Marketing Black Panther and the regulation of the film industry

Today, you will use the internet to research how Black Panther was marketed, before learning how the film industry is regulated.

Film marketing 

 Film is a specialized industry. This means that the film industry works in a very particular way, unlike any other industry. This extends to production and distribution, as we have found out in the last few lessons. However, films are also marketed in a completely unique way. Last session, we looked at film websites, fan made marketing, viral media, word of mouth, social marketing and traditional marketing, among other techniques.

Task one - Researching how Black Panther was marketed (35 minutes)

CREATE A COLLAGE OF MARKETING MATERIAL FOR BLACK PANTHER. THIS SHOULD INCLUDE

• POSTERS
• TRAILERS
• BANNERS
• VIRAL MARKETING
• FAN FORUMS, ART, ETC
• SOCIAL MEDIA

AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN FIND

Please complete this as a blog post. Do not write anything, only include images. 

Conclusion: Black Panther was extensively marketed in many different ways. $37 million was spent on TV adverts alone. In other words. this is something that only a major, mainstream, Hollywood film production could accomplish, and is yet another example of the film industry being a specialised industry!

Film regulation

Films in the UK which are regulated by the BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification). All films released theatrically or released on physical media (eg DVD) must be rated by the BBFC, and given an age certificate.

Age certificates broadly exist for two reasons:

1. To protect audiences from harm. I remember watching a clip from The Thing (1982) when I was about 8 and I couldn't sleep for a month! Now it's one of my favorite films. Films have the potential to traumatize audiences, especially very young ones, and those who may have experienced issues in the film, for example through the use of discriminatory (racist) language
2. To prevent imitable behavior. Younger audiences may copy what they see on screen. For example, the comedy film Jackass: The Movie (2002) features real life stunts that can easily be copied by more... impressionable audiences, and was given an 18 rating despite being clearly aimed at younger audiences. 

The TV show and film series Jackass raised many issues with regards to imitable behavior, leading the distributor, MTV, to place visible warnings at the start of each episode

Task two - researching age certificates (30 minutes)

The regulation of films in the UK is some of the strictest in the world outside of countries such as China which regularly practice censorship. A 14 year old, for example, is legally unable to see a 15 rated film in the cinema or buy the film on Blu-Ray or DVD. But what makes a film a 15, and not a 12?

Go to the BBFC website at https://www.bbfc.co.uk/ .

Find the age certificates at the top of the page

Click on each in turn, and click on the 'learn more' hyperlink to find out exactly what constitutes each age rating

Pick out a few key points for each one, and copy and paste them under the following headings:

U – 

PG – 

12/12A – 

15 – 

18 – 

R18 – 

E - 

Please note: the BBFC website contains descriptions of films with explicit content. Student caution is advised

Task three - How effective is the regulation of films in the UK? (10 minutes)

The regulation of the film industry in the UK is arguably ineffective. Why? Thanks to digitally convergent technologies, it is possible to easily access films which are entirely inappropriate for certain audiences. Even if a film is denied a certificate in the UK, effectively banning it, it can still be obtained fairly easily via the internet. 

Please copy paste the following information to your blog:

KEY THEORY 13 – REGULATION – SONIA LIVINGSTONE AND PETER LUNT

The increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk

Task four - issues in regulation (15 minutes)

Please click here to watch the following scene from the film Home Alone 2(1992). Please note that this scene contains sustained threat and strong violence (!)

If we take this scene out of context , then what age certificate should this one scene be given? Refer to your notes on certification. You may wish to read the comments to get a sense of actual audience responses. Also, think of your response, the potential for harm, and the potential for imitable behavior. 

Home Alone 2 received a PG rating. What issues does this raise for the regulation of films in the UK?

Please make sure you publish this work to your blog. Remember, if I cannot see your work, I cannot mark it! Your current grade is formed from all work completed in media, but more importantly, your notes are your revision guide. The more notes you make now, the less you need to worry about the exams you will sit in 2022!