Exhibition Issues for "The Boat That Rocked" - Audience reception and digital piracy

These are just a few comments on the longest theatrical trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRh1-cyWfGQ

Notice how several, "spam" comments, refer to websites where you can download the film free online. YouTube clips for the film are riddled with spam like this. This is one of the results of WEB 2.0 and the interactive nature of digital technology. It's a form of piracy, of course, and another example of technological convergence - something which can cut both ways for the distribution of the film - profitably and unprofitably. This is somewhat ironic given the fact that the original  pirate radio DJs on Radio Caroline didn't pay royalties to recording artists when they played their songs in the mid 1960s! The spam is aimed at young people who are "time rich and cash poor".

Text Comments (211)   Options

frederickbington (7 hours ago)  

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it was so damn superb to watch it. I seriuously just want to see it one more time at movies.ovemedia. com

gisellegingerih4 (19 hours ago)  

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i saw this movie last night very stupid but at the same time creepy but it got better at the end .. anywayz this site offers the whole movie movies.ovemedia. com

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wanessawilliam (1 day ago)  

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This film is superb but highly over rated still keeps up with the high end budget horrors... I always find to make it more scary you need to watch it late at night while home alone... Anyway for anyone who hasnt see it you can watch it where I did movies.ovemedia. com

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revolutionschild666 (2 days ago)  

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This trailer implies that The Count is the protagonist of this movie, which is wrong of course

No worries tough, it still is a genius movie

burnyholley (3 days ago)  

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I seriously can't believe that they already got this movie to the internet! my pal showed me this web site uploaded at movies.ovemedia. com

jimifloydrix (3 days ago)  

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what the hell, 8 spams in a row?
also: looks good. even if 1:41 ...

adeleeaster (3 days ago)  

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You can watch the newest movies here: free-movies-on-line( . )com

pingugore445 (3 days ago)  

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whats thee name of the song at 0:28?

Exhibition of "The Boat That Rocked" - Amazon UK reviews by people who bought the DVD

Some statistics first from Amazon UK Classification: 15 Studio: Universal Pictures UK DVD Release Date: 7 Sep 2009 Run Time: 129 minutes Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews) ASIN: B0027UY818 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 67 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD) (This figure suggests that sales are going quite well for the DVD!) Popular in this category: #22 in  DVD > Comedy This is a good review. It's positive, well written and quite wide-ranging. The first reviewer is also particularly good on why critics did not like the film.  (By the way, all this is possible through something called WEB 2.0 where audiences are no longer passive and cannot comment on what they watch and hear. Its members can be active by commenting on Amazon, YouTube, Face-Book, and post on blogs like this one! That's another example of technological convergence on the Internet, driven by the audience's use of digital technology. Today, many people are "prosumers" and not just consumers. A prosumer produces as well as consumes.) 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:  A boat trip down Memory Lane, 22 Oct 2009 By H. A. James "Hywel James" (Devon, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews      The year is 1966. A Pirate Radio ship is anchored in the North Sea broadcasting twenty-four hours of rock n'roll to the British mainland. A crew of engaging rogues, rascals, ingenues and lost souls are on board determined to bring music to the masses who crave something other than the weather forecast, Victor Sylvester and the Home Service of the BBC. This period is evoked accurately and lovingly in "The Boat That Rocked" and it is significant that the mid-Sixties also saw the first period of widespread popularity of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". Both that epic and the 1960's themselves share a common feature: Tolkien's book is a modern invention of a supposedly ancient saga and the 1960's have over the past 40 years been repeatedly mythologised. Both the book and the decade offer a time of legend when heroes and villains bestrode the land engaged in titanic struggles. "The Boat That Rocked" gives us a ragged band of DJ's as heroes and the Government of the day provide the villains dedicated to cast them adrift - literally as it turns out. The critics were largely unimpressed by "The Boat That Rocked" when it was released in cinemas because it felt to be self-indulgent, overly nostalgic and lacking in a firm narrative structure. ( Just a moment A2 students - are not these postmodern features the critics took issue with?  Dog.) These strictures are pretty well justified but the film also has an ensemble of terrific actors, some great music, a production which merits an award for its attention to the fashion and design of the 1960's and - and this is very important - a lot of laughter and warm affection for a time of innocence, hope and optimism. It would be invidious to single out particular performances among a top-notch cast but I feel Nick Frost deserves huge praise for his character who is wily, shameless, lovable and hilarious, and the incomparable Ralph Brown, almost unrecognisable under enough hair to stuff a medium-sized sofa, as the DJ whom no-one on board seems to recognise despite the fact that he's been working the pre-dawn, dead slot between 3am and 7am for seven months, while everyone else has been asleep! "The Boat That Rocked" is a warm, funny, affectionate and hugely entertaining movie.  Great 'feel good' movie, 29 Oct 2009 By E. Liston (cardiff South Wales) - See all my reviews Was a bit sceptical about this movie thinking it would be similar to the other films i.e Notting Hill, Love Actually. But it was great. It took me back to the 1960's and Radio Caroline. Great music and good acting.  Disappointing, 4 Oct 2009 By Richard (Cornwall) - See all my reviews What a disappointment! This was more 'Confessions of a Pirate DJ' than a proper Richard Curtis quality movie. No strong lead relationship to hold the interest, cardboard characters acted out lazily by a quality cast that wasted its talent by coasting through this stuff (Bill Nighy playing Bill Nighy, again!), cartoon baddies, and a series of scenes and 'hilarious' incidents mostly fit only for adolescents. No romance, just schoolboy sex. Thank heavens for the music, which was its one redeeming feature. Admittedly it did pick up a bit at the end, but by then it was too little, too late. Come on, Mr Curtis, you can do much better than this. Time Out's Movie Review. It helped kill off the film at the box office http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/86395/the_boat_that_rocked.html ‘The Ship That Sank’ would be a more appropriate title for writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest and most disappointing entertainment. It’s a cripplingly self-conscious and self-satisfied tribute to the roistering last days of offshore British mid-’60s pirate radio before the meanies from the ministry pulled the plugs. It’s also the kind of musical comedy where the actors seem to be having more fun than any audience could ever share. This overlong, poorly paced and slackly directed ship-bound farrago not only wastes its treasury of golden oldies – Hendrix, Kinks, Small Faces etc – but magically contrives to reduce the chaotic, creative spirit of the sexual and cultural revolution to a mere mechanical catalogue of trite and surprisingly sentimental sex-drugs-and-rock ’n’ roll clichés, each fatally underlined by multiple and repetitive reaction shots. If there are compensations, they come courtesy of a few diverting performances. The movie’s depressingly few incidences of genuine feeling come from Tom Sturridge who is sweet and appealing as the public schoolboy taken under the wing of his godfather, ship’s captain and Radio Rock boss Quentin, played by Bill Nighy as a self-parody in made-to-measure Regency-collared suits. Philip Seymour Hoffman does a turn as the radical, Emperor Rosko-like  DJ in rivalry with Rhys Ifans’s self-serving immoralist Gavin. Elsewhere, pickings are slim:  the talented Ralph Brown is wasted – he’s cast as Wee Small Hours Bob, a misjudged amalgam, presumably, of ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and dysarthric Danny from ‘Withnail & I’ – and the same is doubly true of such comic talents as Chris O’Dowd, Rhys Darby and Nick Frost. Author: Wally Hammond Time Out London Issue 2015, Apr 2-8 2009

Exhibition Issues for "The Boat That Rocked"

Exhibition - the film was a disappointment at the box office!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/apr/07/richard-curtis-boat-that-rocked-box-office?showAllComments=true

"In terms of box office, it's more a case of a sputtering engine and a broken pump. The Boat That Rocked opened on £1.33m over the three-day weekend, £1.8m if you include previews on Wednesday and Thursday. Compared with Curtis's Love Actually, which opened in November 2003 on £6.66m (including £1m in previews), it's a crushing disappointment for backers Universal/Working Title.

   A finger of blame will inevitably be pointed at national newspaper critics for a hostile consensus likely to be at variance from the public's."

Read the rest of the article as it raises ISSUES about WHY the film failed at the box office. For instance, the absence of Hugh Grant, the absence of strong female roles,  unseasonal weather during its April release, etc.

For the US launch in late November 2009 the film was "remarketed" for US audiences. 

Focus Features are a subsidiary of Universal in the USA.

30 November 2009 1:32 AM, PST | ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news »
Focus Features premiered the domestic trailer for Pirate Radio a while back and what many of you might not know is that not only was the original title altered, but the marketing strategy was significantly changed as well. - Focus Features premiered the domestic trailer for Pirate Radio a while back and what many of you might not know is that not only was the original title altered, but the marketing strategy was significantly changed as well. Richard Curtis' The Boat That Rocked received a May release back in the U.K and let's just say, Working Title and Focus are looking to repackage the film's marketing. I don't think they made any changes with the film itself, but the materials have and will change. Make the comparison for yourself, the Philip Seymour Hoffman is the star of this film is being played up, while the bad »

- Ioncinema.com Staff

How Film Makes its Money Back

An excellent presentation full of graphical displays which illustrate where the money goes once a film is shown in cinemas. It shows how crucial the production and marketing decisions are when it can be so hard to make money from films.
How Film Makes Its Money Back

View more presentations from azcameron.

How "The Boat That Rocked" was marketed and promoted

The Trailers - read the following before analysing T.B.T.R.
"Most trailers have a three-act structure similar to a feature-length film. They start with a beginning (act 1) that lays out the premise of the story. The middle (act 2) drives the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax. Act 3 usually features a strong piece of "signature music" (either a recognizable song or a powerful, sweeping orchestral piece). This last act often consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the film and may also contain a cast run if there are noteworthy stars that could help sell the movie. T.B.T.R. features an ensemble cast.
Voice-over narration is used to briefly set up the premise of the movie and provide 
explanation when necessary ("In a world..."). Since the trailer is a highly condensed format, voice-over is a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot."  
Music helps set the tone and mood of the trailer.  (From Wikipedia)
Use the above and these ideas below to analyse the trailer for T.B.T.R.

1. Consider the film's USP ( Its unique selling point?) There may be more than one
2. Which elements in the film's genre is the distributor (Universal) highlighting to set it apart from other films in its genre.
3. What are the film's messages and what do they say the film?

The Main UK Theatrical Trailer


The TV spot trailer


The official website with its radio window
http://filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/pirate_radio/


The Film Posters
Seven advertising posters for The Boat That Rocked
http://pzrservices.typepad.com/advertisingisgoodforyou/2009/02/seven-movie-posters-for-the-boat-that-
rocked.html    

Mobile phone apps and i-Tunes
The following are also good examples of technological convergence
http://www.goldengekko.com/news/31-universal-pictures-launches-another-iphone-app-to-promote-the-boat-that-rocked

Animated apps for I-Tunes. This designer made "dancing buddies"!
http://benjaminwigmore.blogspot.com/2009/04/boat-that-rocked.html


Free Previews (with some old tricks by the distributor, Universal
"I suspect that the distributor planted some people in the audience to guide us around the laughter points. People around me were unnaturally loud and at the lamest of moments. Some of the slightly more clever quips went peacefully by with just the rustle from the friction of my shoulders rattling up and down a couple of times."
For more, see:
http://film-notes-06.blogspot.com/2009/04/boat-that-rocked-dir-richard-curtis.html


Competitions:  by James Quilter, Promotions & Incentives 04-Mar-09, 14:33

LONDON - Visit Britain is in discussions about launching an international promotion around the upcoming Richard Curtis comedy The Boat that Rocked.

The tourism body said it was in the process of tying up a partnership deal with Universal Pictures. VisitBritain is believed to be looking at a promotion based on the film, offering holidays in the UK as a prize.

Additionally the promotion is also run likely to run in the UK offering breaks in different parts of the country. It will launch prior to the film’s premiere on 3 April.

A spokeswoman for Visit Britain confirmed the tourism body was in discussions with Universal about linking in with the film but said no decision had been made on the execution.

The Boat that Rocked is based on 60s and 70s pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and attempts by Government to ban them. The film stars Rhys Ifans, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy.

According to industry reports Visit Britain is set to launch a new positioning campaign emphasising value offers in the UK such as free access to museums. The move follows a review from the government that found VisitBritain needed to work harder to coordinate British tourism policy.

A prize draw sponsored by Stella in The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/promotions/4984565/Stella---The-Boat-That-Rocked---Prize-Draw.html

Marketing the Music tracks through Spotfiy

http://digital-examples.blogspot.com/2009/04/boat-that-rocked-playlists-on-spotify.html

http://www.thecompetitionthatrocked.com/  ( Spotify's great-looking, interactive competition page!)

Merchandising and The Boat That Rocked

http://www.stereoboard.com/band-merchandise-The-Boat-That-Rocked.html

Selected Key Terms for Institutions and Audiences - The Film Industry

An institution (in the film industry)
Definition: any company or organisation that produces, distributes or  exhibits films. The BBC makes films with their BBC Films arm; Channel4's Film Four produces films, Working Title also produce films, as does Vertigo Films, etc. Some institutions need to join with other institutions which distribute films. Vertigo Films is able to distribute its own films, Channel Four distributed Slumdog Millionaire through Pathe. Working Title's distribution partner is Universal, a huge US company which can make, distribute and show films. The type of owner ship within an institution matters as, for instance, Channel 4 and the BBC are able to show their own films at an earlier stage than other films made by other institutions. They are also better placed to cross-promote their in-house films within their media organisations.


Distribution and Marketing
Definition: the business of getting films to their audiences by booking them for runs into cinemas and taking them there in vans or through digital downloads; distributors also create the marketing campaign for films producing posters, trailers, websites, organise free previews, press packs, television interviews with the "talent", sign contracts for promotions, competitions, etc. Distributors use their know-how and size to ensure that DVDs of the film end up in stores and on supermarket shelves. Distributors also obtain the BBFC certificate, and try to get films released as the most favourable times of the year for their genre, etc.


Examples:
Universal distributed Working Title's The Boat That Rocked; Pathe distributed Film4 and Celadors'  Slumdog Millionaire after the original US distributor, Warner Independent went out of business.


Exhibition
Definition:  showing films in cinemas or on DVD. Media attention through opening nights and premieres How the audience can see the film: in cinemas, at home, on DVD, through downloads, through television, including premieres, the box office take in the opening weeks; audience reviews which includes those of the film critics, ordinary people, cinemas runs; awards in festivals, The Oscars, BAFTAS, etc.


Examples:
The Boat That Rocked opened on wide release in over 400 cinemas in April 2009.  The film flopped at the box office for a number of reasons: the critics' reviews, poor weather putting off cinema goers, and perhaps the lack of a strong female character. The film also flopped on American release in November 2009. However, young people and older people like the film: sales in Morrisons and other supermarkets seem brisk before Christmas as many are buying the DVD as a present to cheer people up during  these dark winter months. Slumdog Millionaire almost never got distribution. Its early US distributor, Warner Independent was a victim of the economic downturn and went out of business. The film's makers then struggled to find a distributor! Then Fox Searchlight stepped up and "the rest is history". The 8 out of 10 Oscar nomination wins ensured that the film has been the greatest British success in awards and in box office for nearly 60 years.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/boyle-reveals-slumdog-millionaire-was-nearly-never-made-1331821.html


Exchange
Definition: The unintended use of an institution’s media text (i.e. a film) by OTHER PEOPLE who use the film or parts of it to form new texts. What happens to a film, etc. after the public get their hands on it using digital technology.

Examples:

People unconnected to the institution/ film using WEB 2.0 applications such as YOUTUBE, Blogger, Amazon film message boards, TWITTER, Face-Book, discuss the film or edit parts of together to form a new text which the may then put a new soundtrack to and publish on YOUTUBE, etc. When you add a trailer from a site like YouTube on your blog you have been engaging with exchange.


Vertical and Horizontal Integration
Definition: Absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution.


Example:
Vivendi Universal have integrated film, music, web and distribution technology into the company, including owning big stakes in cables and wires that deliver these services. Therefore they are vertically integrated because they own all the different companies involved in film, from production to distribution to exhibition. They are also horizontally integrated because they have all the expertise for producing media content under one roof – films, TV, magazines, books, music, games thus being able to produce all the related media content for one film under the same roof (see synergy). This is important for the control the institution has over their product/film.


Synergy/Synergies

Definition: The interaction of two or more agents (institutions/companies) to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently. This is beneficial for each company through efficiencies in expertise and costs.

Examples:
Working Title know how to make films and they have formed a business partnership with Universal, a massive US company, who have the experience and size in the marketplace (cinemas, stores, online, etc.) to distribute them. (They create the marketing campaign to target audiences through posters, trailers, create the film’s website, free previews, television and press interviews featuring “the talent”, drum up press reviews, word of mouth, and determine when a film is released for the best possible audience and the type of release: limited, wide, etc.) Channel Four’s Film 4 and Celador Films (Celador also produce Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and films, too) benefited by pooling their know-how, experience and expertise to jointly produce Slumdog Millionaire. These companies formed a business relationship with France’s Pathe to distribute this film. In the UK Pathe helped create the poster, trailer, website, etc. In the USA the film found another distributor after being nominated for the Oscars.


Viral Marketing
Definition: A marketing technique aiming at reproducing "word of mouth" usually on the internet and through existing social networks. YouTube Video pastiches, trailers, interviews with cast members, the director, writer, etc. You can find interviews of “the talent” trying to gain publicity for your case study films on YouTube.
Guerilla Marketing
Definition: The use of unconventional and low cost marketing strategies to raise awareness of a product. The aim is usually to create “buzz” and “word of mouth” around a film. Unusual stunts to gain publicity (P.R.) on the film’s opening weekend, etc.

Examples:
Sasha Baron Cohen created “buzz” before the release of his film “Borat” by holding fake press conferences. The studio also accessed the popularity of YouTube by releasing the first 4 minutes of the movie on YouTube, a week before it’s release, which can then be sent virally across the nation. At a special viewing of “Bruno” Cohen landed on Eminem “butt first” from the roof MTV Awards venue, dressed in as an angel outfit with rents in the rear end. 


Media Convergence
Definition 1: Convergence of media occurs when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them.

Examples:

More and more films are being marketed on the Internet and on mobile phones. You no longer need even to buy the DVDs or CDs as you can download films and music directly to your laptop, Mac or PC. Blue Ray DVDs can carry more features than ordinary DVDs  and can be played on HD televisions and in home cinemas  for enhanced/cinematic picture quality. You can save films on SKY digital, Free-box digital players, etc. You mobile phone has multiple features and applications. With media and technological convergence this is growing year on year. Play-Stations, X-Boxes and the Wii can can connect with the Internet and you can play video games with multiple players.


Technological Convergence
Definition 2: The growing interractive use of digital technology in the film industry and media which enables people to share, consume and produce media that was difficult or impossible just a few years earlier.

Examples:
For instance, the use of new software to add special effects in editing; the use of blue-screen; using new types of digital cameras like the one Danny Boyle used in “Slumdog Millionaire” (The Silicon Imaging Camera to shoot high quality film in tight spaces); you can use the Internet to download a film rather than go see it in the cinema; you can watch it on YouTube; you can use special editing programs like Final Cut Pro to edit bits of a film, give it new soundtrack and upload it on YouTube; you can produce illegal, pirate copies on DVDs from downloads and by converting the film’s format; you can buy Blue Ray DVDs with greater compression which allows superior viewing and more features on the DVD; distributors can use digital software to create high concept posters; cinemas can download films to their projection screens and do not have to depend on a van dropping off the film! There are tons of ways in which technological convergence affects the production, distribution, exhibition and exchange by prosumers. ( A prosumer is someone who not only consumes (watches films) but also writes about them the Net, blogs and make films out of them, often uploading them on sites like YouTube, etc.

A Mainstream Film
Definition: A high budget film that would appeal to most segments of an audience: the young, boys, girls, teenagers, young people, the middle aged, older people, the various classes in society. Distributors often spend as much or more than the film cost to make when distributing mainstream films that are given wide or universal releases.


Example:
 The Boat That Rocked was a mainstream idea and was given the mainstream treatment on wide release. The film flopped at the UK box office on release ( and has not done too well since mid November 2009 on release in the USA. This was mostly because of its poor reviews, particularly from “Time-Out”. However, when young and older audiences see the DVD they generally like the film because of its uplifting storyline and the well-chosen soundtrack.


Art House Films
Definition: A low budget independent film that would mostly appeal to an educated, higher class audience who follow unusual genres or like cult directors that few people have heard of. Therefore it is usually aimed at a niche market. Foreign films often come under this category.


Examples:
The low budget film, Once (2007) which found a specialised, boutique distributor in Fox Searchlight fits this label. (FOX the mainstream company usually distributes big budget film and blockbusters); So does “Juno” from 2008 which began as a low budget film about teenage pregnancy that the big studios thought too risky to touch – but it found popularity through its touching storyline, engaging music and its Oscar nomination for best script. Like “Slumdog Millionaire” the film crossed over between art-house cinemas and audiences to mainstream ones because of the recognition it received from Canadian film festivals and award ceremonies like Britain’s BAFTAS and the Hollywood’s Oscars.

Ratings bodies BBFC - The British Board of Film Classification
How your institutions films are rated will affect audiences in so far as WHO can see them. Remember that sex scenes, offensive language, excessive violence, the use of profanity, etc. can affect the rating and certificate the film receives and therefore affect who is able to see the film.