Universal Pictures International - Sales and Distribution Work Experience

I went for a one week work experience placement at UPI, in London, in the Sales and Distribution area which works on the promotional packages and marketing for Universal films across the world, liaising with headquarters in the US and Japan.
The promotional packages include:
- all posters (Bus side, Billboard, Premiere, Cinema, 3D cardboard cut outs, Magazine, Character and Collector) and
- all trailers (Teaser, Theatrical, TV spots, Radio and Online) for each ‘territory’.

A ‘Territory’ is decided by language (and a poster/trailer’s need for translation/ subtitles/dubbing). For example, France is counted as 2 territories because parts speak Swiss-French and others Dutch-French.

Posters:

The commercial process of creating posters has to conflicting objectives: CREATIVE verses LEGAL.
For contract reasons certain actors need to appear at certain sizes and with names in a certain order. Confirmation is needed from the Director and the actor before images can be used.

Each territory has poster preferences in order to create different social responses. See the examples from the 2010 reimagining of ‘The Wolfman’.

UK – Emily Blunt is a British star, Conventions of a supernatural Horror (eg. full moon, mist, forests, isolated vulnerable girl), monster is shrouded in mystery – one of the film’s hooks

French – Creates an ambiance of a thriller or mystery. The implication is that the narrative is sophisticated and character driven.

This poster (possibly Turkish) highlights the Romance element of the narrative and shows their relationship to be of importance. These actors may also be hooks to see the film.

Japan (which is the only country which Universal lets have complete creative control over their production material because Japanese culture is very different to the rest of the world)
 – This poster fits conventions of supernatural but the splashes of red have slasher connotations as well. However, the middle text actually explains most of the narrative (even one of the main plot twists) which implies that the story is in some ways prophetic.

This poster of ‘The Unborn’ (2009)  appears with a skirt on (in varying lengths) for some Asian countries, for example Malaysia.

Posters must conform to convention to indicate the genre but also subvert the viewer’s expectations and be in synch with the trailers, usually through colour or motif.

Feedback and revision of posters happens in small groups with the director, this is to gauge audience perception and the success of the work. [Cost is crucial to what can be produced.]

When I enquired as to what was considered a ‘bad poster’ the team suggested ‘floating head’ posters because they do not effectively convey anything except the actors who will appear in the film.

Each of these posters are for the same film yet show it from completely different angles.

UPI explained that different film angles sell better in different nationalities. For example, in Japan emotion is key, and in Asia explosions and action are popular.

Even in one country each poster series for a film may show it differently. Sometimes this is to attract different demographics.

For the demographics populations are divided into 4 categories:

In some countries posters may vary for social reasons. In the UK guns can appear on posters but cannot be pointing out of the poster. In some countries tolerance for nudity, guns and smoking is different and sometimes removed to avoid offense.