Tag Archives: stranger things

Binge Worthy Shows Influenced by Social Media

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Social Media or Popular Series

Some TV shows promote themselves well on social media. They rank so well because the shows are worthy or because their social media campaigns are brilliant. It’s the chicken-or-the-egg theory.

What came first, a well-produced show to comment about on social media or a favorite book promoted on social media as an upcoming TV show? In the following article, I speculate that the show needs to be high-ranking to capture major social media trends. Though there is one show called Outlander that was super popular before its premiere. It is another way for fans to enjoy their favorite show.

“Outlander”

Outlander airs on Starz and is an example of social media supporting both sides of the spectrum. Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan are on Twitter and Instagram almost daily, plugging Outlander or their other products and movies. Heughan promotes his clothing line, Barbour, and whiskey, rightly named Sassenach. Facebook has several dedicated pages to the Scottish-themed show. Heughan’s Heughligans and the author, Gabaldon, sponsor a Facebook page.

Starz sponsored several Twitter and Facebook campaigns. Heughan and Balfe answered Twitter questions via video that played on Facebook. The campaign was such a success that Starz continued using the Q & A theme with other cast members, including Richard Rankin and Sophie Skelton.

My Peak Challenge

In this video, Sam Heughan discusses receiving his honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling in Scotland. He mentions his online charity with over 12,000 members, raising over $4 million – A solid example of using social media to promote his charity.

Ellen DeGeneres Hosts the Academy Awards

The Rolling Stone Magazine reported the early ratings of the 2014 Academy Awards, which Ellen DeGeneres hosted, and the viewership was at an all-time 10-year high. The magazine credited DeGeneres’s social media activity for sharing her funny acts.

Like when she took several selfies with celebrities, the star-studded one, posted below, earned over 2.8 million retweets and is probably still popular.

The show garnered 43 million viewers. The last time such a feat occurred was in 2004 with Billy Crystal as the host.

DeGeneres draws the viewers on her own, no doubt, but her antics on social media topped the charts.

Source

“Stranger Things”

In a Variety interview, Winona Ryder and Millie Bobby Brown discussed tweeting about their show, Stranger Things. Only Brown understood the technology of promoting a TV show on social media. Ryder’s fascination manifested in awe about Brown’s knowledge.

Ryder does not need to worry because Netflix developed its own social media campaign for the hit show. The purpose of the movement was to ensure fans knew when the series went live on Netflix.

They hit all the popular social networks, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The campaign included plot teasers and clips from the show.

What do you think?

Which Social Media Do You Use the Most?

People surveyed about their social media preference selected Facebook as their most used social media outlet.

  • 9% Instragram
  • 1% Pinterest
  • 0% Snap Chat
  • 0% Diggs
  • 1% Reddit
  • 0% Other
  • 81% Facebook
  • 7% Twitter

“Games of Thrones”

HBO’s Games of Thrones‘ social media hype was a late bloomer. The finale season marked the best use of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Working with 360i, HBO continued the season finale’s awareness and even banked on the audience feedback to promote the hypertheoretical spin-offs.

The week before and the week after the final episode, we saw #GOT for GOT’s upcoming season. It worked so well that even those who didn’t watch the series posted how they have not ever well watch #GOT.

Spin-off rumors continue to pop up on Facebook and Twitter. We can only imagine what it would be like to have a GOT spin-off.

“Orange is the New Black”

Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black used social media to show behind-the-scenes antics. Some say the marketing department does it better than any other show. The award-winning show and its large cast offer many options for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

The popular hashtag is #OITNB, and their Facebook Page posts about the final season kept fans raving about the favorite show. You can still binge-watch the show on Netflix and Amazon.

“The Walking Dead” and “Fear The Walking Dead”

The Walking Dead (#TWD) is the show posted the most on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. A fanbase of over 40 million speaks for itself.

Fear Stories

The spin-off Fear The Walking Dead (#FTWD) was released with a brilliant social media campaign called “Fear Stories.”

“Pretty Little Liars”

Pretty Little Liars trended well with Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The award-winning series followed four friends band against an anonymous enemy, and the mystery person threatens to expose their darkest secrets.
The social media campaign worked overtime to keep the fans coming back for more.

The show’s final season in 2017 ranked higher than season six, and the social media surged with #littleliars. The success reinforced Freeform, a Disney based cable channel spin-off called The Perfectionist, bringing back some of the main characters — #PLLThePerfectionist.

“Empire”

Empire launched Taraji P. Henson’s career, and the show is trending even today with the final, sixth season. The show is about a hip-hop company three sons are fighting over while the ex-wife connives to reclaim what she feels is hers.

Fox marketing went all out and invested in Twitter. The social media campaign paid off. The show ranked on Nielsen’s 2016 list of Twitter MVPs — averaging 387,000 Tweets per episode. The social media campaigns consisted of inviting viewers to Tweet their questions to @EmpireFOX, and star Taraji P. Henson will answer the questions via video.

Another campaign had fans tweeting #FOXWednesdays, adding a cookie emoji (Henson’s character’s first name is Cookie Lyon). Once they twitted, they became eligible to win some treats. The cookie theme continued using different kinds of cookie themes.

Social Media and TV Shows

Episodic TV shows will continue to use social media as a send all to promoting the next and latest occurrence of each episode. How the marketing departments spin each campaign, whether unique or not, is what fans look forward to seeing. It is a whole new way to enjoy episodic television while waiting for the next episode and speculating.

How to Fund Your Film With Product Placements

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After reading this article, you’ll become more aware of product placement in films and TV shows. You’ll also learn how to use product placement to help fund your next film.

“Stranger Things” scene with KFC. It’s finger-lickin’ good. Source: JokerMan

Examples of Product Placement in Movies

Product placement is an excellent resource to fund your movie and offset the negative costs of the production. Some say product placement can cover or replace 50-60% of a film’s budget. It’s a big business and a smart way to cover certain production costs. Yet, there are logistics to deal with and corporations and representatives that need to convince you that your film is worthy of its product placement.

Product placement involves props, vehicles, set dressing, and wardrobe donated or loaned to production for on-air use. For example, it could be as simple as a shot of a familiar airline logo. Even when an airline jet takes off, or a billboard or banner promotes a brand-name product, the effect can be pretty noticeable. You might have spotted a box of Cheerios at a breakfast scene—When Harry Met Sally, where Sally microwaves Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Stranger Things nabbed $27 million in product placements, from KFC to Cola to Eggo Waffles to Gap.

Product Placement in Film: A Huge Business

The process seems easy for a brand to pay for, loan to, or even donate to a film production. That is not the case. It is a huge business. What the manufacturers decide to pay, loan, or donate for valuable exposure is determined when they or their representatives evaluate the script, cast, and director of the project. It takes just as much, if not more, work as procuring funding for a film. Still, it gets done and is worth the effort and time. A filmmaker can cover transportation or meal costs by agreeing to product placement.

The late Paul Newman is ready to race in one of the many Budweiser cars he raced. Source: Lola

Paul Newman and Tom Cruise

Anyone can think of the last film they saw and notice the product placement in that movie. The late Paul Newman was known for drinking Budweiser beer in his films. Budweiser also supported his car racing. The Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One film was all too obvious, with the chase involving a tiny yellow Fiat car in Rome. But who didn’t want a cute Fiat after that scene? The James Bond franchise has fancy cars, designer clothes, and Heineken sipping. The list of product placements is long, dating back to 1910.

Product Integration in Film

Product integration is another term used around the industry for product placement. The term denotes products and services incorporated into the film and used, consumed, worn or mentioned by the main characters. The Barbie movie is an obvious example of product integration. The film’s focus is the Barbie doll, which is mentioned in press junket interviews and on social media.

Major studios and production companies have product placement departments. Producers can hire companies or promotional agencies to help manufacturers place their products in films. Filmmakers seeking funding or donations should find companies and agencies, do research and be prepared to negotiate.

Once a product placement is assigned to a film project, a wise filmmaker assigns an individual to coordinate and supervise the entire process, ensuring the brand is correctly represented in the film.

Brands or Companies Get Exposure

It is impressive what these product placement agencies can do. They include online services that partner with products and productions. They even specialize in helping new brands or companies get their first exposure secured in films. As a filmmaker, it is your job to use your imagination and ingenuity to choose the types of brands or products you can place in your movie. That requires a scene breakdown of where each scene takes place and which brands or products appear in it. For example, the kitchen scene means food, cooking ware, food products, etc.

For the most part, independent films with producers, property masters, transportation coordinators, department heads, and costume supervisors usually handle their own product placement. That way, they avoid having the overhead of paying a salary or fee to someone else. Still, the filmmaker and producer ensure they maintain their product placement agreements or contracts. The best way to hold and control product placement is to keep the number of people responsible on your crew to a minimum. The filmmaker must consult any agreement or contract for product and service placement with the production executive, producer, and production attorney.

Ethan Coen’s “Drive Away Dolls” is subtly featured in this barroom scene. Source: Kenna McHugh

Product Placement Regulations

Because product placement is so popular and widely used in the film industry, a filmmaker will discover more regulations regarding it than they ever imagined. It’s not just about placing a banner. Because of laws governing the financing of such commodities and the possibility of payola—bribing someone to use their influence or position to promote a specific product or interest—the film industry is more open to product placement than the television industry. The television industry must disclose its product placement at the end of the episode as a “promotional consideration.”

With that, a filmmaker needs to set their standards or policies on how they want to approach product placement for their movie. The filmmaker avoids outlandish bribes or unreasonable requests by having guidelines. The idea is to maintain a realistic storyline without jeopardizing the integrity of the film. Thus, avoid placing or accentuating products that appear to be advertising or sponsorship. Some standard rules of thumb are that production personnel, cast and so forth may not accept gifts from companies that want their products used in the film. Thus, no one associated with the production can endorse or refer that a specific talent will promote a brand or product in a movie.

Sample Letter Requesting Product Placement in a Short Film

When you have a product that stands out in the storyline, it’s best to write a letter for permission to use the product in the film. Source: Kenna McHugh

The Bottom Line

Again, the filmmaker needs to put on his thinking cap and consider his storyline and overall movie genre. Take a marketing perspective and imagine what products would do well in his film. There are companies out there that want to integrate their products into a variety of entertainment media. They will probably get involved if the movie is a high-profile project with some very talented and up-and-coming movie stars.

“Marrowbone” a Haunting Tale

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Written and directed by Sergio G. Sanchez, Marrowbone marks Sanchez’s directorial debut. The Spanish director is known for his screenwriting talent in such movies as The Orphanage and The Impossible.

The story follows four siblings filled with secrets that entice and invites you to stay and live inside their world. The siblings cross the Atlantic, escaping from a mysterious trauma with a life of its own. They seek refuge in an old home after the death of their mother, only to discover that the house has another, more sinister inhabitant, and it turns into a haunting tale.

The siblings are full of life but also show apprehension. And all of it comes across with a unique romanticism and beautifully framed movie.

The older sibling, Jack, played by George MacKay, faces the responsibility of looking after his siblings. He struggles with the usual concerns of a boy his age—his love for Allie, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. The responsibility his mother has given him by asking him to keep the family together.

By contrast, Jane, the second sister, played by Mia Goth, symbolizes goodness in the mother’s absence. In the scenes, Jane compensates whenever there is a violent or hostile instinct. She fights for her brothers so that they can leave behind their painful past. Goth’s presence on film is quite overwhelming but compelling.

Billy, the third of the siblings, played by Charlie Heaton, is best known for the series Stranger Things. His performance is heartbreaking. Billy is perhaps the most troublesome. He represents courage, the bravery that Jack sometimes lacks. The fourth is Sam, played by Matthew Stagg, Sam’s the youngest, so everyone feels they have to overprotect him by hiding the most disgusting aspects that have led them to their present situation. He verbalizes everything he knows. His older siblings seem to believe he is more tender and naïve than he is. For them, his innocence is living proof that not everything is corrupted in the world. Allie is the only link they have with the outside world since she is not part of the family. She comes across as bright and cheerful and keeps the story moving forward.

The romance between Jack and Allie accurately sums up the quirkiness of the story. It’s teenage love shared by two young people who neither want nor have time to consider where it will lead.

Another character in the movie is the house where the siblings live. Its appearance of being semi-abandoned with an unkept yard marks the boundary between the home and the outer civilization—isolated with no signs of modern life. The siblings live in the world with their own rules, invisible to society that continues their concerns on the other side. However, I would call Marrowbone a horror movie. It is much more haunting than scary with the clever nuances Sanchez uses to engage the audience.