notebook movie scripts

							TheMallingofAmerica.notebook                                October 03, 2007




   The Malling of America
       * Main point: That there is a constant and
   inarguable connection between mall promotion
   techniques and product advertising....

        * the vehicle for such promotions: The Movies!

   * Movies show the mall as a "seductive place...
   people feel close to it because products are familiar
   and the place is very "complete."




                                Oct 1­8:18 PM




    The mall as a "fortress of entertainment."

         * a distributor of "everything"


          * Combination of right product, time and space,
    and a well­documented research and marketing
    strategy.

    Movie studios and mall developers see themselves
    as components of the same business.




                                Oct 1­8:27 PM

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TheMallingofAmerica.notebook                                October 03, 2007




   Again... demographics...

   * Bill Minot: ".... twelve to twenty­four years old...
   that's where you've got to be... It's modern day Main
   Street, it's where the action is."




                                Oct 1­8:29 PM




   Sample of "licensed tie­in product" paradise...

        * Film: The Return of the Jedi
   (hypothetically walk out of a megaplex movie
   theater into the vastness of the mall)....

        "licensed tie­in products:"

        Picture books, how­the­movie­was­made books,
   soundtrack CDs, videos, games, clothes, novelties,
   and toys.

   Star Wars first two films: $600 million.
   tie­in licensed retail merchandise: $2 billion+.




                                Oct 1­8:31 PM

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TheMallingofAmerica.notebook                              October 03, 2007




   The movie helps to sell the merchandise; the
   merchandise helps to sell the movie­­in effect
   continuously advertising it.


   * A coincidence? Why so many sequels?




                               Oct 1­8:35 PM




   Promoting mall­compatible films...

   * Making movies that specifically sell in malls.


   * Movie people look for potential movie scripts that
   have a strong licensing appeal.




                               Oct 1­8:39 PM

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TheMallingofAmerica.notebook                   October 03, 2007




   Suburbia became the "Holy Grail" of movie
   productions.

   * Why? That's where the mall is!




                             Oct 1­8:42 PM




    The story of "The Cabbage Patch Kids."

    * promoting hysteria in the mall. Why?




                             Oct 1­8:44 PM

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TheMallingofAmerica.notebook                               October 03, 2007




   TV Networks...

   "unless a new show was based on an already
   familiar image... the networks simply wouldn't put
   that show on the air."

   * Best­selling children books in the mall bookstores
   were almost exclusively spin­offs of television
   shows...

        * The Smurfs

        * Sesame Street

   * A problem with this?




                               Oct 1­8:47 PM




   Individual vision and artistic accomplishment...

   *


   A matter of time before "the mall" becomes itself the
   star of its own movie...

        * Blues Brothers

        * Princess Stacey




                               Oct 1­8:50 PM

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TheMallingofAmerica.notebook                           October 03, 2007




    Every scene is tied to a specific advertising...

        * Almost every shot required a "product
    placement" or a "sign placement."




                                   Oct 1­8:51 PM




                                  Oct 2­10:18 AM

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