Social Media and Film Promotions: Trends in Indian-Tamil Films

 

Prabakaran V*

Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Communication, Faculty of Science and Humanities,

 

ABSTRACT:

Movie’s business is based on how well it has been marketed. Before the era of the Internet, film production companies had to advertise to their target audiences through print media. Billboards, buses, walls and streets plastered with colorful hand-drawn posters. Once film industry became a bigger one, trailers were introduced to promote the films. The business soon expanded, not only for film but also for the advertisement agencies and departments. Today, both groups are extending their marketing strategies and campaigns to the usage of social media to gain maximum profit. The researcher is interested in seeing the trends in social media promotions with reference to Tamil film industry.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

With the emerge of the Internet and electronic technology, production studios were able to market their movies in a new form called digital media. By going digital, production studios expand their relationship with their audience by making advertisements more entertaining. Print media, including posters and billboards, had to stick out and catch the attention of passers-by all while giving as much information about the movie in one still image. Moving images have a higher chance of getting someone to notice the advertisement because they had to stop and concentrate on what is being displayed. Trailers were the original form of digital media to promote a movie. Film trailers are the most effective promotional medium for the motion picture industry and are most influential on consumer expectations; thus it is important for a film trailer to reach as maximum an audience as possible (Hixson, 2006).

 

This does not imply that consumers base their expectations solely on the film trailer. Previous research shows that people base their expectations of films on word of mouth (Liu, 2006; Moul, 2007), Today, trailers are one- to three-minute long visuals that display images, clips, and sound from an upcoming film. These parts that are shown represent and promote the overall tone and genre, story, and star(s) (Finsterwalder, Kuppelwieser, and Villiers, 2012). Seen a film, on television, or online, trailers help convey what the movie is all about to entice audiences. The biggest impact that social media has is that it allows for people to connect with others in sharing and communicating ideas. When print media was only used, people were limited to taking what they saw and process it in their way. With the usage of social media, people are allowed to not only share different marketing campaigns but can create an environment where they can discuss with others what they think and how they feel about the movies. This new extension will allow current and potential audience members to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the movie and the production studio.

 

 

 

SOCIAL MEDIA AND TAMIL FILM INDUSTRY:

A news item in the national daily The Hindu describes the status of social media in the following way. According to the report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the umbrella organization representing online and mobile value-added services, there are 62 million Indians on the social media, and that may ramp up to 80 million by the next elections. Some 97 percent of them is on Facebook. And they are spread beyond the big metros. One-third of social media users live in towns with a population of less than 5 million; 25 percent of the total users live in towns with less than 2 million inhabitants. The study, jointly conducted by IAMAI and IRIS Knowledge Foundation, has claimed that in 160 constituencies, Facebook would be a critical tool which could influence people's voting choices. When voting choices can be influenced, what about the selection of films for their entertainment?

 

 

Pic 1: Kabali song has 30M views in YouTube.

 

 

 

Pic 2: Kamalhassan’s twitter page

 

One of the fascinating changes in the history is the democratization of communication and creation of content. Anyone with a Smartphone can make a video and capture just, its trailers and ads combined and with little to no budget. Social media has opened up communication, allowing rich media to be distributed across multiple global networks and connect millions of people with similar interests.

 

Movie makers everywhere should be using social media to market their films if they aren't already. 74 percent of people in the 18-65+ age group are on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Marketers can use these social media bases to reach several types of audiences. Instead of uploading a movie trailer to YouTube, you can tweet about it, post-movie stills onto Facebook, Instagram behind-the-scenes moments and more. As mentioned in the business line, Producer Kalaipuli.S.Thanu, and Director Pa.Ranjith only tweeted the date of release of Rajinikanth starrer Kabali, social media, print and the electronic media did the rest. The success of Kabali is the success of Social media marketing.

 

In an interview with the Hindu, Fox star studios India, marketing and distribution head, Vivek Krishnani said that Tamil audiences were active on social media, but they didn't explore the marketing in a big way. He further added that they were able to make Actor Nayanthara trend nationally on twitter through focused online strategy. "The brand recall can be achieved by doing simple things such as tweeting while a promotional programme is on air, replying to fans and so on. Not only that, customized campaigns while launching teaser and Music would help during the release of the film. And we could reach 1.9million views on YouTube for the film Rajarani with our strategy." Shony Panjikaran further added.

 

Pic3: Vivegam Trailer 13 M views / YouTube

 

Pic:4: Thalli pogathey song  28 M views / YouTube

 

Kollywood stars are no longer banking on just their on-screen looks or movie performances, but are using social media to wow audiences with their off-screen persona as well. Every update, image or video that is shared adds to the curiosity of fans.

 

Sreedhar Pillai writes in the Hindu; Even Kamal Haasan seems to have got a new lease of life via Twitter. His terse messages and the battle of words with the Tamil Nadu Government and popularity via Bigg Boss have suddenly projected the Ulganayagan as a possible political leader. The 62-year-old actor with more than 50 years of film industry experiences over 200 films in various languages was mentioned that he had a new lease of life via twitter, will give us the power of social media. Instead of the regular press meet actor, Dhanush and other technicians did a facebook live during the release of VIP2.

 

Oscar winner composer Rahman's, ‘Aalaporaan Thamizhan' song has become the top in India within few hours of its release. VJ turned actor Sivakarthikeyan's recent teaser of upcoming film Velaikkaran crossed one million views in a record time. Mersal, a Vijay starrer Tamil film was the first Tamil film to be featured with an Emoji in Twitter in Tamilnadu, and of course, it's the third film in India.

 

The trends are changing not only in Tamil films, throughout India and even globally. The increasing number of dance covers of Malayalam song, Jummiki kammal, the peppy song from Mohan Lal's film ‘Velipadite Pusthakam'on the Internet is probably the only other number to have had such a mass appeal after Why this Kolaveri Di.It had crossed 30 Million views in just 49 days.

 

In rural India, entertainment drives the usage followed by social networking and communication, whereas in urban India, social networking and entertainment (songs, videos etc.) are the primary usages of mobile internet, says a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research firm IMRB. It further adds there were 389 million mobile internet users in India as on December 2016 and it would cross 420 million in 2017.

 

Social media is the primary choice among the internet users. According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), 66% of the 180 million Internet users in urban India access social media platforms regularly. The most popular activities on social media include maintaining one's profile on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, posting and sharing an update as well as replying to something a friend has posted. While college students (33%) form the largest demographic of active social media users in India, working women and non-working women register just 7% and 11% respective share in that user base.

 

CONCLUSION:

Social media are the best ways to reach the audience for movie promotions. Film technician and production houses are using social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram for film promotions. Engaging the audience during the making of a film is a needed promotional strategy. S.S.Rajamouli's Baagubali is a classic example in this category. They had released exclusive making videos of their entire lead actor's during their birthdays as a promotional activity. Those videos were viral in social media. In India Facebook is the most popular social media with 140 million active users. And it's the best way to reach the masses and to create the awareness much before the film gets released. It's the most cost-effective way to promote the film.

 

Rajinikanth, a celebrated ‘Superstar' actor of Tamilnadu, recently requested the social media film reviewers, not to review a film for the first three days. That's what the power of social media. The movie is not considered as a successful one until it makes money. An extraordinary script, big production company and a famous star cast who can pull a crowd to the theater can't ensure the box-office success of a film. It can be attributed to so many factors. A social media platform like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube plays a vital role in the box office success.

Times have changed now and so have the audience. The audience wants to know all about the movie, its box-office report, and reviews before spending 200 plus rupees including GST 28% and 8% of Tamilnadu local tax.

 

REFERENCES:

1.     Balaji R, Retrieved from http: //www. The hindu business line. com/news/the-kabali-swag-how-social-media-rewrote-the-rules-of-film marketing/article8887633.ece

2.     Finsterwalder, J., Kuppelwieser, V. G., and Villiers, M. d. (2012). The effects of film trailers on shaping consumer expectations in the entertainment industry- a qualitative analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19, 589-595. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1830682/The_Effects_of_Film_Trailers_on_Shaping_Consumer_Expe ctations_in_the_Entertainment_Industry_-_A_Qualitative_Analysis

3.     Prashant Jha http: //www. The hindu. com/news/national/80-million-social-media-users-by-next-elections/article4607051.ece

4.     Retrieved from, http: //www. livemint. com/Politics/FqcL24fK5aQ68qC6KzohJO/Social-media-in-India.html

5.     Retrieved from, http: //www. deccanchronicle. com/entertainment/kollywood/110417/rajinikants-advice-to-the-industry. html.

6.     Sreedhar Pillai, Retrieved http://www. thehindu. com/entertainment/movies/social-media-takes-over-kollywood/article19497247. ece

7.     Surabhi Agarwal, Retrieved https://economictimes. indiatimes. com/tech/internet/420-million-to-access-internet-on-mobile-in-india-by-june-iamai/articleshow/58475622.cms

8.     Udhav Naig, Retrieved http://www. thehindu. com/features/cinema/social-network/article5179227. ece

 

 

 

 

 

Received on 24.10.2017       Modified on 30.11.2017

Accepted on 02.01.2018      ©A&V Publications All right reserved