Chapter 191： Mass publicity

? "Sir, please pay attention."

Walking on the streets of Burbank, a person wearing a volunteer costume handed Ronan a missing person notice: "Five college students are missing. If you have relevant clues, please call the number above. We will pay a lot of money. ."

Ronan took the notice of missing persons, walked into the supermarket and scanned it roughly.

The missing person notice was very similar to the one issued during the "Blair the Witch" propaganda last year. Five college students came up with the idea of ​​the Blair Witch and then disappeared into the Black Mountain jungle.

When I came to the audiovisual products section of the supermarket, the missing persons notices with the heads of the characters were posted in the most conspicuous position. However, these missing persons notices were different from the ones used by the Embassy Pictures last year. People would know they were movie posters at first glance.

DreamWorks is not stupid either. This sequel is called "Blair Witch 2: The Book of Shadows", but anyone who has known "Blair Witch" will not regard it as a real video tape.

Because he sold the copyright of the sequel to DreamWorks at a high price of US$12 million, Ronan looked at each of the posters, and stayed in the audiovisual product area for a long time.

This is a supermarket where people come and go, and Ronan is not the only one who pays attention to the posters.

"Blair the Witch" is going to have a sequel?" Someone was talking.

The companion snorted and said, "It's a super lousy movie. The last time is enough. Are you going to be a second time?"

The man shook his head quickly: "With such a bad quality film, is it crazy to watch the sequel?"

The two left the audiovisual product area while cursing how bad "Blair the Witch" was.

Ronan deliberately came to the hanging TV screen and waited for a while. A trailer for "Blair Witch 2" appeared. The commercial film of tens of seconds felt the same as "Blair Witch".

First-view handheld shooting, frequently shaken lens, messy picture...

It can only be said that DreamWorks deserves to be a Hollywood film company, and the sequel completely follows the successful model of the first.

Most of Hollywood's successful sequels are done this way, and this is the most reliable way to shoot sequels.

But Blair the Witch is not a typical Hollywood movie after all.

Ronan bought some daily necessities and food, and went out of the supermarket to go home. Just when he arrived at the main entrance of the supermarket, he saw that the volunteer who had handed out missing persons notice was blocked. The four or five people who blocked him were all here. Calling that so-called volunteer is a liar.

The volunteer looked innocent and a little stunned: He also accepted employment last year. When issuing missing persons notices, he felt that there were enthusiastic people everywhere, and many people would take the initiative to help. Why did he become a liar this year?

Isn't this reversed too fast?

Ronan took a few glances, got in the car, and quickly returned to his apartment in North Hollywood.

After frying a steak and having a simple dinner, he came to the study to check the laws and other regulations of the United States on the foundation. There was a thick pile of materials on the desk, including relevant cases and analyses. .

Currently, film investment funds have appeared in Hollywood, but they have not yet become popular.

The computer was also turned on, and Ronan could find relevant information on the Internet at any time.

Although the Nasdaq Index has been decimated and Internet stocks have suffered heavy losses, it cannot change the fact that the Internet penetration rate and the increasing practicality of the Internet.

Of course, things on the Internet, no matter where they are, are true and false.

After reading the relevant information, Ronan opened his mailbox and checked the newly arrived emails. One of them was from Random House. "Twilight Saga: Twilight" has been reviewed and is ready to communicate with the author for revisions, as soon as September Can enter the book market.

Ronan forwarded the email to Lindsay Bill through the company's internal office software.

Propaganda should also be carried out, and the publishing and distribution are still mainly based on professional companies such as Random House.

Nowadays, business relies heavily on publicity and promotion. For example, the Harry Potter series was published long ago, but before Warner Bros. bought the copyright, sales were very average, and Joanna Rowling even had to survive on relief. .

But two or three years before the filming, Warner Bros. invested huge resources to promote the series, and the situation changed immediately.

Ronan read the latest draft of "The Hunger Games" sent by Lindsay Bill again. There is nothing to suggest in this regard, but to remind Lindsay Bill to add elements that young readers like in her follow-up writing.

After finishing all this, Ronan went to several movie forums to watch. Unsurprisingly, just like during the promotion of "Blair the Witch", the stories that had to be told about the five college students and the Blair Witch filled the forums.

The sequel's various means of creating momentum, except that it did not emphasize that this is a real event, the other is exactly the same as the first.

The urgency of the Hollywood film company's business model operation is vividly expressed.

It is a pity that the most conspicuous thing on the website is not these navy posts for propaganda, but the various calls that the crew of "Blair the Witch" is a liar.

Obviously, the reputation of "Blair the Witch" has long been stinking.

Even, many people still remember the director Daniel Malik, the verbal abuse has a tendency to change from the film to the personal attack.

Ronan specifically checked that the public production cost of "Blair Witch 2" was US$18 million. According to Hollywood's production rules, DreamWorks must have included the US$12 million in the purchase of the copyright for the sequel.

This is actually a production expense.

Looking at the scale of propaganda, Ronan is now a professional. Forget it. With such propaganda, it is estimated that even if DreamWorks' expenditure is less than 10 million US dollars, the difference will not be too much.

I don’t know the scale of distribution. It is estimated that 2,000 theaters are not a big problem.

At this time, there was news from MSN, and the person who sent the news was Jessica Felton.

""Blair the Witch 2" is coming out this weekend, are you going to watch it?"

Ronan didn't answer, and asked, "Are you going?"

The message came back very quickly: "I'm going to check it out. I heard that DreamWorks has found a master to edit the sequel."

Ronan thought for a while and sent a message: "I'll go see it too, shall we? Let me pick you up at your apartment after get off work on Friday night?"

"No." Jessica Felton's sending speed is still fast: "Let's see you in the theater in Santa Monica Plaza."

Ronan had no objection: "Okay."

He guessed that Jessica Felton's house must be very messy, and he was too lazy to clean up, so he would not let anyone go.

After taking a break, Ronan found a specially collected case and studied it carefully.

Friday arrived very quickly. After get off work in the afternoon, Ronan rushed to the Santa Monica Commercial Plaza and met Jessica Felton in the scheduled theater.

I haven't seen it for a while, Jessica Felton seems to have lost some weight.

"I took another job in March." Jessica Felton still had dark circles on her face: "I have been busy for more than three months and only finished it a few days ago."

Ronan suggested: "Give yourself a vacation."

Jessica Felton said: "It's on vacation. I have eaten and slept and slept for a few days." She rubbed her chest, as if her underwear was uncomfortable, and said: "I will adjust it soon. I will be on your crew at the end of the month."

Ronan came to the entrance to line up and said, "The "Human Removal Project 2" is almost finished. The editing of this film is relatively simple and it will not be so tiring."

"It's easy to work with you." Jessica Felton was deeply moved: "Those inexplicable producers are too much to give me room to play, I am simply the scissors in their hands."

The editor was originally the scissors in the hands of the producer. Ronan knew this very well, but he did not say that: "So, Jesse, if you want to have a certain degree of editing freedom, you must have the corresponding power and responsibility. The position of filmmaker is very suitable for your next development."

Jessica Felton smiled: "I will seize the opportunity you give me."

The two entered the theater together. Ronan habitually chose the last row, which was good for observing the situation of the entire theater. They came in late, but there were not many people in the theater.

Even when the film began to show, there were only seven or eight people in the theater that could accommodate more than one hundred spectators.

Ronan carefully observed it before. In addition to him and Jessica Felton, there was a well-known film critic in the remaining audience.

Based on the tacit understanding between the Film Critics Association and the film company, most professional film critics can watch movies for free as long as they show relevant certificates. The specific costs will be borne by the film company.

In other words, in most cases, film critics will not contribute to the box office.

The real audience is only four or five people.

Ronan also learned before that the premiere scale of this film is as high as 3,300 theaters, which means that DreamWorks will prepare at least 3,500 copies.

This is exactly the scale of distribution that only A-level big productions will have.

If the average attendance rate in the United States is this, the film will not only hit the streets, but also suffer a big loss.

"The editing is good." Jessica Felton suddenly whispered: "Unfortunately, the shots are as bad as the first one. The director's ability has not improved at all."

Ronan lowered his voice: "It's probably not the director's business. It should be DreamWorks deliberately pursuing the effects of the first part following the successful model.

Jessica Felton nodded slightly, Ronan stopped talking and focused on the movie.

Strictly speaking, the story of this one is much stronger than that of the first one. There are some youth horror films. The true and false plots should actually be polished a little bit. But there is still the problem. In order to pursue the first one. The mode of the lens is too rough.

Ronan couldn't help but think of the post on the website that abused "Blair the Witch 2" the other night.

"The first part is to give the audience a delicious but still fresh snack, and the second part tells everyone that it is actually made of shit..."

The success of this kind of film does not depend on the production cost at all, but depends on the announcement.

The only way to succeed is to take the path of mass publicity.

Watching movies at very low cost sometimes has no small risks at all.