Christopher Windows

Film / Franchise:
Film: A story or even recorded by a camera as a set of moving
images and shown in a cinema or on television.
Franchise: An entire series of a film, the original and its subsequent
sequels thereafter.
Quotes referenced from:
www.wikipedia.com/search/film
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php/franchise
Chosen franchise: Star Wars 1977-2014 (2015 latest estimated
release of latest film).

From the creator George Lucas, Star Wars has been a revolutionary
film, not only for the story line, but also in the way that we see
special effects and the unnatural ordering of the films that has been
replicated from other titles such as:
Paranormal Activity Director: Oren Peli
Lord of the Rings Director: Peter Jackson
Not only did this set the bench mark for editing on its first release in
the year 1977 in the USA, but it also has one of the biggest markets
for fans, merchandise and turnover for any film made in that era.
These items of replication can be seen all over the world at places
such as Comic Con, local fancy dress shops, and even on Halloween
displaying the Dark side.

Christopher Windows

2014 Star Wars release example.

Background: Star Wars is an American produced Space Opera by
George Lucas. This film series is consisted of two trilogies and
another coming December 2015, (Star Wars: Episode VII The
Force Awakens) Director: J.J. Abrams (Source IMDB) From its
first release in May 1977 by 20th Century Fox, it became a
nationwide sensation and phenomenon. With such a huge positive
reaction from its target audience, its smashed the ratings on all the
review websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. All of the main
films have been box office hits and including all the films and
theatrical releases has totalled close to $4.4 billion. This makes it
the 16th highest grossing film series ever released. See below for
comparison. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highestgrossing_films#Highest-grossing_films

Christopher Windows

Marketing Materials:
Obviously for such a large franchise, Star Wars took advantage of
their target audience and produced various marketing material that
would certainly appeal to almost all age groups including children to
die hard fans.
Comics: As an official sequel in a way to the Star Wars movies,
Marvel in collaboration with George Lucas had created the comic
titled Star Wars This dated from 1977-87, showing how early it was
released in comparison to the movie, not only did Marvel see
potential in the future release of this movie, but also knew that
there would be a huge turnover. Taken over by Dark Horse Comics
from 1991-2014 to carry on its legacy, and once again re-instated
by Marvel from the year 2015.
Through selling hundreds of comics at 35 cents each, (not based on
recent prices), Marvel estimated a total of 1,500 copies to be sold at
a retail store in the first week, totalling roughly 525, it in fact sold
over 3,000 topping 1000!
Since the year 2015, marvel have pre-released the dates for each
comic book to be released, focusing mainly on the characters, not
only does this give the avid comic reader a background into the
characters life but will also encourage them to watch the films, buy
the merchandise and engorge in the franchise that is Star Wars.

Christopher Windows

Target audience for comic books: Since the first comic in 1933
titled Famous Funnies people all over the world have been
interested in escaping their own lives to read about the adventures
of the fantasy life of their favourite comic book heroes. 44 years
later when the Star Wars comic series was released, this market was
growing strong and they knew that this release would appeal to a
large population.
Typically those that would be interested in this comic are those who
have seen the first Star Wars film, and due to its recent
reinstatement by Marvel in 2015, it will appeal to the huge market
of Marvel readers (Incredible Hulk, Spider Man etc).

Christopher Windows

The above is a comic that had been released in 2014 by Dark Horse
Comics. Picking this apart we can see how they have used certain
aspects to appeal and address the specific audience.
Logo The logo used is the traditional Star Wars logo, this will help
people to remember the memories they had of the film and any
previous merchandise, due to it not being modernised like a lot of
common logos (especially after the year 2000 and the discovery of
Web 2.0).
Character The character shown on the front of this comic Darth
Vader is the evil villain that we all know and is featured on almost
every comic cover in some way, this gives it more appeal as just
from the front page you know that it will involve conflict, this is
backed up by the storm troopers in the background. You can easily
tell what side he is on by the colour of the light sabre, which any fan
will recognise.
Text Vader this is a shortened version of his full title, this comic
is assuming some sort of background knowledge in order to shorten
his name to this. Therefore showing that the target audience for this
comic are those that have already seen the films or read previous
comics / articles on the franchise.

Christopher Windows
Colour After viewing a selection of comic colours from various
years between 1977-2015, I have noticed how they have used very
high contrast images and complimentary colours / bright colours.
Star Wars is known for its elaborate mixture of colours especially
those in the space scenes, and the battles, the bright luminance of
the light sabres contrasting between red and blue / green allows the
reader to feel a sense of remembrance and this is done on purpose
by the publisher to be more appealing, and almost every comic
looks better with colourful explosions as appose to black and white!
A common use of over-saturated colours is Marvel with a similar
style, once again appealing to their target audience also.

Christopher Windows

Toys: Whilst the creators of the Star Wars merchandise tried to

generate toys that appealed to all viewers of the films and readers
of the comics, it just so happened that the majority of it was aimed
towards Males.
Ranging from Lego characters to replication mouldings of Storm
trooper helmets, there has been a huge market for Star Wars fans,
and in simple terms, they have been able to accommodate the
needs of the die hard fans, and the simple fan. A great example of
this is the difference between a storm trooper helmet advertised on
Amazon on the date 02/03/2015 for the price: 30.99 and an RRP
price of 44.99. This is appealing to a very wide market, stating for
adults. They have been able to expand their market from the ages
18+ for males and females.

On the other hand, through the website Originalstormtrooper, an

authenticated website by the creators of Star Wars, you are able to
buy the same product for the small price of 999. The obvious
difference being that the Stormtrooper helmet is a genuine set piece
from the films, hundreds of these had been made and as such are a
limited piece where as the above is in constant production, both
owing a percentage to George Lucas from his contract declaring he
maintains all rights for merchandise.

Christopher Windows

Target audience for toys: As stated above, the target audience is

mainly focused towards those who have viewed the movie, but also
those that attend certain events such as Comic Con or even on
Halloween! The armour, weapons, and objects vary from young ages
to adults, cheap replicas to authentic pieces.
Obviously a teenager / young adult is more likely to choose the
cheaper option, the helmet is aimed at them for the following
reasons:
Colour The colour of the helmet has blue details on the side of the
air intakes attached to the cheekbones. The more colour on an item,
the more likely a younger adult is to buy it for its looks.
Size The size of the unit would be significantly smaller being that
its made to fit the average persons head, where as the genuine
piece would have been produced in one size and one size only, the
site mentioned above stating how its roughly 56cm in diameter
(average).
Noises Unlike having the real thing, a lot of the researched masks
had noises that would play through speakers integrated into the
helmet. As a die hard fan this would not be desirable as its not
original, however would appeal to a larger audience than the more
expensive alternative.
However it doesnt stop there, here is a list of alternative
merchandise that can be obtained through the official reselling sites:
Lightsabre
Cloak / apparel
Mugs
Maps
Figurines
Lunchboxes
Life-size mannequins.
All the above would contain a certain aspect that would appeal to
the target audience, the viewers of the film and those that are

Christopher Windows
general sci-fi fans, mainly being the recognition from the film or
comic.
Trailer: Like with all recent films, a trailer is what sells the story, in
most cases within the couple of minutes of screen time you will
decide on if you want to see that movie or not. One of the best
examples of this is the released trailer for Star Wars: The Force
Awakens
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVrefxF0Xxg
This trailer is aimed at a very specific audience, and that is those
who have watch the entire franchise start to finish, the narration is a
very specific dark side voice that is relatable to the rest of the film.
That is why a younger child may not be the suited audience for this
piece. However, from a 1:31 trailer its become very memorable, at
exactly 1:00 in we here the recognisable original theme by John
Williams. Alternatively this can be recognised from almost ANYBODY
as its one of the top heard pieces of music from any movie,
featuring in the film, games, and even some comedy shows.
Alternatively and at a huge risk of Lucas Films, they have included
something that has never been seen before, and although its a
small change, they have altered the design of the infamous
Lightsabre to a more medieval look. Not only will this cause uproar
and discussion amongst the forums for Star Wars, but will also
encourage those who dont know the difference to watch the
previous films, either to spot the differences or purely in order to
grasp a concept of the storyline before the start date in December
2015 (UK release).
How it appeals to its target audience Whilst a lot of
speculation about the upcoming film has risen, the producer J.J.
Abrams has used a fantastic method of only revealing a teaser
trailer, whether he is going to release a full trailer is still unknown
however it doesnt give away ANY of the storyline, just enough to
cause conversation between fans and those who are not yet hooked.
Through its revealed sequences however, we can see how it would
appeal to the sci-fi buffs and those who enjoy some great CGI and
VFX.

Christopher Windows

Games: Although there have been a few variations of games after

the release of the Sony Playstation 1 in 1994, EA has always been
the main supplier for this version of merchandise, starting with the
creation of Star Ware Episode 1 THE PHANTOM MENACE in
collaboration with Lucas Arts, they sought to recreate the entire
franchise in game form.
Not only would this bring them a huge profit, but would also
increase the target market considerably. It would allow those who
havent even seen the movie to learn its storyline by simply playing
it, although it didnt strictly stick to the script and for obvious
reasons, upon its release date the effects that could be achieved in
video games simply wasnt up to scratch.

Christopher Windows

The above image was used as the OFFICIAL cover for the first ever
Star Wars game. There are a few aspects of this that would appeal
to different target audiences:
Colour As stated above, this idea of bright contrasted colours is
relatable to those who have read the comics from 1977 onwards,
and will attract those as they would believe that it would be
reflected upon within the video game.
Title / Logo The title at the top resembles what you would see
when watching the film, purchasing an item under the Star Wars
name or even from a poster, its the trade mark of the film and
because of this is very relatable. It can be seen on clothing and
CDs, knowing how successful the aspect of this is, its one of the
first things you notice when you view this cover, its the brightest
point and they want you to know that what you see directly relates
to the film. The logo in the bottom right hand corner also shows
what you see when viewing the film from the creators Lucas Arts.
Content The actual content that can be seen on the cover of this
game, gives you an insight to what might be included at the start or

Christopher Windows
a later point in the game, by showing you photo-realistic
representations, you can easily reference this to the movie, this will
appeal to those who have seen the film and would like to play the
game to get the sensation of being in the film.
Games have been released from PS1 in 2005 up to present with the
PS4 release in 2015.

The target audience Simply the target audience for this piece of
merchandise is fairly wide and open. Not only does it apply to a
certain social grade, typically those C2+ due to the fact that they
have more disposable income and would be able to afford to spend
out not only on the console but the game also.
In more recent years however people have a lot more disposable
income, and with releases from EA such as Star Wars: Battlefront
retailing on average at around 39.99 it appeals to the younger
generation that are savvy gamers. Typically those ages between 1318 that have the time to play games but also might have a part time
job in order to pay for the game and console.
Social Media: Lastly, the Star Wars franchise have taken
advantage of social media, being able to apply their material to
millions of people across the glove on one page, they are able to
gain instant customer feedback on important aspects that could
alter or hinder upcoming releases. Below is an example of
marketing research on the pages behalf, by asking the question of
which Rebel ship was present, it reminds the reader of the films and
has instantly once again got you thinking of the franchise, this could
vary between the wealthy to the common labour workers. As you
can see this article had been released on March 10, and to present
at March 11 it already has 1,740 likes, 481 comments and 129
shares. This is a large potential audience and feedback received in
the space of 24 hours. Typically the age group for users of Facebook
is 16-30. Being that the first film was released before the majority

Christopher Windows
were even born, its a great way to get them into the franchise at a
later date. See below for picture example.
Source: www.facebook.com/StarWars.UK

ASPECTS THAT COVER ALL MARKETING MATERIALS:

FONT - The font used for all titles stays exactly the same, with the
same thickness and longevity.
SOUND Sound wise, since 1977 the same sounds have been used
for certain aspects to keep it recognisable, for example the theme,
the sound of the Lightsabre, and the sound of a Stormtroopers gun.
LOGO The logo, obviously being trademarked has remained the
same for many years, with very slight alterations for marketing
purposes; its been the same.
COLOURS - When designing the marketing products for Star Wars,
I found that the colours remained very similar, throughout the film
and comics, and even games they maintained a good level of

Christopher Windows
contrast and saturation, even within the titles they kept it original
with the idea of yellow text with a black surround.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK Other than the above mentioned responses

from internet forums on certain aspects of the film, its also
important to see how the movies did as a whole, being that across
all movies included the animated series in 2013/2014, they made
close to a total of $4.4 billion, we must also see what the production
cost was in order to get a realistic sum of how well the film did.
In order to get the best and most reliable feedback, I decided to use
the website: IMDB to gain my information as they receive daily
information and facts, statistics and is one of the largest used film /
TV sites in the world.
Taken as a direct image from IMDB, we can see that the budget for
the film had been estimated at $11,000,000, within the opening
weekend across a total of 2,104 screens not including Japan, it had
made a total of $35,906,661. A huge profit for the film and this was
used a general form of audience feedback, being that the
percentage increase for the film was as stated below, they knew
that people had either recommended the film or seen it more than
once to get such a great turnover.
$35,906,661 - $11,000,000 = $24,906,661
Roughly, the budget for the film was around 31% of the total profits,
leaving them with a profit percentage of 69%. This is therefore
proving that they more than doubled the production cost on
estimate.
Not only is this one of the best ways to determine the statistics of a
film and the likeness of it, but internet forums are also fantastic
ways, as stated above we can see an example from Facebook,
however we can also see audience feedback from Swfuk (Star wars
forum UK).