the (red) set*

On Friday September 19, Director Nash Edgerton and editor Luke Doolan were our Friday on My Mind guests here at AFTRS, where the long time collaborators spoke openly and honestly about their joint efforts on a variety of projects including Lucky and The Square. Inevitably the question of the box office disappointment of The Square cropped up to which Nash shared his thoughts and experiences with the Friday on My Mind audience and explained how he would do things very differently next time round with regards to promotion and generating interest for a film.

It isn’t the first time conversations and Q&As at the weekly Friday on My Mind talks have traveled down the path of marketing, promotion and distribution demonstrating it is clearly a genuine issue for industry.

The Square is an interesting case study – as Nash said on Friday he ” genuinely tried to make the best film he could, in a genre he thought audiences wanted to see” – and those who did see the film – for the most part seemed to have liked it – as posts on the Greater Union website from punters who paid to see The Square indicate:

“Loved it!! We need more Aussie films like this.”
sireness on 15/08/2008 at 10:55:49 AM

“Great Aussie movie! Worth a watch”
shazzy on 13/08/2008 at 11:10:19 AM

“Thanks to the comments posted here, I WILL be going to see this film, even though it’s not on at Australia Fair (across the road). I think the cinemas need to get more behind our local talent too. ”
OscarBuzz on 13/08/2008 at 11:03:50 AM

“This was a fantastic Aussie drama/ thriler. The story was very well written and kept you enthralled to the end. The acting was also very good. The only disappointing thing was there were only five people in the audience. Australians need to get behind their own films or talented people like the Edgerton brothers will simply disappear. ”
SonjaG on 3/08/2008 at 7:38:49 AM

“Seems most people liked this movie. Yea, worth seeing.I’d recommend too.”
maggy38 on 2/08/2008 at 12:26:14 PM

“I loved it….a great Australian film!”
Dazzlin on 31/07/2008 at 12:03:25 AM

“This movie reminded me why I love Australian cinema so much. A relatively simple plot, very well layed out with that uniquely Australian ‘gritty’ feel to it. I’ve never been in a cinema with an audience who react as a whole the way they did during this movie. ”
angelbel on 29/07/2008 at 2:43:53 PM

So what went wrong?

Nash thinks it was a combination of factors including a lack of sustained promotion, limited screens, right down to the choice of imagery for the posters and as reported in newspaper articles even though he and his brother Joel (who co-wrote the film) ‘hit the publicity circuit hard’ in the weeks leading up to its opening he realises now that branding a film in film-goers minds needs to take place much sooner.

The recently published Bergent Report (FFC funded research into attitudes to Australian films) warrants Nash Edgerton’s recent discoveries:
“Australians (31%) often feel that Australian films are not ‘promoted’ sufficiently and that their awareness is low.”

In an article that appeared in The Age, Jim Schembri reporting on The Square spoke to Jon Hewitt, whose local thriller Acolytes comes out next February.  “I think the fatal mistake that most Australian films make is that there is no sense of anticipation….To most punters a (local) film is suddenly there and, just as suddenly, it’s gone whereas Hollywood films have an inbuilt vertically integrated mechanism that is promoting the film while it’s still being made. Australia is the perfect example of that.”

So with Nash Edgerton’s words still ringing in the air and the cold hard facts of the Bergent report to reflect on: is it time for a good and thorough rebrand of the Australian Film Industry and its products?

Here are ten basic suggestions from a branding perspective to kick things off and start moving forward:

Rebrand Objective:
Replace negative generalisations like: “Australian films are poorly funded, less hyped, too depressing, not escapist enough, too serious, too slow, made for older people; bureaucrats and film critics” with positive brand experiences where cinema goers look forward to seeing and enjoying Australian films.

1. Be relevant. Analyise changes in Australian audiences, expand content offerings, reposition and revitalize.

2. Film experiences incorporate all aspects of a film – from promotion, to movie collateral, to movie websites, customer service at the cinema, right through to the actual movie (Baz Lurhmann’s Australia case in point)

3. Base decisions on research and a plan

4. Build on the ‘brand equity’ of the outstanding talent that exists in this country and the fantastic history of good Australian screen content – the goal is to make Australian films relevant again not to rewrite history.

6. Learn from current experiences – what isn’t working and don’t repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

7. The rebrand story must be believable

8. Deliver on the freshly rebranded promise

9. Remember audiences don’t do what they say – They do what they do

10. Define your brand or be defined

image: Nash Edgerton, Claire van der Boom and Joel Edgerton at The Square’s opening night

Post Script, Oct 10: The debate continues over at Last night with Riviera…