Film production and marketing anaylsis

1. Marketing of Wall-e

2. Production, location, director and producer.
• Walt Disney pictures and Pixar animation studio were the production
companies- which straight away suggests that this is a high budget
Hollywood movie.
• WALL-E was directed by Andrew Stanton
• WALL-E was produced by Jim Morris
• The film was created in the Disney studios in California (USA). This meant
that the creators all knew exactly what they were doing as the USA is
known for their filming skills. Jesse James seven-time Oscar nominee lent
his expertise on lighting and camera issues. Six-time Oscar winner Dennis
Muren (has done films like star wars offered his expertise on visual effects
and creating the right atmospheric imagery.

3. Budget- how the budget influenced the film?
• Production Budget: $180,000,000
• This is a high budget film- which is necessary for a animation as the
technical aspects are key, without effects (which cost a lot of money) the
film would be nothing. The sounds, lighting, cast(voiceover), animation and
music
• The budget allowed the production team to call in the best possible
creators (USA Studios with Oscar winning teams).
• This made the film more popular as people knew the name ‘Pixar’- they
knew that the creators were successful and the film didn’t let down.
• The film portrays a high budget film as it is so realistic, the cuts a
professional, the detail in the film portrays nothing less than the money
put in.

4. Marketing campaign
‘Top to Bottom’
• The teaser poster’s; Wall-e actually had a total of three posters, a first teaser, a second
teaser then the final theatrical poster (the main poster).
• There was also three teaser trailers to go along with each poster; with each trailer abit
more was given away- of course this caused anticipation.
• One of the first major salvos in this paid media campaign was a Super Bowl spot. The
commercial was actually only about fifty percent devoted to WALL-E, with the remaining
50 percent taken over by Toy Story stars Woody and Buzz. This was effective as it showed
Wall-e was the latest addition to the Pixar characters, so any previous Pixar lovers will feel
the need to watch WALL-E.
• One of the more interesting things Pixar did to promote the movie was to create a full
identity for Buy & Large, the corporation that more or less rules the movie’s universe and
which made WALL-E and the other robots. The really went the full nine for this, creating a
corporate website that included B&L products to buy, information on the available robot
models and more. If you didn’t know any better you might actually think this was an
actual company. It includes a press room and everything just to complete the illusion.

5. Main stars
• Ben Burtt- Wall-e
• Elissa Knight- Eve
• As you can see, the main characters weren’t voiced by stars that have
a huge ‘buzz’ because Wall-e didn’t need star power to be popular.
The budget for the film focused on creating it to be the best it could
possibly be- without needed stars to get an audience. The film also
didn’t need star power because it had ‘company power’- Pixar has
been going on for years and it is just one of those companies that
‘never lets you down’. People expect good films from Pixar and that’s
exactly what they get.

6. Franchise/ Merchandise

7. Release and competition
• Release date: June 27, 2008

8. Clear guiding principles:
• Positioning:
• -To be excited
• -Environmental awareness
• -At the top of animation hierarchy
• -Engage a widespread audience
• -The world of robots
• -Advancing animation

9. Why was it successful?
• WALL-E proves to this generation and beyond that the film medium's
only true boundaries are the human imagination.
• It oversteps the boundaries of animation, the film is silent yet so
effective due to special effects.
• It had a large reception- WALL-E grossed $223,808,164 in the USA and
Canada and $297,503,696 overseas for a worldwide total of
$521,311,860, making it the ninth highest grossing film of 2008.
• This meant that WALL-E had ‘word of mouth’- everyone and anyone
knew about it, people were aware of the film and felt the need to go
and see it due to its huge buzz.