Animal Kingdom, top film at Cinema Nova

Without having a conversation with Kristian Connelly I don’t know the complete context of her insights so I caveat what I say below as not a criticism of her comments.

Why are we still not addressing the fundamental reasons why Australian films perform poorly or below expectations in Australia?

Yes, distribution is a critical factor but most distributors here locally still seem to be stuck using marketing and distribution techniques from the 70’s through to the 90’s. ie. release a trailer 4-8 week prior to film release, do some print & TV ads, put a basic website with trailer, synopsis and cast online and focus on traditional media critical reviews and publicity. (there are some exceptions).

There is a direct correlation between the number and location of screens a film releases on and Box Office because if a consumer is interested in seeing a film but it’s not showing anywhere convenient to them, then they simply won’t go and see it. There are always exceptions but generally speaking this is a truth. So yes, the number of screens is important and generally you need to be where the target audience is.

There is also a far too simplistic view of distribution and marketing in Australia which is significantly reducing Australian filmmaker’s capacity to commercially exploit their film. The general rule of wide release applies IF supported by an equivalent wide marketing and advertising budget. However, films like Pulp Fiction, Paranormal Activity and Lost in Translation are great examples of movies beginning on fewer screens, cleverly building demand and then going on to decent Box Office and downstream commercial success. But, they also had marketing and advertising support.

Our problems are:

1. The types of films being made in comparison to the type of entertainment being sought by consumers.

2. Marketing which is totally mistargeted, very late and under invested in. More than 50% of moviegoer’s decided they wanted to see a particular movie more than a month before it was released. Cinemagoers under 50 years old do not read critical traditional movie reviews and will not be influenced by traditional publicity. *See below for more detail.

3. Too much emphasis placed on purely theatrical distribution (some stories will simply not scale to the cinema and some distribution marketing strategies can benefit from VOD releases BEFORE theatrical).

I go into more detail about the problems in the blog post below, ‘Can Australian Films Make Money’.

At last year’s SPAA conference, my co-speakers (Gordon Paddison – marketer of Lord of the Rings trilogy, District 9 and hundreds of others and Stephanie Bohn WW Marketing Director Digital Distribution for Warner Bros) and I released a comprehensive study called ‘Moviegoers 2010’. The majority of cinemagoers (72%) decided to see a movie with 24-48 hours of doing so. After deciding on what movie they want to see, the cinema location is the second most important decision factor and then the screening time. There is not much point showing on a small amount of screens if those screens are not convenient to your intended audience.
Anyway, I wrote these two blog posts relating to these topics for last year’s SPAA Conference. I go into a detailed case study of Paranormal Activity a film made for $15k which went on to make more than $180m. It started on just 12 screens!:

Can Australia Films Make Money?http://battleoflongtan.reddune.....ake-money/

The Future of Filmmaking: Seizing back control of the Six Pillars of Cinema
http://battleoflongtan.reddune.....of-cinema/

**Review information that helps moviegoers decide if they will like a movie:

72% comment from friends and family
29% comments posted on websites
26% comments posted on social networks

41% online review written by consumers or moviergoers
36% average score / grade combining moviegoer opinions

32% reviews written by professional movie critics
28% average score / grade combining professional reviews

Martin- I notice that you’re the producer behind this long gestating film The Battle of Long Tan, is this film going to be a nationalistic flag waving glorification of a very nasty battle that was fought by some very brave conscripts(on both sides) during what was probably one of the ugliest, shockingly criminal and unjust wars fought in the 20th Century? Are we going to see anything remotely representing a POV of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese (who basically looked upon the Australians as invaders from the south) or are we the public going to see a film that is more Black Hawk Down that uses a body count in the end titles to validate slaughter? I’m not taking a swipe at the brave soldiers who fought in this war and battle, certain politicians should now retrospectively be charged with War Crimes…I just think Vietnam is a tricky war to depict and for you to engage in your first point

1. The types of films being made in comparison to the type of entertainment being sought by consumers

You might find the cinema going public think that you’re in a moral quagmire like Mel Gibson found himself in when he made the tasteless and terrible “We Were Soldiers Once”. This film is a brilliant example of where you don’t want to go. I hope you’ve done your research. Your Foxtel production, although accurate did move towards the flag waving arena and if you are intending to do the same with Long Tan, you might find yourself in prickly territory
Vietnam..like all wars…was a terrible waste of human life and potential…the Vietnamese have a vaild perspective to protect beyond that of Cannon Fodder..I notice nobody is lining up to make a film about a similar battle at Binh Ba…mainly because that was a disgusting Turkey shoot, a view shared by most Australians veterans who fought in that battle…tricky territory…good luck..you’ll need it

Martin – thank you for your insightful post!

Thanks Dean! You can download the full ‘Moviegoers 2010’ report here (I forgot to add the link) http://bit.ly/eVDaHv

@Bill Yes, we are still working on the Long Tan movie! Sadly, great projects take a long time. 🙁 Shine took 9 years to get made, so this sort of reality (and our passion of course) keeps us going. It is a very complex story and we want to do it right!

Like any filmmaker I have the right to choose a particular POV for my film and no POV will ever satisfy everyone. Our POV will also reflect our responsibility to the ANZAC, VC and NVA veterans and their families.

We had to leave out significant portions of the Long Tan story in our documentary like the complex intelligence aspect and many individual stories of gallantry, conflict and tragedy. However, some of this will feature in the movie.

In the case of our Long Tan movie, we are not interested in the exploring the politics of the Vietnam War although we tried to provide some balanced context in the documentary. This has been done to death in many movies and TV series but importantly it provides very little value or context to the story of Long Tan or any of the main or peripheral characters except in very isolated circumstances (ie. conscription). It is important to remember that significant opposition to the Vietnam war didn’t begin until March 1968, almost 2 years after the Battle of Long Tan.

We have always treated our former Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army adversaries with great respect and this was one of the key reasons I secured permission to film in Vietnam and permission to interview and film the former Vietnamese veterans. We therefore have no desire or intent to demonise the very brave VC or NVA soldiers and their bravery will be reflected through their deeds and factual Australian dialogue through the movie.

After spending 6+ years conducting very extensive research into Australia’s involvement in South East Asian conflicts, the battles of Long Tan, Coral, Balmoral, conducting hundreds of interviews and of course making our documentary and developing our film, I can honestly say that my original perspective of the Vietnam War changed significantly. My views were heavily tainted by Hollywood films and a lack of learning about this subject at school.

I think anyone who eventually comes to see our movie about Long Tan will ultimately understand the utter futility of war but at the same time be able to admire, respect and sympathise with both the ANZAC forces and the VC and NVA forces. Long Tan really is the story of ordinary boys who became extraordinary men.

This is the story of the battle of Long Tan and the various principle characters who participated either directly or indirectly in the events immediately leading up to, during and after the battle. Anything beyond this is a distraction…..

All the best!

Glad to hear Martin…it sounds like this will be a very engaging and interesting film that needs to be told, I hope you get all the support you need…why these engaging tales of human bravery, courage and endurance take so long to be told is beyond me. Again good luck…funding bodies and private investors prick up your ears..here is a committed filmmaker who’s done the hard work and the research…good luck to you and your production team.