As part of your coursework you are required to produce 1 piece of pre-production

work, to allow you the best chance of getting top marks for a piece of pre-

production work you are going to produce 3 pieces of production. You should

have created a 20 frame STORYBOARD by now, and you are all working on a

MAGAZINE FRONT COVER and CONTENTS PAGES. Now you will have to start

working on your third pre=production piece which will either be a 500 word

SCRIPT or a MARKETING CAMPAIGN to include at least 4 ITEMS.

MARKETING AND PUBLICITY

Often our choice of film is also based on the kinds of expectations that have been

set up by the various marketing and publicity campaigns organized by distributors

and exhibitors. Large sums of money are spent on these campaigns. For example,

a summer blockbuster may cost as much as $100 million to promote!

SCREENPLAY/SCRIPT

A film script is generally referred to as a screenplay in the industry as the term

‘script’ is usually used for stage plays; a professional screenplay contains much

more visual information.

The DISTRIBUTOR is largely responsible in making sure that audiences are aware

of the film, and along with PRODUCTION COMPANIES cut deals for

MERCHANDISING and PROMOTIONAL TIE-INS.

Case Study: Pirates of the Caribbean

This is what is known as a film franchise,

where a film and its sequels are part of a

larger business entity composed of multiple

tie-ins and merchandise licenses. The

production and distribution company

capitalize on the success of the films to

create multiple revenue streams via SYNERGY

(working with other companies)

POSTERS

The poster you see here is a teaser poster

there are a huge amount of posters for this

film. You could create a teaser poster as part

of your marketing campaign.

TASK: Use your blog for this

1. Go to www.impawards.com and find the other posters for Pirates of the

Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

2. Choose 3 teaser posters to put on your blog, and put the main poster on

your blog

3. What are the differences between the teaser posters you have chosen?

4. What are the differences between the teaser posters and the main poster?

5. How to the posters signal the genres of the film and attract the audience?

MERCHANDISE AND TIE-INS

TASK: Use you blog

1. What can you find out about the following merchandising and tie-ins 2. Why would Disney work with these companies and or produce the items?

(hint – link your answers with audiences)

TASK:

Go to www.hottopic.com and

see what other merchandise

you can find

TASK:

Go to

www.swarovski.com/web_us

/en/91135/promotion/disney

.html and see what other

merchandise you can find

TASK

Research other merchandise and tie-ins for the film, use the internet, there are

some links below to start you off.

http://www.toywiz.com/nepiofcaacfi.html

http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/captain-jack-sparrow-doll-t7654

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=USMN004123ST

http://www.disneystore.co.uk/disney/store/DSISearch?Searchstr=pirates+of+the

+caribbean&storeId=30053&catalogId=10002&langId=-

11&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Nu=pProductID&N

r=pPublished%3A1&Ntk=All_Shopping&Ntt=pirates+of+t

he+caribbean&D=pirates+of+the+caribbean&Dr=pPublis

hed%3A1

MAIN TASK – COURSEWORK

Design at least 4 items (you can do more) of merchandise that you can use to help

promote your film. Try and be innovative, mixing the typical and unusual but

always keeping in mind the target audience to the piece of merchandise.

Plan rough designs in your book

Write one accompanying paragraph for each item explain:

- What it is, the size and the packaging

- What company you would work with for that item and why?

- Who the item is aimed at and why? (target audience)

- How the item will help to promote your film

Draw out each item on A4 paper or design in Photoshop, the accompanying

paragraph must also fit onto the A4 page

SCREENPLAY/SCRIPT

Write a 500 word screenplay for the opening of your film

There are several important elements to the screenplay/script SCENE – screenplays are divided into scenes. A scene is a piece of dramatic action

that takes place in a specific place during a particular time

SLUGLINE – another term for the scene heading. It tells us whether the scene is

inside or outside, where it is and what part of the day it takes place in. it is usually

written in capital letters, e.g. EXT. THE PARK. AFTERNOON.

SCENE DIRECTION – this refers to the things that you would see if you were

watching the film. It should be detailed enough to allow the reader to ‘picture’

the film in their heads. Details of sound should also be included here. It is always

written in the present tense.

CHARACTER HEADING – the name of the character who is about to speak. Usually

written in capital letters and centred about the dialogue.

DIALOGUE – this is what the characters say.

Professionally, the format and appearance of a screenplay will follow strict

guidelines, making every page equivalent to 1 minute of screen time. You don’t

have to do this but you should try to make your screenplay as professional as

possible by using scenes, slug lines, screen directions and following the

conventions for the layout of your script. To make this easier for you download

the script template from here http://www.slideshare.net/belair1981/script-

template

ADDITIONAL ADVICE/CONVENTIONS TO FOLLOW:

Use font size 12 in Courier

Include character directions (Parantheticals)

Include some camera direction

Use this website to look at examples of screenplays

http://www.simplyscripts.com/movie.html

On the next page is an annotated script to help you write your own