Social Media 201
James L’Angelle
NYU, Spring 2021
Dr. F. Nordtveit, Professor
26 February 2021
Midterm Paper: Social Media, the Pandemic & the Film Industry.
At war with the Axis Powers in the middle of the last century, the United States called on Hollywood, the film industry, to promote the cause of freedom. The studios responded with some of the most memorable war films ever produced; even while the fighting raged in North Africa, in Europe and the Far East. Today, America--and the rest of the world-- is faced with another deadly enemy, this time an invisible one.
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a second lockdown on July 13. This time around, people in the industry are considered essential workers. California can't afford the alternative: ...the industry supports more than 700,000 jobs that account for $16 billion in wages in the state.” (NBC)
Excluding the streaming service Netflix, the five major studios in SoCal--Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount and Disney--all had different reactions to the industry crippling pandemic measures. Most turned to whatever means they had at their disposal to get the word out to their audience; they turned to social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and others. A breakdown of the footprint of each studio on social media reveals some striking differences. (Figure One) By far, Facebook is the platform of choice for the studios, Disney the leader with over 50 million followers.
However, presence on the other sites lags far behind Facebook; except for Disney once again on Instagram, with a follower booking of nearly 30 million. It doesn’t take a great deal of analysis to understand Disney’s strong lead on Instagram; the demographics would probably show most are below the age of 30, where Disney targets its films. Not included here are the many and various non-theatrical platforms--such as disk sales and online streaming-- at the disposal of each studio for product distribution since it doesn’t reflect what each has done in light of the pandemic. Where, in fact, do the studios stand, like their World War Two counterparts, in getting the message out to “stay safe,” “wear a mask,” “social distance,” and “shelter-in-place”? What platforms are being used to convey the message?
Amid the grumbling of studio executives, someone had the foresight to engage the audience with various bulletins using hashtags and tweets; beginning about the time Governor Newsom ordered the first lockdown order in March, 2020. Warner Bros. issued a tweet at the end of the month including the hashtag #ControlTheContagion that reintroduced the cast of its 2011 film; that, sadly enough, had a rather racial undertone to it when the virus in the film came from Hong Kong. The fact that it had connections to China was conveniently overlooked when the cast reunited for its “infomercial PSA.” (ABC)
Warner Bros. most recent COVID-19 related tweet on 10 February 2021, contained the caption;
“Heroes wear masks. Even villains wear masks! You should, too. #MaskUpAmerica @CDCGov @AdCouncil”
The studio had actually only tweeted less than a handful of times regarding the pandemic between its initial tweet back in March, 2020 and the most recent one in 2021. That pattern in fact, was prevalent in the other studios’ online pandemic presence as well. Much of the focus was on getting the audience to find where the Marvel comic heroes were saving the world as opposed to the real life ones in the Intensive Care Units from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Universal Pictures issued a bulletin on Instagram regarding a 12-month rollback of its October, 2020 release date for the film “Halloween Kills,” feeling it was inappropriate due to the number of deaths in Los Angeles county alone. The bulletin went out to its 3 million plus followers in July, 2020.
Paramount issued several messages across its platforms leading up to Thanksgiving, 2020 using the hashtag #AloneTogether and four “tips”;
Wear a mask
Rethink traveling
Keep gatherings small
Celebrate virtually if you can.
The studio also rolled back the release of its film “A Quiet Place; Part II.” As with other studios, the tweets and hashtags were very limited in release as the industry struggled with staying alive financially, at the expense of immersing itself in becoming part of the solution; that is, all except Sony.
No stranger to catastrophic events such as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (Wikipedia) that caused 16,000 deaths, Sony was the first, and possibly only, film corporation to establish a fund for COVID-19 relief;
In its first announcement on 02 April, the studio received 2300 likes @Sony on Twitter.
By no means does this brief look at the film industry and its response to the pandemic reflect on its dedication to its employees, its audience, the state of California and to the world as a whole. Certainly the studios place staying solvent as their first priority.
Cited:
Timeline, Timeline: California reacts to coronavirus | CalMatters
Essential, Hollywood's COVID pandemic disruption storyline desperately needs a rewrite (nbcnews.com)
Infomercial PSA, Cast of 'Contagion' issues PSA on coronavirus pandemic - ABC News (go.com)
Tōhoku, 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami - Wikipedia
Global Relief Fund, Sony Global - Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19
Covid, California, California Coronavirus Map and Case Count - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
WWII movies, Classic Hollywood World War II films made during World War II - IMDb
Studios on Twitter: @warnerbros, @UniversalPics, @SonyPictures, @ParamountPics, @Disney.
Studio lights image, Retro Studio Lights (gallerywallrus.com)
Social Media 201
James L’Angelle
New York University
Dr. F. Nordtveit, Professor
13 February 2021
Midterm Outline: Coronavirus, Social Media and the Film Industry
A review of the five major studios--Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony and Disney-- shows different strategies in marketing, distribution, advertising and COVID-19 awareness campaigns as found at their official social media venues.
A case by case breakdown of each of the methods employed by the individual studios reveals what is working and what isn’t, pointing to evidence found in social media posting.
Some studios show progress in adjusting to the restrictions placed on the industry by the pandemic and the administration in Sacramento. Social media reveals just how these restrictions play out as opposed to standard press release strategy at the film studio websites.
Far from being a revealing process, it is necessary to sift through hundreds upon hundreds of posts, tweets and retweets to get an idea of just how effective the various strategies and campaigns are in keeping not just the studio from total collapse, but the industry itself.
The objective of the study is to find where the studios succeed, where they get it right. Most importantly is to reveal where they are getting it wrong and how it affects not just their social media posture but their credibility in being part of the solution to the pandemic, instead of part of the problem.