Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Product Placement Research


“Even though Black Swan has a credited product placement coordinator, there isn’t much in the film to coordinate. Though it takes place in modern day Manhattan, the film appears scrubbed of identifiable brands. But there is one “product” that has benefited greatly as a result of the Oscar-nominated picture: Swan Lake itself. We asked Brett Batterson, executive director of the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago where Swan Lake will play in February, if he had seen an increased interest in the classic ballet due to the film? “Absolutely,” he said. Batterson told us that Swan Lake is always the second best-selling ballet after The Nutcracker, but that this run is seeing “exceptional sales” and incredibly swelled interest. The best part, noted Batterson, is that much of the uptick in interest is from “a lot of first-time ballet-goers.” Batterson added that the timing of his production, just as the film is peaking from Oscar-nomination  interest, is completely coincident. But the theatre is making the best of the great coincidence, promoting Swan Lake on its Facebook page as “Black Swan without the crazy.”Swan Lake will also be at the David H. Koch Theater from Feb. 13 to 26. Ticket reseller StubHub currently offers the cheapest orchestra seat around $270.Notably, the actual dancers in Swan Lake have been too busy dancing to even see the film. Igor Levin, the managing director of the State Ballet Theatre of Russia tour that will play at the Auditorium in Chicago and later in Minnesota and Ohio, told us he and his dancers have had no time to see the film. The one principal dancer troop that had seen it, Ivan Alexeev, told us through a translator that he found it “too much mystic and fantasy.”
Other research I found useful as I there is limited information on my other 2014 film 'The Guest' on its use of product placement, instead I've included an article from 'The Guardian' which explains the impact of product placement on modern society.

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