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Week 8 Discussion – Independents, Marketing and Publicity

This week, we’ve been learning about the marketing campaigns and the marketing of independent films like The Farewell, which often find distributors at film festivals and are typically released into fewer theaters and marketed on tighter budgets than blockbusters like Avengers: Endgame, Onward, or Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. For this week’s discussion post, consider how The Farewell was marketed by comparing the film itself (what or whom it’s about in your opinion, key themes or ideas, who the content itself might appeal to) to the idea of the film as it was marketed and publicized in the materials provided. Please answer those 2 prompts to discuss in your post:

Prompt 1 – Marketing (materials created for paid advertising in print, tv, online)

• Compare the content of the actual film The Farewell versus the primary marketing materials for the film: its poster and official trailer. Questions to consider:
  • What were your impressions of the film after watching it? What about the trailer? What does it emphasize? What sorts of images and scenes were included in it?
  • Based purely on what is emphasized in the trailer and poster, what are film’s key audience and selling points?
  • Do you agree with these emphases or do you think the trailer would have been more effective if it focused on other scenes or selling points for the film?

Prompt 2 – Publicity (unpaid advertising via coverage by journalists, appearances on talkshows, etc.)

• Consider the three promotional videos from The Farewell assigned as required screenings this week featuring appearances by the film’s writer/director Lulu Wang, star Awkwafina, and other members of the cast. While appearances of this type are typically not scripted, they are typically a required part of the actor/filmmaker’s contract and they’ll be expected to say postive, promotion-friendly things about the film and even to hit on certain key selling points or themes. After watching the film and the three videos, consider what kinds of strategies or approaches are being used here to attract the interest of audiences who may know nothing about the film. Questions to consider:
  • If you had to guess, what messages about the film are the marketing/publicity team trying to communicate through these appearances?
  • How might the cast and filmmakers’ celebrity, personalities, personal backgrounds, production stories, etc. serve the project of selling the film to audiences?
  • Do these selling points reflect what the film is actually like in your opinion?

Prompt 1 Marketing Materials (used in paid advertising in print, television, online)

• Poster
  • 
• Trailer – The Farewell (Links to an external site.) – via youtube

Prompt 2 Publicity Materials (unpaid promotion of the film via appearances by stars)

• “Notes on a screenplay: Lulu Wang and writing the farewell, (Links to an external site.)” Vanity Fair – via youtube
• Lulu Wang and the cast of the farewell on filming their most challenging scene (Links to an external site.) – AV Club junket interview – via youtube
• Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “Akwafina’s mother didn’t see the last 10 minutes of The Farewell,” (Links to an external site.) via youtube

200s words for each post.