Stranger Things
Industry Research Activity
Instructions
Step 1 – Research
You are going to research the ownership of your set products. This research will require you to find out about the following for each of your set products:
· Who funds and legally owns the drama.
· How the drama is produced and by whom.
· How the drama is distributed and by whom.
· The drama’s marketing campaign.
· How the drama is circulated and consumed by its audience.
As you complete your research, you must record your findings on the presentation.
· Use as many facts as you can with figures and statistical information when relevant.
· Use as much visual evidence as possible so take screenshots, copy and embed links to relevant videos, articles and other materials to help evidence your findings to do with the ownership and processes of ownership for your set products. So, for example, you should include examples of trailers, posters, reviews and social media comments in your page for marketing campaign and so on.
The owner of Stranger Things is Netflix. Netflix has a U-form structure that involves hierarchy for maintaining executive control and direction throughout the organisation. Netflix shares are mostly held by investors from Capital Group Companies, The Vanguard Group, Blackrock and others.
Netflix are specialists in creating and streaming media content to an online platform which is accessed by a monthly or annually paid subscription. Netflix have produced other TV shows other than Stranger Things, such as Big Mouth, You, House of Cards and Daredevil. Netflix also produce films such as Marriage Story, The Irishman and Birdbox. Netflix are a very successful company in terms of finance and quality. Netflix’s total revenue is $15.794 Billion. Netflix has received 24 OScar nominations across eight films.
Stranger Things is an 80s inspired series, meaning it markets to a wide range of audiences.One of the ways they have successfully created a fandom for the show was through immersive experiences such as the 360° virtual reality video posted on YouTube shortly after it’s release.
To target the older audience, The producers have tapped into the 80’s nostalgia with stylized posters
Netflix‘s primary source of funding is the revenue received from subscriptions. They also receive funding from investors. Netflix is one of the most significant backward vertical integration examples in the industry. It used to only distribute content from other creators but it now creates original content alongside it. Netflix have diversified their business by having all content released all at one time so subscribers can ‘binge watch‘ the show.
How do they reach their audience
According to Symphony, within the first 35 days of its release, Stranger Things averaged ratings around 14.07 million adults between the ages 18–49 in the United States. This made it the third most-watched season of Netflix original content in the U.S. at the time
Stranger Things is an 80s inspired series, meaning it markets to a wide range of audiences.One of the ways they have successfully created a fandom for the show was through immersive experiences such as the 360° virtual reality video posted on YouTube shortly after it’s release.
To target the older audience, The producers have tapped into the 80’s nostalgia with stylized posters and merch, which
Production
Zoe
Ella
Josh
Who produced the drama
21 Laps Entertainment was the company that produced stranger things with Shawn Levy being the director. The Duffer brothers are the people who created it.
They are an american film and television production company run by the director Shawn Levy, they are a commercial company.
This company is an international distributor meaning they distribute all around the world.
Some of the most popular shows they produced are:
How much did the drama cost?
Season 1 had a budget of $6 million per episode, season 2 increased to $8 million. (Variety)
Above the line costs - Teens reportedly made $20,000 per episode in season 1.
Cast - David Harbour (Hopper), Winona Ryder (Joyce, Starcast), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Noah Schnapp (Will), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Matthew Modine (Dr Brenner).
Crew - directors - Shawn Levy (Arrival), Duffer Brothers. Editors - Kevin Ross (The Truman show), Dean Zimmerman.
Pre-production:
Stranger Things is an original story created by Matt and Ross Duffer.
Writers: Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Paul Dichter, Justin Doble, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
Season 1 consists of 8 episodes, season 2 is 9 and season 3 is 8.
Production (4)
Where was it filmed? Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia - where the majority of it took place in a town named Jackson. Jackson is just under an hour’s drive from Atlanta (which in American terms is a short journey). The Duffer Brothers and Levy handled the directing of each episode. The town was used as the fictional town of Hawkins in Indiana - used for stranger things’ set.
How long did it take? The filming of stranger things season 1 lasted six months, with seven days filming for each episode in the season. The TV drama received praise for the characters presented, pacing of the story, atmosphere, acting soundtrack, directing, writing. People of the audience loved the 1980s set of the series.
How was technology used in the filming stages? During the filming stages of Stranger things season 1, the production team used a 4K medium camera for Netflix viewing. They used lenses and colours that fit the time period the series was set in (70s-80s).
When was the drama filmed? The first season of the American science fiction-horror series, stranger things, was filmed at the beginning of 2016. It then premiered worldwide through Netflix on July 15th 2016. People were able to stream the tv drama directly, whenever they wanted.
Production
Technology shown in series 1 of stranger things are:
Who distributed the drama?
It was originally distributed on netflix, this company remains the only company to have distributed the show.
Shawn Levy is the man who was in charge of production, the company was called “21 Laps Entertainment Monkey Massacre”
Yes,
Marketing Campaign
Tom
Kieran F
What was the marketing strategy for the drama?
When did the marketing campaign began: june 2016
Tools used: posters were used expressing the sci-fi image, this includes the lead character and the different important parts to tie the series together. Furthermore this is accompanied by the trailer, showing the different parts of the series giving an enlightenment and leaving the audience in mystery of what happens.
Social media and campaign use to promote: social media was used to promote the drame, this included the likes of twitter and instagram to share information on the show along with links to posters and trailers. As well as this a more personal effect was taken, this was done with the use of twitch, 4 hour live streams were done with professionals playing games set in the 80s, this references to the setting of stranger things and adapts the audience to this setting, promoting the show.
Synergy and merch: synergy can be referenced with the twitch streaming, using another game to market stranger things, coca cola is referenced frequently within the show but not necessarily in the marketing campaign. Merch has been created alongside collabing with big brand companies such as nike to offer a shared product promoting the show and the clothing brands.
What was the marketing strategy for the drama?
Audiences are referenced in the marketing campaign of stranger things with different interaction through social media, this is also effective with the likes of twitch streaming as this allowed the audience to engage in live chat and to follow along with a player playing the game. All of this allows the users to interact and be involved with the marketing of the drama.
Target audience and innovation: 18-49 demographic is the target audience of the show, this therefore means that it is aimed at these as an audience, it was so successful that in stranger things 2, 11 million watched all 9 on the day of release for the 1 hour episodes. Regarding the length of the campaign, due to the continued series as it is currently on 3 seasons, this therefore means that the campaign has continued and if a 4th series is likely then it will continue for this as well. This lead to different marketing tools used after the production of the first episode, for example including items such as coke in the episodes, it allowed an extensive clever marketing technique to cause the audience to think of the series when they see the certain products.
Who marketed the drama?
21 Laps Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded and run by director-producer Shawn Levy. They also made the marketing campaign for the drama. They are the same people who produced the drama. This means that the people who produced the drama had the whole control over the whole drama.
What is the role of the audience and fans of stranger things in the marketing campaign.
The fandom is strong. They make a lot of things to support the drama and this makes stranger things have below the line free advertising because people would be wearing or supporting the logo. They make things like posters and clothing to key chains and coffee cups. This is free marketing because people will see the fan made merch that is made and then want to watch the series.
Distribution
Louis
Grace
George
What distribution formats and platforms is the drama available on?
What formats is Stranger Things available in?
Netflix, Amazon - DVD/Blu-Ray
What online streaming services is Stranger Things available on?
Netflix
Which platforms/devices can be used to access Stranger Things?
Television, laptop, game consoles, smartphones, computer, tablets
Is the distribution of Stranger Things different in different countries?
No, it is not distributed differently - countries except Greece, Chile, Turkey, Jamaica, and Venezuela can watch Stranger Things on Netflix
Louis’ Slide! What was the distribution release strategy?
What date was the drama released on?
The first Stranger Things episode (season 1) was released globally on July 15th 2016. This was and still is purely exclusive to Netflix.
Did the drama have simultaneous release globally?
This release date was simultaneous for all countries with platforms hosting Netflix, distributing all 8 episodes of the first season on this date.
Was it released by episode or by series?
All 3 seasons have released their entire episode collection at once rather than weekly episode airings.
Circulation
Rob
Nathan
Anjelica
CIRCULATION
ANJELICA , NATHAN AND ROB
When was the drama released for broadcast
15th july 2016,on Netflix. It is available in the majority of europe, america, australia and some districts of asia later on once the season became a hit , the drama was released to areas further afield for example southeast asia .Released season at a time allowing audiences to binge watch the series, when it is over. Netflix has all rights to the drama as it is branded as a “netflix original”. By the end of july the drama had 824,000 views of the first episode and now the current number of people who have watched the first season is 20 million.
Awards
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance
MTV most frightened performance
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Performance by a Youth
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite TV Show
AFI awards
HOW CAN THE DRAMA BE VIEWED?
How can the drama be viewed
Netflix is the only valid and official platform stranger things can be watched on however netflix has multiple platforms such as the web and the app as well the app is avaliable of androind apple and smart tv
Are there any additional, official ancillary windows that enable circulation of the drama
What is the role of the audience in further circulating the drama