May Movie Reviews and Round up

In May I've watched a measly 10 movies but reviewed 8 out of the 10 so that's not bad. I've also spent a weekend in Paris, read and reviewed a book, been appearing on the radio lots and just today interviewed the director of The Last Exorcism Part 2. Also known as The Really Last Exorcism... We Mean it this Time... Maybe... Unless this One Makes a Killing at the Box Office. Apparently that title was considered too lengthy so they made a last minute change to help it fit on the posters.

Anyway the films I watched this month were:

A Hijacking (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Ruby Sparks
Bellflower
Motel Hell (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Black Sabbath (Reviewed for Filmoria)
The Great Gatsby (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Fast and Furious 6
Behind the Candelabra (worth seeing for a pair of mesmerizing performances from Matt Damon and Michael Douglas)
Blow Up (Reviewed for Filmoria)
Sweet Vengeance (Reviewed for Filmoria)

My reviews for Our Children, Side by Side and Everybody Has a Plan were also published this month.

The book I read and reviewed is called Boy Nobody. I also saw and reviewed The Book of Mormon, the musical from the South Park guys.

I did a couple of box office reports for Tastic Film: one on Iron Man 3 and one on Star Trek Into Darkness.

I also got a few news stories written for both Starburst Magazine and Filmoria:

Sharlto Copley and Neill Blomkamp Reteam for Sci-fi Comedy CHAPPIE

Sweet Vengeance Trailer Promises Bloody Revenge

PACIFIC RIM Banner Promises Sydney Harbour Bridge Destruction!

First Poster for Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Bares All

I've also written two features to be included in the latest edition of Starburst Magazine, one is a preview on Pacific Rim and one is a preview on The Wolverine so if you don't already subscribe to Starburst Magazine, please go do so now!

Also this month I finally finished Game of Thrones series 1 (and wrote a hit list) and have raced to about the half way mark of series 2 now. I'm absolutely loving it. Netflix offered me a second free month trial this week so I immediately started to take advantage of it. I'm about half way through Arrested Development series 4 already and plan to get up to date with Breaking Bad by watching series 4 and the first half of series 5 before the month ends!

 I wrote lots of articles about Fast and Furious for Yahoo Movies, practiced for the day the media (inevitably!) come knocking at my door to interview me about found footage movies and also applied for lots of jobs. As usual it's been a busy month.

 On the plus side, I'm only a couple of chapters away from finishing my book on The Blair Witch Project and am just about to finish a first draft of another chapter of my thesis on found footage movies.

This month I've already got preview screenings of This is the End and Summer in February lined up and also have to write a director retrospective on Roland Emmerich for Filmoria. I've also got a couple of DVD's to review; Come as You Are and To the Wonder.

Best film of the month was Ruby Sparks! Worst was Motel Hell. What did you see this month? Any recommendations? 

You can check out more of my monthly round ups by clicking here.

The Many Methods of Movie Marketing: Part 5 Press Junkets and Preview Screenings

This is the fifth part of my many posts on the different methods of movie marketing, this one covering press junkets and preview screenings. This is mainly for my film students who are looking at the relationship between film producers and audiences. First we looked at how producers get information from audiences and now we move on to how producers give information to audiences. You can find part one on posters and trailers here. Part 2 on TV, radio and print media advertising and using the internet and viral marketing is here. Part 3 on movie merchandise is here. Part 4 on premieres is here.

Press junkets are where the people behind the film gather the press together for an event usually held in a hotel. They have the stars and filmmakers available for individual or group interviews and may have a press conference Q&A session. This allows TV and radio shows, magazines, newspapers and websites to come and interview the stars and the then give the film free publicity by writing about it. Stars will also be contracted to appear on chat shows to promote the films but a press junket allows a lot of media outlets to get access to the stars quickly and efficiently. Most big releases will have a press junket in different cities across the globe. For example the Star Trek Into Darkness press junket was held at London’s City Hall but was more of a conference with a Q&A to give as many media outlets a chance to print something about the film as possible. Read more about the Star Trek Into Darkness press conference here.

Preview screenings are also an excellent way to spread the word on a movie. Different to test screenings, preview screenings show the finished film and do not ask for detailed feedback. They are special screenings that can be accessed in numerous ways. Critics will be invited to them in order to review the film, sometimes people will win competitions to gain tickets to them and sites like ShowFilmFirst offer tickets to their members. Sky, The Telegraph newspaper and the Daily Mail also offer tickets to their subscribers occasionally. If the film is good, preview screenings create positive word of mouth and more people will go and see the film on opening weekend. Sometimes some feedback will be required from the audience in order to gauge their reactions and figure out how to market the movie more effectively to the target audience. Currently the Guardian are offering tickets to a preview screening of Behind the Candelabra. Preview screenings can be an excellent and relatively cheap way to develop some good buzz around a smaller film with a small marketing budget.

Next up is the final part on film festivals.