released Avatar, who flooded Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace with Avatar related tid bits to encourage buzz.

12. How to ensure a blockbuster is a hit • for blockbuster movies, the opening pretty much determines how it will perform over its entire theatre lifetime, as such it lends support to the classic "blockbuster" strategy of opening the movie simultaneously on as many screens as possible -- a strategy that has been used since Jaws. • Broken Hearts. each billion-dollar film included some form of epic, potentially doomed romance: Lifelong partners are separated forever ("Knight"), lovers of different races are long-estranged ("King"), aspiring pirates are destined to be apart for years ("Pirates") and a brief romantic dalliance resonates decades later ("Titanic"). Explosions thrill half of the crowd; the emotional ripples affect the other half. "Teenagers with lots of disposable income kept coming back to swoon over Leo DiCaprio," says Thilk. "That comes into play to a great extent."

13. How to ensure a blockbuster is a hit • They all have special effects, swordplay. They're not the most subtle examples of emotive storytelling you can find. That's why they end up being big box-office winners overseas - an explosion looks the same on a Japanese movie screen as it does on an American movie screen. • Never underestimate the appeal of a Happy Meal toy. While ancillary products like soundtrack CDs, book tie-ins, and toys don't contribute directly to box-office dollars, they're indirectly crucial to success. Even if a young kid doesn't know what the movie is, he'll get the toy and then turn to his mum and say, 'I want to see that movie!'. Product marketing is a component of the overall marketing mix of any blockbuster.

14. Your blockbuster task • You are to watch the original blockbuster Jaws, you are then to get into groups that I will choose of 5 – 6, and write a 10 or 12 scene, depending on your group size, blockbuster script, it needs to incorporate all the aspects of blockbuster that you have learnt here (access the PowerPoint from your wiki), as well as a one page document outlining your plans for media distribution before and during the screening of your film. • You will be assessed on 6. Plan, organise and complete activities and 9. Negotiate, reflect upon and take responsibility for learning.

15. Your blockbuster task • Things to cover: • Genre – action/romance/drama – a combination • Actors – your first page needs to include what actors will play which parts and why they were selected • Setting – each new scene means a new setting, explain the setting in detail • Directions – ensure you include acting and general scene directions. • Beginning – middle – end – blockbusters follow this traditional plotline

16. Your blockbuster task • Look online for some example scripts from movies, this will help you with your setting. • Each group member is to write two scenes themselves but they have to fit in with the story, so that needs to be decided before anyone goes off alone, and may mean that further editing is required when you are all finished, to ensure there are no continuity errors. • Each scene needs to be 500 words minimum. • GOODLUCK!