Relationships between the audience and films in Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Relationships between the audience and films in Rise of the Planet of the Apes
In this Blog post I will discussing the relationship that exists between the audience and the films that they like to watch, while using examples to show the relationship.

With the 2011 release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it already had a pre-exisitng target audience from the previous films, as this is prequel to the popular 1968 film Planet of the Apes. As it is a prequel is has intertextual references to the old film, the most popular reference is the quote 'Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!' This is said by George Taylor ,Charlton Heston, in the 1968 film, when he is caught by the apes after failing to escape from them. In Rise of the Planet of the Apes the quote has altered a little to 'Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!' This is said by Dodge Landon, Tom Felton, when he tries to get Caesar back into his cage. This quote is iconic to the 1968 film because everyone associates this quote with the film. To engage the audience into this film it uses frameworks of interpretation, as it is dealing with the subject of Alzheimers. The character of Will Rodman is trying to find a cure to Alzhiemers as his dad is suffering badly with the disease, the cure that he creates is what makes the chimpanzees smart. This is frameworks of interpetaion as some of the viewers could relate to his predicament of being with an Alzheimers sufferer and wanting to help.
When this film was first released it was released onto cinema , this allowed the audience to sit comfortably and enjoy this film, my own personal experience of viewing this film was in the cinema, as it allowed me to enjoy it more than I would have done in a home environment the first time watching it.l As their was a big screen to watch it on and the surround sound was excellent. But once this film was taken onto DVD I brought it and I continue to enjoy it where I watch, on a televison or portibal device this is showing that this film can be enjoyed by the audience inside and outside of the cinema screen and it continues to have fans that will watch it again and again. Fandom is a way to show appreciation to the film and after watching the new film I went and brought the box set for the old films of which this is based on. The post viewing experiences of this film can change from watching it. They might have had high expectations of the film and it fell short or it could have exceeded expectations, it all depends on the people watching the film, some people could love the film and rewatch it many times. This film has a 7.6 rating on IMDB , showing that most of the audience enjoyed what they watched and took the time to rate it.
This film is an emotional roller coaster for its audiences as they follow Ceasar's journey through the film as they have a emotional bond with him because of Andy Serkis's acting. Ceasar was orphaned after his mother was killed he then found happiness in a home with Will, then his happiness comes crashing down when he has to be sent away to live in a primate shelter for biting his next door neighbour. This is when life becomes hard for Ceasar as he is subjected to abuse by his fellow primates and the staff at the primate shelter. For some viewers they will not like watching these kinds of scenes and it will be emotional for them. At the same time it will be emotional for audiences when Ceasar and the primates escape the shelter and go and live in Muir Woods, as a big fight ensues from humans stopping the primates and some of them die. This is emotional for the audience to watch but also echilerating as it is a fight scene, some viewers enjoy action fight scenes and a reason why they watched this film.
In this film the effects used focuses mainly on motion capture for the apes as they have actors who act out the actions of the apes and it is transferrred on the screen as chimpanzees. This is the first live action filmt that focuses primarily on the lead character who is an animal. But it is Andy Serkis's acting skills that bring the character of Ceasar to life as the motion capture captures all the facial expressions that Andy creates for Ceasar. The same was used in Avatar and King Kong where Andy Serkis also played King Kong, he also did the same with Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, he has the acting ability to make a character come to life purely on just facial expressions rather than speech, This film had 6 nominations for best visual effects and special effects, and won 1 from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.
There is a fandom for this film as it's first teaser trailer was shown at comicon 2011, it is usual for comicons to have lots of different teaser trailers for upcoming films, the sequel to this film Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes also had a teaser trailer shown at comicon. There are many ways in which fans can show their appreciation to this film and the most popular one is merhcandice mostly DVD's as it is the easiest piece of merchandice to buy.

To conclude, there is a relationship that exists between the audience and the films they love and this comes from many things that are in the film. With Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the story captivates peoples imagination as Chimpanzees are intelligent and are our closest living relative and the idea that they could become smarter and take over is an interesting narrative to use. People enjoy these kinds of films as it makes them create an emotional bond with characters and plays on their heartsrings, which is why people enjoyed this film they bonded with Caesar and is why this film was popular when it was released and after, as it won awards and people are still buying the DVD of it and other merhcandice.

Producer and audience relationship: The Hobbit the Desolation of Smaug

Producer and audience relationship: The Hobbit the Desolation of Smaug

In this blog I will be discussing how producers publicise their films to their target audience, the many ways they show there film and to show these ways, I will discuss how The Hobbit the Desolation of Smaug was publicised. Publicisng a film to the audience can be unique and different as it will draw the attention of the target audience. The target audience for this film would be working to middle class as they are the class that can afford to see this film in cinema when it is relased. They can be of both genders but primarily male as it is a fantasy film.





































Posters are used and can be placed on multiple locations that people can see, they can be placed on billboards, buses, eleveators as lots of people will see the poster when they are out and about. In cinemas they have posters by the screens as well as having cardboard cut outs in the foyae. Having them in the foyae of the cinema it will be seen by the target audience as they will see it when they walk in. The aspects in this poster will attract the fantasy target audience, producers use posters to attract the attention of the target audience with colours and images on the poster.
This poster for example, the poster says this film is created from the director of the Lord of the Rings. people who will have seen that trilogy of films and liked them will want to see this film as it is related to those films, as The Hobbit trilogy is a prequel to Lord of the Rings trilogy. The target audience of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy will know that as the Hobbit is
The genre has to be put across to the audience this poster has done so by having a dragon's eye in the background. Dragons are iconic to the fantasy genre and anybody who will see the poster will know the genre. Also if they have seen the previous film they will know that the main narrative is going to kill a dragon, the poster just emphasises this point. The location of the poster also helps with the genre of the film as it looks like apart of a castle. Even little details are important even the dont, in this case it is another reference to Lord of the Rings as the font colour is the same gold colour as the One Ring. There are links to Lord of the Rings trilogy it will attract that trilogies target audience as The Hobbit is a prequel to The Lord of The Rings. The target audience of the previous trilogy will want to see how the events in the film have begun and see the film.
This poster will attract the target audience for this film as everything in the poster will appeal to the audience. The main target audience is the fantsy genre loving fans, as when they see the poster it is appealing to what they like as it has a dragon in it and the other aspecs in it are screaming out the genre to the target audience with the use of the stone walls which will give the audience the knowledge of the era it is from.

In Wellington International airport to publicise the release of Desolation of Smaug, they put up two models and decorated a plane. Gandalf is riding the eagles that are iconic to Middle Earth and is hanging from the ceiling and is placed so that it looks like he is going to be swooping down on holiday makers. With it's size people are going to notice the model and find out where it is from and what it is publicising.

Going outside of the airport and the publicity of the film is continued. one of the planes has been decorated, on the side of it there is a picture of Smaug going the full length of the plane.

The Gollum model is hanging from the ceiling in another part of the airport and is catching fish. The models are so that anybody who enters the airport will know about the imminent release of the film, and go to see it if it is their kind of film.  By having these models in an airport people from all over the world will know about the films release.

Having all of these models and posters in the airport they can target their target audience as lots of different people go into the airport and its impossible to miss seeing these items. Having those models placed around the airport will allow the target audience of all ages and genders to see them. As lots of people go to the airport and will see them and this will pubicise the film as the models will intrigue people to look at them and want to find out what it is from if they like the look of it. With the dragon on the plane it will fly to different countries and will publicise the film there to different target audience as a dragon on a plane will stand out and people will look at it and just with the models become intrigused as to what it is from and want to see it if it is a film they enjoy.

Film premiers are a good way to publicise big blockbuster films, with the Desolation of Smaug they had a live world premier. During the premier in Hollywood it was filmed and allowed people to watch the premier live. This will publicise the film to people as they can watch people talking about the film and all the teaser that they have. Also on some channels they have a 30min premier special programme that includes short trailer and interviews as people walk along the red carpet. In the Germany film premier in Berlin, there was a big model of Smaug's head in gold coins on the red carpert, that the actors in the film can walk by and be photographed with.

This will attract the target audience to the film as this is an opportunity to see the stars of the film. This is a good way of producers to attract the target audience to the film as people are drawn to watch films depending on who is acting in the film. For example, in the picture opposite female target audience will see that Orlando Bloom is in the film and want to see the film and male target audience will see Evangeline Lily and want to see her. Also the fact that Orlando Bloom is reprising his role as Legolas from The Lord of The Rings trilogy the target audience from those films who have enjoyed his character will watch this film as it has his character in it again. It is a good way to attract more target audience to go and view the film.

The soundtrack is another way to advertise the film to the audeince. Ed sheeran was asked by the director, Peter Jackson, to create a song for The Desolation of Smaug. He created I See Fire, it was played at the end of the film but it was released in November ahead of the films release date in December. This a way that Producers attract the target audience as they will link the song they hear to the film. So when they hear the song and enjoy it they will want to see the film if they link it together. Releasing this song will also attract a target audience of a younger age as Ed Sheeran is listend to and loved my teenagers and hearing his song may get some of his fans to watch the film.

 Blogs are another way to interact with the audience. Throughout the production of this film. Peter Jackson created a video blog of the film's development, he released these blogs on a set time every week showing the film's progression when the release date is coming closer. This is targeting dedicated fans to these films as they are the only group of people who would watch these videos. Another way is to have a website that people can go onto and watch trailer, any other videos they have on the website, look at the gallery of the actors. it also has a page where people can look at the actors filmography and know a bit about them. These blogs were posted on the website as well as a Facebook page and this is so that it will reach all of the target audience by allowing them to view it on different pages. The target audience will be able to see a video of Peter Jackson working and this can make them interesting by what he is doing and watching and by teasing them with clips that they will see in the film and this will make them want to go watch the film from what they have seen ion the blogs.

One of the main ways to advertise a new upcoming film to the audience is to show trailers of it on the internet and TV. Some trailers can also be shown first at film festivals. With The Desolation of Smaug, a teaser trailer was released in June and then the main trailer in October that showed more details of the film and was longer than the teaser. The point of a teaser trailer was to engage the audience in the film but not showing all of the details, so that they are hooked on the film and will see it when it is eventually released. By showing a trailer months in advance of the films release will allow the target audience to watch as often as they want and become excited and want to go see the film. As it is being shown on different medias it can attracr target audience of all ages as some will not be on the internet all of the time and not see the trailer on websites but they might watch television alot. By showing the trailer on television on variying channels at peak times when alot of people are watching it will be shown to wide range of people and this will make the audience want to go see the film.

To conclude, the relationship producers have to audiences is how they connect their film to the audience and think up of ways that will communicate to them that this is a film for them. Different media platformswill allow a range of target audience to see advertisements of the film or trailers etc. as not all of the target audience use the same things and producers have to be creative and innvative in ways that they get to the target audience. Reaching out to the target audience is important and the publicity for this film has been successful as it has used many platforms to get everyone to see it, it has used different ways to do this by having models in airports and decorating planes as well as the usual ways of attracting the target audience by posting trailers.