Should HTF solicit donations for a VARIETY AD? Poster Enclosed (1 Viewer)

[Yumbo]

hi,

I just want to mention as encouragement, that here at IMDVD, we have a Widescreen preference.

I have printed and stand laminated the Widescreen Advocate flyer, which sits on our checkout counter; it gets a lot of attention.
ALL our rental covers have a "See the whole picture with Widescreen DVD" promotion on the inside; when people extract the discs, they see a WS vs. PS comparison.

And we have always had a 16x9 monitor on demo.

For the most part, we do not carry PS only titles, Snow Dogs and Max Keeble being the 2 exceptions. Getting MTIsland just to have it as a Hans Zimmer scored movie.

Cheers.

 

[Matthew Brown]

Variety is the place to go because people within the industry read it. That IS important.
It is somebody's job to make sure that the movie is framed a certain way. Let the cinematographers know that their work is appreciated and that their work should not be neglected.
Pictures for the ad might want to include movies that have won awards for best cinematography.
Showing a picture with a boom mic or a joke that is ruined is also good. A tagline like "Sloppy film making or sloppy DVD" could be used. Let the people that make movies know that their work is undermined when people see something they shouldn't because of a full frame transfer. Some examples are A FISH CALLED WANDA and PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE. Let them put pressure on the studios to let the movies be seen the way they were inetended.

Matt

 

[Anders Englund]

I like the idea of a TV commercial:
Setting: Some art museum
Camera moves around and shows people walking around, looking at the paintings. Slow music playing, indicating that something evil is about to happen.
Camera turns towards the door. Enter a mean-looking man, dressed in a black suit (mafia style). He stops a few steps in to the museum. Everything becomes silent. He looks around a bit, and snaps his fingers.
A loud gang of thugs rush into the museum carrying chainsaws and knives. Pushing people out of the way, they proceed to cut every painting into perfect 4:3 shapes. The mafia guy stands perfectly still with a blank face.
The thugs finishes up, and runs back out where the came from. The camera pans over dozens of shocked men, women and children, and proceeds to zoom in on the mafia guys face.
"No, need to worry, folks", he says, "this is what you really want to see!"
The picture goes black. Widescreen images from various movies flash in to frame, each one brutally having their sides ripped off and zoomed in. Slowly the image fades to white and the last thing you see is:
[c]JUST SAY NO TO PAN & SCAN[/c]
Well, what do you think?
--Anders

 

[MikeF]

I think you guys really ought to (1) find out the cost of a full-page ad in Variety and (2) consider to whom precisely this would be aimed and whether or not it will actually have its intended effect.

Also, if you're going to buy an ad in Variety or Entertainment Weekly, you better budget for hiring a professional designer. It might not be a bad idea to consult an advertising agency also.

 

[Colin Davidson]

I guess I will weigh in with a few thoughts....

1. If we use a film example of OAR vs. P&S in an ad I would recommend using film from a studio that does NOT support the format. While the Star Wars example is great, in a publication like Variety, this would be inferring that Fox is not putting out OAR movies when in fact they have been one of the formats and HTF's greatest supporters.

2. If we are looking to educate the "public" then perhaps a better advertising medium would be The National Enquirer or The Star. I know your laughing but these are some of the most read out there and if you want to get coverage to the masses you need to get the most exposure.

3. I would agree with some that Variety would perhaps not be the best choice. I strongly believe that the public voicing their opinion by their purchasing dollar has more impact then trying to get to the studios.

Regards,

Colin

 

[Justin Pledger]

What would be the purpose of this advertisement? I am quite certain that those who are involved in the marketing and creation of DVDs are well aware of the pan and scan issue. And why, ‘Variety’ magazine? Do you think the readers of this magazine will be swayed by an advertisement placed by the HTF and paid for by members? Or that their attention will be drawn to an as yet hitherto unknown issue – if this is the case I don’t think that those people would have much influence over this argument anyway.

I think soliciting money from members is a rather dubious practice quite frankly.
Is the HTF a non-profit making organisation or a charity? If so, I would feel more comfortable with this kind of thing…

However, I do support the OAR issue in principle but I do not think placing a one-off advertisement in a magazine will have the slightest impact whatsoever.

 

[David Susilo]

I like the PatrickMcCart poster a whole lot better

 

[Jan Strnad]

Ron,

I work in the entertainment field (cartoon writer, occasional union activist) and I have public relations/advertising experience; my experience leads me to believe that an ad in Variety would be a waste of money.

If you really want exposure, you'll have to invest more time but much less money.

For example, the next time you have an L.A. HTF Meet, schedule a one-hour protest in front of a studio that issues P&S-only DVDs. Make up some signs, t-shirts and a couple of chanting slogans. Of course, you notify the studio ahead of time that you'll be there, why, and when you'll be leaving. Invite local media, telling them where and when and why you've come from all over the globe to make this particular point. You'll get on the radio, maybe local TV. You could even try to get an appearance on a local radio talk show, such as Larry Mantle's Airtalk, which is often entertainment-related.

It'll be more work, but you'll get much more exposure to the studios and the public both.

My .02.

Jan

 

[Marc Colella]

I think a website is needed to further explain our position and the fundamentals of OAR.

Tastefully include a simple URL in the ad, and those readers who are curious can actually educate themselves with the site.

Otherwise, many readers who are confused by the add will remain that way and we wind up losing another potential OAR supporter.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Bottom Line: Variety= public INDUSTRY INSIDER humiliation

How do you get Buffy's basically cancelled cliffhanger finale to air? Variety ad!

How do you get Lucas to start Star Wars on DVD? Variety ad!

They don't care what the public thinks, but if their bestdirectors start coming to them and saying "don't you even THINK about butchering my movie with a P&S only release" they're going to start to listen.

 

[Kami]

Personally I don't like the design of the poster (bevelled text *gag*), but the message is right.

 

[Derek Miner]

I would donate something to the cause of publishing an ad in Variety, but not a magazine like Entertainment Weekly.

Why?

Rob mentioned something earlier about the Terry Gilliam Brazil ad. Sure, the movie got released, but more than that, it created publicity. The little guy versus the huge corporate entity is a huge sympathy getter. The Home Theater Forum is not a company selling something in the typical sense. Placing an ad like this is not a typical occurrance, so the act itself would draw attention from the consumer-targeted media, like Entertainment Weekly.

I'll add my vote to the use of money for the ad. That might get the attention of some industry people. The fact that we put up money to buy an ad says a lot as well, because that means we have MONEY to spend.

I also had some nebulous ideas about doing an ad that plays with the shape of the page. Variety turned sideways has a rough 16 by 9 shape, so what about placing an ad in the wider aspect ratio? Or making a right-side-up ad that should be wide, but is cropped on the edges of the page?

I also don't think using Star Wars is the best idea (the original anyway), since it's not on DVD, and won't be for a while. That's a whole other issue.

 

[Matthew_S]

Even if this particular idea doesn't gather the support it needs, I think it's a good idea for us a community to start entertaining ideas and excercising our collective muscle to combat pan & scan releases only.

Kudos to you Ron for even bringing this topic up.

I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the poster design myself. Without being too rude, it just looks a little amatuerish. I would be willing to put some money in for a better variety ad, but i also like the idea of a possible ad in USA Today or another "consumer" publication as well.

 

[Charles J P]

Just to put in my $.02. I would support either decision with a donation, but I think it would be better to target the consumers. Also, we do need to consider the cost-to-viewing length ratio. It could theoretically cost the same to run a 30 second TV ad once, a one day ad in USA today, an ad in a weekly magazine, and an ad in a monthly. I would support the ad with the longest availability. We need to try to spin this into free publicity by getting it covered on the news to maximize our buck. Also, what would be the cost of getting a paid ad to a mutually agreed upon website (widescreen advocate or HTF) placed on Amazon or Buy.com or whatever is the largest DVD e-tailer?

 

[Brian E]

The ad is not a bad idea, although the proposed one needs some refining (replace the text at the bottom with something easy to read for one thing). However a campaign like this would need a clear focus. To many people can't agree on who the target is at this point. If this were to go forward a small group would need to be put together to hash things out and come up with a real plan for folks to look at.


My 2 cents...

It really needs to focus on the studios. It must find a way to convey to them that they are hurting their sales by not making an OAR option available.

It needs more support than just the HTF can give. 30,000 (or whatever the membership is) may make them look, but 100,000 will make them look harder. This would need to be coordinated with places like DVD Talk, AVS, HT Spot, The Bits, The Big Picture, DVD Review, DVD File, Etc. Getting someplace like the AFI involved would be big and show it's not just a bunch of "internet geeks" with nothing better to do.

The ad must be kept simple. It should grab attention so that people will want to stop for a second and look at it and not just flip on by. I see hundreds of ads a day at work that I would just ignore, this ad can't be one of them.

It needs to get across the point "100,000 DVD Buyer's can't be wrong" or "The average DVD buyer purchases fifteen DVD per year, these guys buy hundreds". Make them feel that they're really missing something. 10,000 was enough to make a separate version of Willy Wonka made, 100,000 should be enough to get them to take notice. To substantiate this number some type of petition or list of the 100,000 names needs to be available through a URL at the bottom of the ad. A list of example titles isn't a bad idea if we could figure out a way to incorporate it.

Jan also made some good points. A protest type of thing where the media comes out wouldn't be a bad idea. Kind of shame the studios a bit. Not sure if it would work or not, I'm an advertising guy not a PR person. The ig thing would be for it to get enough media exposure. If that can't be accomplished it has no chance.

Targeting consumers with a single ad won't work. They need to hit with it over and over again to get through. The truth is most of them don't care and a great number will just buy whatever is available. I'm not saying trying to educate them is wrong. It's just not a good focus for the proposed project.

This whole idea could work or it might not. That's the thing with advertising, sometimes no matter how well you plan you can't be sure what the return on your investment will turn out to be.


Anyways, sorry for rambling. Just a few things to think on.

 

[Brian E]

Even if this particular idea doesn't gather the support it needs, I think it's a good idea for us a community to start entertaining ideas and excercising our collective muscle to combat pan & scan releases only.

Absolutely. Maybe a forum are or sticky thread "The Fight For OAR". Where ideas can be put forth and discussed without getting lost among the other software posts.

 

[PaulP]

I think the best method would be 2 ads: in Variety and EW. Hopefully not one-shots, either. I'm not sure how to grab the attention of the EW-reading public, but for the Variety ad I can offer this suggestion, based on someone else's slogan in this thread. It would be just a plain white sheet. On top it would say in big bold letters "Whatever your reasons for releasing Pan & Scan DVDs are, we're not buying them.", and below in tiny font would be all the names of the people who donated in a big block that would take up the rest of the page.

 

[Jan Strnad]

Targeting consumers with a single ad won't work. They need to hit with it over and over again to get through.

This is so true. There's no way the HTF could afford the campaign it would take to educate the public.

If you do the ad, though, I'd go with The Last Supper over the Mona Lisa because it gets the point across better that there's info on the sides. I used it in the first iteration of my AtomBrain Guide to Letterboxing and it works quite well.

Jan

 

[TonyD]

i think if we can get the studios to release the films in widescreen then the people will start to by widescreen.

the peopel will buy what is there, and if we convince the studios that all we need is widescreen or at least a wide counter part to the full. then that is what the people will buy.

if the studios can be convinced to tell the masses that widescreen is better then the people will go along with it.i think for the mosty part people like to be told what is better for them.
if the studios tell them wide is better they will believe them before any of us.

in other words get the studios on the boat first then the masses will always follow.

i think if the people are told that wide is better then eventually they will listen.

 

[KyleK]

I think the idea of cutting off the top and bottom of the Mona Lisa is not very good, as it might give some people the impression of "those pesky black bars" and take it to mean that the black bars actually do cut off the top and bottom of the picture. The $20 bill is much better because it shows that the studios are losing money as well as illustrating the idea of widescreen vs. pan & scan.

Also, some people might not understand the significance of the white parts, because you can still see the picture beneath. I think what is needed is two pictures (one wide, one p&s) to compare the two.

All in all, however, this is a great start. Keep it up!