(From Media blog – April 27th, 2010)
I have only recently been made aware of the term ‘tent-pole programming’, which I believe (that is if I have not misunderstood my lecturers or Wikipedia’s brief explanation of the term) has an obvious affiliation or association with the terms media convergence and transmedia storytelling mentioned in this week’s readings. The term is rather self explanatory, it is most commonly used in the film production industry where a particularly high budget/highly anticipated film is seen as the ‘tent – pole’, or the pole that helps hold up the tent that is none other than the production company that produces and markets the film. Of course it is a strategy not only reserved for the motion pictures industry. Television networks often produce tent-pole programmes/shows for their benefit as well.
I am guessing there would be no need to mention what the biggest and most successful of these tent-pole films is. I would bet my last Lindt ‘mega easter egg’ that at least the entire population in Australia (except maybe the really young and really old people) has at least heard of that annoyingly pervasive ‘name’ referencing giant blue creatures roaming a fictitious planet. 150million American dollars was the estimated figure that fuelled the efforts to not only make that James Cameron film common knowledge but also to create an enormous universal buzz for it. It is almost typical of producers and distributors to invest large amounts of money in the promotion of these tent-pole films or programmes, and many are now beginning to reappraise, in the wake of the success of that film, the amount worth investing in extensive promotional methods. Like promotions for other big budget productions (ie. American Idol), advertisements for the film in the form of posters, trailers, snippets, behind the scenes footage, all trudged its way across various media platforms to meet our adoring eyes. The role of media convergence could be seen as most evident in this case, where one same intended content have permeated every side of the border between old and new media technologies, reaching out to media users (a.k.a the whole wide world) through every single media platform available.
In addition to that, these tent-pole films/programmes work as a medium for other companies to advertise their products. Like the Coca-Cola cups parading itself on the judges’ table in American Idol, we see the characters in the film that is being discussed here use particular brands of technological equipment. Companies anticipating the potential success and extensive reach of the film, embrace the opportunity to showcase their products and advertise their brands on the big screen, which most of the time in the case of this film would meet audiences’/viewers’ eyes in a rather impressive three dimensional display. Other companies also share in the film’s revenue simply by partnering up with the producers to help promote and advertise the film, like what was done by the Coca Cola Company (surprise surprise). But it does not end there. The film created hype not only for itself and the very special coke zero bottles and cans, but also for newly emerged technologies such as the HD and 3D TVs. All that manufacturing companies were left to do was compete among themselves and take advantage of the ‘migratory behaviour of media users’ (Jenkins, 2006) by offering them a viewing experience similar to that of which had buzzed their enthusiasm when they looked into Pandora. AND it does not end there as well! After all that the producers had done, it would seem unwise of them to ignore potential profits of transmedia storytelling. Hence, unsurprisingly, the film has been made into a video game and of course there are books written to supposedly enhance the narrative of the film. And that’s not all! There are action figures of those blue creatures (I am going to quote information from Wikipedia here) that come with a ‘3D web tag’ that if scanned using a webcam would reveal, on its supporting website, some information specific to that particular action figure. Way to stretch the limits of advertising.
One could be forgiven for thinking that this is the end of the possibilities that media convergence presents us with. The same could not be said for anyone who, at this point, still does not know the name of that film.
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Talking Film - Tackling Celluloid 