This semester I've been assisting the producer of Kevin Smith's new film, "Red State" and now that the film has wrapped, I've had a chance to reflect on my experience, which has me reeling about fandom and the power of the internet.
I managed to stay away from twitter until very recently (I didn't understand the appeal of knowing what someone is doing 24/7 or letting everyone know how much I loved a certain film, etc.) But Kevin Smith changed my view of twitter.
About a month ago, a coworker on the film alerted me to the ridiculous amounts of tweets Kevin makes in a day. One day the coworker told me: "Kevin just tweeted that Michael Parks gave one of the top ten performances by an actor he's ever seen."
And then I went to set. And talked to Kevin. And he told me: "This is one of the top ten performances I've seen by an actor, hands down." I couldn't help, but chuckle (on the inside, of course). Kevin's entire fan base knew this information HOURS before I did, someone minutes away from him with access to set.
That's what is so amazing about Kevin--he is so accessible to fans. He responds to them, he tours the country just to talk with them, he relies on them--not so as to take advantage of them, but to reward them for their loyalty. His tweets, blog entries, and Q&A sessions do more to market his films than any advertising agency could.
Now that I have a twitter, I have seen first hand the incredible fan response to his tweets about "Red State." People are on the edge of their seats, just waiting for a small glimpse of the film. Kevin keeps them updated day-to-day, hour-by-hour. They are completely in the know. They know which stage of production the film is in (post), how Kevin feels about the film (various levels of passionate) and what his next move is (Sundance--cross your fingers!). His openness to the fans is his most important marketing tool. If he ever makes the fans feel unimportant or does something to piss them off, you can bet his career will be effected.
This idea of accessibility is so vital to the success of any product. The example someone gave in class about fans creating Facebook profiles for the Mad Men characters attests to this. Fans want the control. They want to be involved in the process, not just the end product. They know the characters as well as the creators. They dedicate hours, days, months, YEARS to a product/show/franchise. The internet is their access card to more of what they love. Kevin Smith understands this.
While on set, my boss told me to take a stab at making a teaser poster for "Red State." We showed Kevin and he loved it. So guess what? That teaser poster is being used. Kevin showed it to his fans as a Halloween gift today. And guess what? I went from having 1 follower on twitter to having 50 followers in less than an hour. Kevin's explanation for using this teaser poster instead of going to an ad agency is pretty spot on with the topic of fandom and marketing:
"...If I went out to an ad agency here in town, I’d be billed close to 20 grand for a campaign that’d maybe… maybe… include this poster. But this piece of artwork (I call it “The Holy Ghost”) didn’t come from a top-tier ad agency: Jon Gordon is my RED STATE producer, and this poster was created by his assistant, Melissa Bloom. So we’ve got a marketing image that was put together by someone who was on set every day, integral to the process that produced the film which inspired this image...When we first looked at Melissa’s poster, someone said “You should give this to the ad agency as a guideline.” Guideline? Was an ad agency gonna make us any happier than Melissa’s image made us? The Holy Ghost is kinda perfect, and more importantly? It gives us a starting point from which to launch our home-grown marketing campaign."
You can read the full article and view the poster here.
With 50 new twitter followers to prove it, the point is that this poster sparked just as much or more intrigue about the film than an ad agency's marketing campaign could. Kevin's marketing strategy is ingenious. It's not about exclusivity, but inclusitivity. Thanks to Kevin's dedication to keeping fans in the know, there's going to be so much hype around this film by the time it is widely distributed you can bet it will do well. By keeping the fans involved in the process they will stand by the end product and then follow him into his next venture. In this same vein, television shows that utilize the internet both on hiatuses and while the show is on-air can ensure their fan base sticks with them.
1 comment:
First I have to say how amazing your whole experience seems! The poster as well looks absolutely incredible and, as I am sure you know and realize, how lucky you are to have gotten the job you have had this past semester, as internships like that are very hard to come by.
I think you bring up a great point about the very ingenious way Kevin Smith uses fans to help sell his movies. Fandom really is all about inclusitivity and belonging to something, having experiences with people miles away from you, over the internet who you have never met and might never meet, but you have that favorite movie, actor, director, television show, recording artist ect. in common so your face to face contact doesn’t matter.
Going along with that is much of the reason that I see the research on fandoms and the overall feelings towards fandoms can seem by fans as demeaning. Fandoms are structured like groups in society, there are the popular fandoms that everyone knows about and accepts, and the feelings toward them are positive, it’s OK to say you are a fan "Harry Potter" comes to mind. Other fandoms, as some of our reading pointed out, like "Star Trek", though with the 2009 film some of these feelings seem to have changed, are looked down upon and thought of as too geeky. This is as well very true for fan labor activities we have discussed in class like fan fiction, which as I personally was surprised to hear, is frowned upon because of the fanatic nature fans write it, as well as the taboo subjects that get covered in the fan fics.
Fandoms, and the dissection of why they are formed and their popularity is very fascinating to me, especially in recent years because as I reflect on my years on the internet I feel that the basis of it, besides being used for my academic career and social networking, has been centered around the various fandoms I am in at a time. Fandoms have become a marker for me at each stage of my life thus far, and being able to discuss them in a academic setting is very interesting as well as a refreshing and useful!
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