2014 BAFTAS

The 2014 British Academy Film Awards was heavily integrated with social media with a constant stream of live updates from the moment the red carpet began to be put in place right up to the post-show parties. This post features a few examples of how social media platforms were used.

The Guardian provided a live blog of fashion on the red carpet, which can be seen here. Photos of celebrities with a commantary on what they were wearing were posted live, and the time stamps on the blog page show just how frequently this was being done. 

Hashtags were of course well used on Twitter to monitor what the viewers were discussing and what their opinions were. This infogrpahic by Blurrt illistrates how Twitter trends during the show could be used to guage the public perception of the award results.

Twitter was also utilised by the official Bafta page and its live-tweets. There was of course a slight lag between real-time and the tv broadcast however this was taken into consideration to avoid spoilers, which can be seen in the tweet below. The option to follow the link to Tumblr would reveal the winner but for those waiting to see the winner announced on the tv broadcast, the tweets were spoiler-free. 

Between the official, professional and fan use of social media throughout the 2014 Baftas a significantly clear yet varied account of the night has been archived within the internet and it can only be assumed that by the 2015 Baftas awards show this promotional partnership with social media will have been enhanced even more. 

Sources and Further Reading
https://www.bafta.org/ 
http://www.blurrt.co.uk/blog/2014/02/bafta-2014-winners-the-twitter-reaction/
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a545274/12-years-a-slave-leonardo-dicaprio-lead-baftas-social-media-buzz.html#~oD3HHQbQvaO6aD

Award Shows Embrace Social Media

'Social media has been credited with increasing TV awards show viewership for the Grammys, Oscars, and other awards shows year-over year recently.  TV viewership has increased in the 18-34 demo, attributed to engaging younger viewers with social media. More viewers are using Facebook, Twitter, and check-in apps while watching the live TV awards show'  (taken from this article) 

As it has become more common place for social media users to discuss film and televsion in real time it is unsurprising that social media platforms have become a part of the promotional strategies for awards shows. For social media users who have spent the year tweeting, sharing and blogging about numerous television shows or films then of course when it comes to those shows and films receiving recognition with awards they would intend to share their responses in real time. 

There is even an award out there for the best use of social media during an awards show, awarded by the Shorty Industry Awards. 

Sources and Further Reading
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/baftas/10639240/Baftas-2014-live-coverage-of-the-awards-ceremony.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/business/media/21watercooler.html?_r=0
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/leisure-writing/bchaikhanab-world-social-tv-983

Social Media, Catching Fire

Catching Fire, the second film of The Hunger Games series, made good use of social media platforms to engage its (primarily teenagers and young adult) audience in the run up to its release. An interactive website was created. This website connects all its social media presences together by providing links to them. The website serves its own purpose too by allowing fans to create a username and login in order to gain full access to the vast array of media that the website has to offer. There is an option to access the website as a guest however many of the features are unavailable to guest users. 

Shown above is the official Catching Fire film Facebook page, registered as being a movie. This is a run-of-the-mill promotional page. In contrast to this is the official promotional Facebook page for The Capitol, shown below. Part of the fictional world of The Hunger Games this page has nonetheless been registered as being an 'organisation' in the same way that legitimate real organisations on Facebook have their pages registered as. The Capitol PN page is therefore a clever promotional method of allowing the fans to be absorbed into the fictional world. Seen in the cover photo of the page is message from the Capitol stating that all citizens must register for the quarterly census, with directions to the already discussed Capitol PN website, which will in turn direct the fan to go and look at the other social platforms. 

 Registering as a user results in being allocated a District from the fictional world of Panem, and in turn being allocated a district results in the incentive to follow/like the official page for your District across social media. For example there is a separate Facebook and Twitter page for each District. Instagram was also used for both a normal promotional fan account and an in-character account Capitol Couture.  Youtube was also well used for the posting of trailers, exclusive clips and interviews but also for in-character District videos 'brought to you by the Captiol'. An example of which is shown below. 

The author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, expressed her personal admiration for these innovative advertising approaches:

“I’m thrilled with the work Tim Palen and his marketing team have done on the film,” she said. “It’s appropriately disturbing and thought-provoking how the campaign promotes Catching Fire while simultaneously promoting the Capitol’s punitive forms of entertainment. The stunning image of Katniss in her wedding dress that we use to sell tickets is just the kind of thing the Capitol would use to rev up its audience for the Quarter Quell (the name of the games in Catching Fire). That dualistic approach is very much in keeping with the books.”

Sources and Further Reading
http://www.wired.com/2013/11/catching-fire-marketing/
http://adage.com/article/madisonvine-news/social-media-twitter-makes-breaks-movie-marketing/139444/
https://www.google.co.uk/searchq=twitter+film+advertising&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=pYRhU6TXKsWjO8O0gPgE&ved=0CAUQ_AUoAA&biw=1600&bih=799&dpr=1 

The Negative Power of the Fandom

This post will look at the negativity surrounding online Fandoms.Moving past the more general sharing of videos, images, conversation and hashtags, Fandoms also produce their own version of the film/televsion show. This may be in the form of fan fiction stories, fan art, or well-edited videos posted to YouTube. One danger of Fandoms and their social media posts is that there is the risk that they will come to feel a sense of ownership over their version of the story/characters that they post. While, rightly so, they own what they have created it must not be forgotten that the underlying ownership comes from the original source. 

'When I first wrote about fan fiction, disclaimer statements by fan authors were common and prominent: the author would state that she did not own the copyrigt in the characters and situations, name the entity that did (or the original creator, who is usually not the copyright owner), and sometimes add a request that the copyright owner not sue her. While I have not conducted a scientific survery, my strong impression is that disclaimers are less common today.' (Gray 2007)

For example while a Fandom member may write a fan fiction piece where the plotline is entirely their own, and then publish it to be shared on Tumblr. The characters used are not their own but character from their Fandom source. This can result in a very complicated situation for copyright laws and, as illustrated in the extract above, the growing rise in popularity of Fandoms and Fandom posts has resulted in this fact being overlooked. 

While a Fandom may exist and positively promote their Fandom over social media, there are of course those who existance results only in negative publicity across social media. Nikki De Graeve of Entertainment Outlook says;

'The latest trend is the frankly appalling behaviour of not only tweeting destructive criticisms , but also attacking creators and actors on a personal level. They set up hate groups, hate blogs and twitter accounts with the solely function to tweet abuse and hateful messages. Ranging from discrimination, homophobic attacks, making ungrounded accusations that a certain actor is homophobic, insulting actors and writers because the storylines aren’t going their way or their OTP won’t be canon. Lines between fiction and reality get so blurred'

Like the sad reality of most things, there are people out there who chose to ignore social boundaries and social media platforms do provide them with an easy and simple means of spreading hate and negativity. 

Sources and Further Reading
Booth Paul, Digitial Fandom: New Media Studies, Peter Lang Publishing 2010
Gray Jonathon, Fandom: Identities and Communities in a MEdiated World, NYU Press 2007 

The Power of the Fandom

Fandoms hold a lot of power on social media platforms, Tumblr in particular. Fan-run blogs and Twitter accounts and Facebook pages provide some very effect word-of-mouse advertising for films and television shows. A Fandom is the name given to those who share a strong interest in a fictional world, such as The Hungers Games, Harry Potter, BBC's Sherlock, Supernatural, for a longer listing look here.

Image representing Word-of-mouse communication

  

'For any given culture, there will be some acts that a person would prefer to preform not for money, but for social standing, recognition, and probably, ultimately, instrumental value obtainable only if that person has performed the action through a social rather than a market, transaction.' (Benkler eBook)

Though many members of Fandoms will be entirely aware of the promotional value of their social media pursuits, as stated above, it is not something that they do for monetary gain; it is simply their personal desire to express their devotion to their Fandom. 

The many different Fandoms take the power of the hashtag in their stride and provide a constant stream of posts connected to their fandom. An example of where a marketing team has utilised the power of Fandoms and hashtag sharing is BBC's Sherlock. #SherlockLives became very popular across social media in the run up to the third series of the show airing. The trend started when, without explanation, the BBC Twitter pages changed its name to #SherlockLives which immediately resulted in a mass response from the Fandom. 

The popularity of #SherlockLives spread across Twitter and Tumblr and so the marketing team continued to utilise this, with #SherlockLives featuring in a teaser trailer for the series and also in a fictional blog post by the character John Watson. 

The hashtag continued to be used even as the first episode of the series aired, and resulted in it trending in several different regions and time zones. Journalist Shaku Selvakumar says;

'The brilliant campaign orchestrated by @BBCOne to promote the third season of the much-anticipated Sherlock Holmes. By inserting the hashtag #Sherlocklives directly into the premiere episode’s programming, they tipped their hat to their audience which resulted in more than 365,000 mentions'

The marketing use of hashtags combined with dedicated and enthusiastic reaction from Fandoms demonstrates yet another way in which social media has provided new opportunity for film and television promotion. 


Sources and Further Reading
Benkler Yochai, The Wealth of Networks, Chapter 4 The Economics of Social Production, eBook available from here   

http://www.london24.com/entertainment/tv/london_sherlock_lives_frenzy_after_cryptic_tweet_from_show_s_producer_1_3055327
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/leisure-writing/bchaikhanab-world-social-tv-983