Many people moan and sigh at the hearing of the word ‘presentation’. Standing in front of an audience will mean people staring at your figure or listening to your stuttering voice. It may mean staring back at a hundred odd people with serious and unfriendly faces. You might suddenly hear someone giggling with their friends in the background and you are sure it’s due to your braces. Others were born for the stage and look forward to wowing their public with their findings. With a smile and some confidence they sail through their subject and often manage to provide a bit of entertainment. To be frank, the chances of embarrassment and clumsiness only increase at the same rate of your pessimism. And if you’re really scared of hecklers, rehearse some responses in advance. With this in mind, I stepped to the front after my two fellow interns finished their presentations. Unlike university or school I did not have to prepare any reply-heckles. Our audience did not contain of bored or noxious students but entrepreneurial adults with a sense of etiquette.
My subject was about the importance of the three-day box office grossand what the best release times for movies are. Researching the second part proved quite tricky as I did not find the information immediately. Google did not seem to understand English all of a sudden. I was also desperate for some sleep. After a while I did succeed in cracking the ‘code’ to the answers I needed. Besides the stares, giggles and heckles it is also disturbing not to have anything to say yourself! I commenced my speech with an introduction of what was to come. As the presentation was about cinemas, the background of my PowerPoint consisted of a big empty movie screen with some front row seats. For the presentation I added text on the ‘screen’. Hopefully this could give the audience the feel of actually being in the cinema. I spoke about the three-day being the opening weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) for a film. The revenue before tax gained in these three days measures how well a film is doing. If the film is not as successful as predicted it will receive less screenings in the following weeks or no more screenings at all –if the film is really THAT bad.
Furthermore, movie distributors often wish to receive as much money as possible for the screenings and want to open in as many cinemas as possible. This is where they clash with the competing exhibitors who want to be one of few –or the only one- releasing the movie to attract all public and thus all ticket sales. I continued with statistical tables depicting the best opening weekends in the UK and the USA for Black and general movies in 2009 and in history. As best release months I found that the wintery December, January and February and the warmer July did best. The reason being the school and work holidays in which friends and families can go out together in these months. The best day to release a film is Friday as this is a nice moment to unwind directly after a hectic week working or studying. Another table followed revealing the North-American and British films released in December 2008 and July 2009.
The next point was to identify the impact of social media on the box office gross’. Cinema chains are getting involved with sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The tweets on Twitter are often about upcoming releases, competitions or some pretentiously funny thought... By being involved cinema marketers can get customer reviews as well on what to improve. In my views people will still be attracted to visiting cinemas as this going-out feeling cannot be recreated online. Slumps in box office revenues are often due to factors like the economic recession. I finalised with a brief summary of all information. Moreover, I related the findings to the Adinkra Film Nights re-launch. Since this will happen in the last weekend of November I feel it is a good move for attracting an audience wishing to relax and socialize. November is also a good month statistically for visiting cinemas.
The Q&A time was even more un-student like. I received many questions from my boss’ business partners –and my fellow interns. One question was regarding the movie The Secret Life of Bees and why it did not have a big box office sell-out. In my own experience I have not seen many advertisements in the United Kingdom about The Secret Life of Bees and supposed that was the main reason.
Another query involved the success of Orange Wednesdays whereas most movies were released on Fridays. Not all releases happen on a Friday although it is the best timing possible. Moreover, one must not underestimate the power of advertising. However, Orange Wednesdays are not about movie premières. The campaign involves two tickets for the price of one to see any film in cinema.
I was asked who the most important factor was to a large gross at the box office: the distributor, the exhibitor or the audience? In my opinion that is the distributors. It is up to them to create the right marketing and promotional campaign for their films and choose the best cinemas, cities and dates to release their work. If all this is done in a clever manner the audience will follow.
I was also questioned about Men in Black and Independence Day being Black films. I did mention them alongside Dance Flick and Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail as best opening weekends for Black screenings. It is very true that those two movies starring Will Smith are not at all Black movies. Nevertheless, as it was very hard to find any data of successful one in the past fifty years I picked something that came close. I do know that Will Smith helped create both of those movies. A true Black movie in my opinion is one that speaks about issues in the race or whose cast is at least75% Black. Still, it is hard to define and many people may have different views of what a Black movie is.
Another question was what big distributors thought about independent cinemas. Whereas multiplex cinemas (with five or more screening rooms) are interested in blockbuster movies for young people, independent cinemas cater for the thirty-plusses who are more curious about serious, adult films. Distributors must not shun or derogate independent cinemas, because they provide an audience for movies that multiplexes may not wish to screen.
A question that involves one of the reasons Adinkra Films exists was why Black movies entering the United Kingdom often are not screened in cinemas and go straight to DVD or are bootlegged. The British film societies such as the BBFC disregard there is an audience for these films. The ones that make it to the cinema screens are often the ones that star big names like Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy and Beyoncé –regardless of the acting talents of the latter two. Or as a Twitterer tweeted @Adinkra_Films:
“why no UK release because it don't feature Smith, Washington or Berry; aint got a Rapper; don't have guns drugs”What an interesting statement; as I only asked why Good hair did not have a UK Release date? So the feeling -it seems- is very much mutual across the world.
So I survived the presentation and the grilling afterwards. Apparently we will have another presentation later this year. I sighed and moaned. Not because I am scared of standing in front of an audience. No, it’s because I am predicting more sleepless nights and new altercations with Google...
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