Using online video to build audiences for international film

PDF

Download

Open document

Transcript (if available)

Content USING ONLINE VIDEO TO BUILD AUDIENCES FOR INTERNATIONAL FILM
by
Justin Sedgwick
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM: THE ARTS)
August 2018
Copyright 2018 Justin Sedgwick
ii
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to test if video, made specifically for social media platforms, can
be used to build new audiences and increase viewership and audience numbers for foreign films
and foreign film industries. This thesis will examine the history of viral videos, the common
traits that make a video go “viral,” and the history and growth of social video in the past
decade. Then, using those key “viral” traits discussed earlier, a portion of the thesis will be
spent testing different types of social videos focused on international film. Finally, the thesis
will analyze how those videos performed and extrapolate meaningful conclusions that speak to
social video’s capability to build audiences for international film.
Table of Contents
Abstract ii
1
2
6
12
16
18
18
1. Introduction
2. Rise of Video on Social Media
3. Characteristics and Attributes of Viral Videos
4. Methodology of Testing Foreign Film Videos
5. Testing Foreign Film Videos
6. Foreign Film Video Results
7. Analysis and Conclusion
8. Bibliography 21
1. Introduction
Foreign film popularity has been in decline in the United States for most of this decade.
In 2007, the box office take for all foreign films released was $38 million, but by 2013, that
take was only $15 million.[1] Even for streaming platforms, where foreign films are accessible
to audiences across the globe, the chances of new audiences discovering that content are
relatively slim. While specific information about what viewers watch on Netflix isn’t available,
the streaming service Netflix still shrank its total amount of movie content by 21% between
2010 and 2018.[2] Additionally, these streaming services often focus their money on acquiring
new titles rather than old or foreign. Plus, viewing suggestions on streaming platforms are
based on a user’s past viewing history, making it increasingly increasingly difficult to stumble
upon a foreign film. This results in a scenario where if a beloved film isn’t on Netflix or a
streaming platform, it will not be accessible to new audiences.[3] Streaming services are useful
tools to entertain current foreign film fans, but aren’t necessarily useful in building audiences
for audiences those films. There is also an apparent artistic boundary or prejudice to
appreciating films that aren’t major blockbusters, where audiences are wary to watch since they
perceive it as overly intellectual, or they themselves will be perceived in a negative light by
their peers for not appreciating a movie. Richard Corliss wrote for Time, “In the old Golden Age
days, most contenders for the top Oscars were popular movies that had a little art. Now they’re
art films that have a little, very little, popularity. The serious movies Hollywood gives awards to
in January and February are precisely the kind it avoids making for most of the year.”[4]
Strangely, what one would think would be the most natural boundary to getting American
audiences interested in film, the language barrier, isn’t that big of a deal at all. Major
Hollywood pictures that featured a foreign language, like the “Fast and Furious” films and
1

Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm,” still achieved box office success upon their release, with no
relative complaints from audiences. Additionally, viewers are still watching subtitled film and
TV imports from other countries on KCET, the Sundance Channel and other platforms.[5] The
language or subject matter of a foreign film isn’t holding audiences back, as much as the lack of
awareness or interest in that foreign film or film industry to begin with.

2. Rise of Video on Social Media
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are platforms that allows users to connect and share
ideas and enable businesses and professional content producers to reach new audiences. While
each platform has its own specific functions that separate teach from another, they still each
primarily focused on text and photo content for the majority of their history. Video
functionalities were something that came along later in each platforms’ existence, although
video would become a central component, if not the key component, to each platform. Founded
in 2004, Facebook allowed users to share statuses and post personal photos, and by 2007, had
over 100,000 businesses and organizations with group pages of their own. Twitter was started in
2006 and photos were allowed to be posted in 2013, but photo posts did not become prominent
until 2016, when the company made it so photo URLs would not conflict with the 140 character
limit of its messages. Photo usage only grew stronger in 2017 when the 140 character limit was
expanded to 280 characters.
Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Instagram was founded in 2010 with photos as the primary
sell of the service. Messages could still be shared and hashtags and search methods could be
used to locate new content, but they still needed to be tied to a photo post. Instagram first
embraced video in 2013 when it allowed its users to post videos of up to 15 seconds in length.
2

Those videos were long enough to depict an event but not necessarily long enough to tell a
comprehensive story, educate an audience or convey an idea about a particular topic. That
changed in 2016 when Instagram allowed users to post videos of up to 60 seconds in length.
Even though Instagram was the first of the three major social platforms to allow its users to
tinker with video, its membership numbers were smaller compared to Facebook: Instagram had
about 800 million users as of September 2017, while Facebook had over 2 billion. Facebook’s
membership numbers made it the prime candidate to be the primary social media platform for
video. In 2015, Facebook began to place more emphasis on video content more than text posts,
photo posts or status updates other content by giving it added emphasis on users’ news feeds,
inherently making that content more discoverable to the platform’s wide audience. Industry
experts believe this pivot towards video is because Facebook didn’t see Twitter as its primary
competitor but YouTube, the single most popular streaming video service in the world with a
user base of over 1.3 billion and over 5 billion videos watched every day.[6] Because of the
amount of content being consumed on YouTube, it seems natural to proclaim it the largest
social network of all. But, YouTube acts more as a destination than as a full-fledged social
media platform like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. YouTube allows for comments on its
videos but is not as conducive to sharing messages or creating connections as much as
Facebook. This trend and smaller attention for text content can be seen in layoff and closures of
major text-based media organizations like Grantland, The Dissolve or a recent online culture
focused revival of MTV News.[7] Text content providers that didn’t shut down began increasing
their video staff, while often decreasing the size of their editorial staff, or retraining text-
focused journalists and writers to be able to produce video as well.
The trend continues today, with businesses and content providers still pushing towards
3

more and more video content on social media to meet ad targets. Some organizations are
skeptical whether video will prove to remain popular with social audiences, that five years
from now Facebook users will still prefer to watch short videos rather than reading text-based
posts. Additionally, content providers are also wary on online video’s profitability, as a video
on Facebook does not earn money for the amount of times it has been viewed like a video does
on YouTube. Facebook video also has a different methodology of determining what a “view”
even is. A YouTube user has to have specific intent to click and watch a video, but a Facebook
user can hover over a video for three seconds without paying attention to it and that will still
count as a view. But, this skepticism is often quelled when a content provider considers other
methods of profitability and their long-term goals. High view counts on Facebook do point to
the opportunity to make money down the road. Content providers can partner with brands to
act as sponsors for their videos, i.e. Coca-Cola paying the City of Atlanta Facebook account
$100,000 to be a sponsor of the city’s Facebook video series. Additionally, Facebook could
always introduce an advertising system similar to YouTube, where content creators earn a
certain amount of money per view. And even if Facebook itself never makes money for content
providers, the belief that the platform drives traffic back to external websites, i.e. how ABC
News’ Facebook page generates more traffic for ABC News’ website, then Facebook video
will still be seen as a worthwhile investment.
Skeptics do remain about Facebook video’s popularity and that of online video in
general, with Newsweek comparing the growth of online video trend to prior failed attempts of
the past to increase traffic and ad revenue like quizzes or listicles.[8] Whether social video is
just a short-term trend or lasts for more years in the future digital landscape remains to be seen.
But with over 8 billion videos watched on Facebook each day, and such videos expected to be
4

80% of all online traffic by 2020 according to CISCO[9], social video is an undeniable part of
today’s video landscape.
Founded in 2011, Snapchat built a global audience on its photo-disappearing function,
and grew to include video in its service, with users watching over 10 billion videos a day.[10]
However, the temporary nature of Snapchat content makes its video offerings different from
Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, which essentially can “live forever” on a page.
Snapchat, though, is a strong tool for short-form communication but not necessarily one for
creating content that can express a full-blown idea or represent a person or organization.
The “disappearing,” short-lived nature of Snapchat content has made content
providers question the necessary durational threshold for successful audience cultivation on all
online video platforms. YouTube users are infamous for having videos over 10 minutes in
length to increase their search performance and ad profitability, even though the core ideas of
those videos could be expressed in one or two minutes. Conversely, a video on Facebook might
struggle if its too long or not long enough. For informational or educational topics, 5-15
seconds is often not enough to engage with material in a meaningful way, but 75-90 seconds
bears the risks of Facebook audiences becoming bored and scrolling to something else in their
newsfeed. While no amount of time is inherently perfect, based on the temporality and fast-
moving nature of the platform, videos of 30-60 seconds in length have proven to be most
successful in generating view counts and sparking audience discussion. This amount of time
still allows for content creators to explain meaningful ideas, but is not overbearing in the sense
that audiences feel they are wasting their time by watching.

5

3. Characteristics and Attributes of Viral Videos
With the new emphasis on social video, there was a hope by content providers that
audiences would actually watch these videos on their platforms. These videos were made for
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the specific goal that they would become a “viral video.”
Before 2010, a viral video was a term used to describe a rare phenomenon when a particular
video becomes unexpectedly popular, to the point where it is has been seen and referenced by
millions of people who may not identify themselves as being part of a particular fandom or
technologically savvy in any way. Some of the earliest examples include “Star Wars Kid” from
2003, or “Numa Numa” from 2004, where individuals are seen displaying fandoms in
exorbitant ways. While YouTube is the main platform for these videos to be found now, when
they were first released, they were only hosted on humor and lifestyle websites. One didn’t
need to consume dozens of novels and watch hours of fan theories know about the whole
mythos of “Star Wars” to appreciate “Star Wars Kid,” and those who did would only get more
enjoyment. The “Numa Numa” video also showed that audiences didn’t need to know the
whole discography of O-Zone, the band who composed the song, to appreciate that video, or
even know the song’s proper title, “Dragostea Din Tei.” The fact that an unconventional person
was singing and dancing along with these lyrics made the video popular. Additionally, one
didn’t need to watch the entirety of these videos to gain meaning or enjoyment. These videos
weren’t trying to portray complex ideas in an informational manner that required minutes of
viewing to appreciate, second-long snippets were entertaining enough on their own. Since
social media wasn’t as commonplace yet, these videos were shared in emails with other
individuals, or just their URLs were memorized by audiences who could then show them to
others in person. With the rise of YouTube after 2010, the term viral video shifted to encompass
6

anything that reaches a massive popularity on the internet, regardless of whether it was
expected or not. In 2012, “Gangam Style” was published on YouTube, a campy music video
from Korean popstar Psy. The video is tongue-in-cheek, with Psy making overly silly gestures
and dance movements that aren’t wholly serious in nature. Those qualities propelled “Gangam
Style” to unfound digital popularity, the first video to receive over a billion views on YouTube.
Even then, with millions of videos from millions of creators, a video like “Gangam Style” could
still stand out on YouTube. Like “Star Wars Kid” and “Numa Numa,” one did not need to have a
comprehensive understanding of Psy, “Gangam Style’s” lyrics or even be fans of K-Pop in
general to appreciate the video. Psy’s videos following “Gangam Style” would also replicate
this viral traffic, with April 2013’s “Gentleman” also crossing the 1 billion view threshold.
Psy’s next video venture after “Gentleman” was a song titled “Hangover.” It reached over 300
million views, but the song is more notable for having the performer’s first English lyrics, as
well as a feature appearance from notable rap musician Snoop Dogg. “Gentleman” was more
successful on a view count, but “Hangover” was clear evidence that foreign ideas and culture
were making an impact with domestic U.S. audiences through an online video format.
The properties of Psy’s success on YouTube can be roughly translated to Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram. YouTube still isn’t a full-fledged social network like the other three, as
its users don’t communicate and share ideas and messages in a way that reflects their identity.
Most importantly, YouTube is a platform whose monetization methods reward longer videos
than short, with videos around the 10- minute mark or longer believed to be receiving more
advertising potential. This was noted in 2014, when YouTube animators argued the platform
had changed its algorithms for premium content, rewarding minutes viewed rather than entire
videos watched.[11]
7

Still, those lessons from “Gangam Style,” “Star Wars Kid” and “Numa Numa” can be
refined and applied to short form video tailored for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. “Star
Wars Kid” gave an unconventional entryway into the world of “Star Wars,” where one could
jump to any point in the video and watch 5-10 seconds and still get enjoyment. “Numa Numa”
requires users to watch from the beginning, we don’t know who this young man is or why
we’re watching him, but the payoff comes early enough, his exaggerated facial expressions
building and building to the hilarious dance moves at around sixteen seconds. We could stop
right here or keep going and still keep a strong amount of enjoyment. And it’s an
unconventional but strong introduction to O-Zone and their song, with this dancing young man
as its apparatus. Psy’s viralness is directly related to his position as a foreigner. It’d be nothing
new or interesting to watch an American rapper or pop star make the goofy gestures that Psy
does, but the fact that he’s from the other side of the world is a living example that people can
be just as goofy or silly in Korea than they can in the United States. Other musicians with
foreign backgrounds are popular in the U.S. like Pitbull, but the fact that so many people were
unfamiliar with Psy and this style of music lent to the virality of the video.
Because Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are platforms rather than destinations, users
don’t really think of spending time on them as an activity in themselves, like deciding to spend
an hour watching videos on YouTube. So, any videos that posted to Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram must be short as to not curtail the transitory nature of the medium. Additionally,
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are more tied to one’s identity, or rather, how they want to
present their identity. Users may share posts that present themselves as global travelers, well-
informed social activists, cultured arts lovers, or physically-engaged athletes, even if they
spend little-to-no time in any of these roles offline. There is a desire to want to be something
8

or know something to obtain a stronger sense of online identity.
Much of online content too focuses on real-life identity. Individuals from a Jewish
background will engage with a BuzzFeed quiz about “10 things every person experiences on
their first trip to Israel.” Even if they don’t agree with the 10 things, the desire to validate if
those 10 things are true is strong enough to get people to engage. Someone who has a real-life
fandom over a subject like Marvel movies or the Los Angeles Lakers will watch a video about
the greatest Marvel movies or Lakers of all time, just to make sure they meet with their
expectations. Even if there is disagreement on where Kareem Abdul Jabaar should be placed
or if “Captain America: Civil War” should be on Marvel’s starting bench is a sign of strong
content, as the conversation/argument will only call more attention to online users to watch
and participate. But with the shorter time format for videos on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram, there needs to be a stronger hook for a video than YouTube, where creators could
go on for minutes until they finally reach their point. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are best
used as entryways, with each social video a brightly colored door leading into something else.
This doesn’t mean that videos without a strong hook or fancy editing or effects didn’t become
popular. In December 2017, a video recorded by Alex Avlas while driving on the 405 freeway
during a wildfire was viewed millions of times on social media.[12] The video was often
played raw with little-to-no effects, with the footage speaking for itself.
There is no narrative hook either, Avlas’ video is not a clever way of saying here is a
fire burning, it’s just a fire burning. At the same time, this video is self-contained. It does not
prompt viewers to read more articles or watch more videos about fires or more videos from
Avlas, nor is it being used as a political message for environmentalism, the drought or anything
along those lines. The video reflects the danger of the situation but from a safe distance, we feel
9

the harm of the fire but not the consequence. Additionally, the videographer too is embroiled
in danger from a safe distance, as the fire has crept close to the freeway but not onto the
freeway itself. And since the videographer did live to upload the video, we feel no worry or
existential threat over them and can appreciate the danger of the scenario. The video exists
solely to exist.
But Avlas’ video, without even showing a single person or face, still does something
remarkable: generates an emotional reaction and connection in the viewer. Some viewers
watch now experiencing fear over the deadly fire, others watch feeling sorrow for the
displaced families and the destroyed homes, others watch feeling anger over the helplessness
of the situation, others feel disgusted that our environmental conditions are so bad we let this
happen, and some less mature folk watch because they think the fire looks cool and are happy
as a result can find risk-free fulfillment in watching since the videographer wasn’t injured. The
ability to generate strong emotion, as well as a wide array of emotions, makes Alvas’ video
that much more powerful.
The same emotional components can be found in the viral video of teenager Keaton
Jones[13], who expressed the anguish was feeling because of his bullying. Keaton’s pleas
generate a strong sense of emotion, and a wide variety of emotion: We feel sorrow for Jones,
anger at his bullies, disgust at the school system, fear for our own children, but also happiness
and relief that it hasn’t happened to our own children, and that Jones’ life is improving.
Additionally, one does not need to be of a certain age, educational level or geographic
proximity to Keaton to be touched by his message. Those universal emotional ties make such a
video that much more sharable and viewable on social media. There are important physical and
identity differences to note in the creation and sharing of online videos. Males have been shown
10

in some studies to access YouTube videos at a rate of 4:1, and the Pew Internet and American
Life Project noted that the most active group of video watchers were adults aged 18-29, 73% of
whom said they watch YouTube videos with friends and family. While gender differences have
been noted in YouTube video creation, with women influenced by usefulness and social norms
and men by interpersonal norms, gender itself “may not impact frequency of video-sharing
behavior.”[14] Specific age, however, may not be as an important of a factor or a motivation in
viewing and sharing online video as much as broad generational differences and contextual
age, according to a study from the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. “Because
younger generations are more familiar with Internet technology, they may be more likely to
utilize OUSV (online user-shared video) for their entertainment.”[15] Contextual age refers to
six different factors in regards to a media user’s behavior: physical health, economic security,
interpersonal interaction, mobility, life satisfaction, and social activity. Individuals who were
“mobile, economically secure, satisfied with life, and comfortable with interpersonal
interaction preferred more information seeking via the Internet.” Insights from the study also
showed that online video sharing and viewing is used more for informational purposes than
entertainment, and that it is an activity that is not “sought for companionship purposes, in spite
of the social features of user-shared video sites and the associated recommendation processes.”
Additionally, most online video content is discovered via social relations, i.e. friends
sharing/sending links, but that did not correlate to increased use of online video as much as
specific and intentional keyword searching. These insights are still useful my thesis, but it is
also important to note that this study is from 2012, before the pivot to social video, so the
insights might not be able to be uniformly applied. From these points, we can extrapolate that
short form videos must act as their own entities but serve as jumping boards into a deeper dive
11
of content, or a deeper connection to an idea or shared meaning. Narrative hooks are useful, but
things still must be condensed enough as to not go against the temporal nature of the platform.
And they must speak to one’s sense of identity, both online and off. While not a requirement,
videos that portray both a strong sense of emotion as well as cover a gamut of emotions also
are beneficial in making a social video go viral.
4. Methodology of Testing Foreign Film Videos
With these characteristics of viral social media videos in mind, I set about to make
social-focused videos tailored for social media about international film. Since international
film is thought of in nationally specific geographic segments, i.e. French film vs. Japanese
film, vs. Italian film, I chose to create videos focusing on a country and its film culture/history
while applying said viral characteristics.
The first of these videos was about Japan film history, titled. “Japan Film History in 60
Seconds.” This seemed like a natural choice, considering how Japan has the strongest tie-in to
digital audiences through its already influential pop culture. Exports from Japan like Pokémon
and Godzilla are commonly known by U.S. social media users, regardless of whether they ever
played a Pokémon game or watched a “Godzilla” movie. Additionally, Japanese culture has
been referenced heavily in American pop culture, such as the successful “Kill Bill” movies.
America even adapts and reworks Asian movie narratives into American masterpieces,
like when Martin Scorsese reimagined the 2002 Hong Kong film “Infernal Affairs” into
20065’s gritty cop drama “The Departed.” The two shared pop cultures date back to
immediately after WWII, when occupational US forces began to show educational American-
made documentary films to the Japanese people. While these attempts by America’s Civil
12

Information and Education bureau were intended to establish continued
U.S. dominance in a post-war society, they also contributed to the survival of the Japanese film
industry, with state-owned companies thriving off of the titling, editing and
re-recording of these movies, and new Japanese film companies being able to win “contracts”
from the CI&E. The films, while inherently propaganda, still created an affinity for U.S.
culture in Japan: “By showing the overwhelming affluence of U.S. society, the films might
have also renewed the Japanese inferiority complex and yearning for Western culture, which
had long existed within Japanese society.”[16] Regardless of initial purpose or intent, the U.S.
and Japan have shared a fascination with each other’s cultural history since the end of WWII.
The fact that there are American audiences who are innately familiar with Japanese pop
culture, as well as American audiences who are simply aware of Japanese pop culture,
presented a unique opportunity to capture the country’s film achievements in a 60-second
video. Obviously, the comprehensive history of everything Japanese artists have created in film
could not be represented in such a short amount of time. But the 60-second format would still
appeal to the viral video characteristics of a viewers’ knowledge and their online identity. This
video would appeal to those who wish to appear to well-informed on Japanese culture, and
those who already know enough about Japanese film history.
The Japan video would be constructed in a way that was easy to watch and worked with
the temporal nature of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It would have an incentive to finish,
meaning that someone who only watched the first five seconds wouldn’t get as much
informational/educational fulfillment joy as watching the whole thing. And enough
information would be presented to achieve the desire of learning something, but not too much
so that one isn’t getting bogged down by facts.
13

Most importantly, the video is designed to have a strong jumping off point into
discovering Japanese cinema, where viewers ideally wouldn’t’ feel the “educational” barrier of
not knowing enough to appreciate these films. The video also generates an emotional
connection in that viewers are fulfilled happy they are learning. That emotional component isn’t
as strong since the video is specifically educational and not trying to appeal to an emotional
sentiment.
The second video started off with the goal of focusing on a particular film region,
France, but ended up coming across a strong narrative and emotional hook. Researching into
France’s film history lead to the Lumiere brothers, who were instrumental in creating some of
the country’s first silent films. But then there was discovery of “Roundhay Garden Scene,” a
short movie filmed by French inventor Louis Le Preince in England. Released in 1888, the
movie technically is the oldest surviving movie ever made. Some might argue against the
distinction, noting how later films like “The Arrival of a Train” by the Lumiere brothers actually
set out to capture a specific event or narrative, while the earlier film like 1878’s “The Horse in
Motion” by Eadweard Muybridge was the first movie ever made, even though Muybridge only
took individual pictures and then assembled them into a “film” later. The fact though that there
is even discussion or debate about which movie was first and what constitutes a movie bodes
well with the conversational nature of social media. Users could attempt to show their
knowledge on the first true “short” film, creating a conversation/debate, and in turn, attracting
more people to this area of film history. The dual nature of location, a French filmmaker
shooting in England, might prove to support or detract from the audience of the social video
since there isn’t a strong location like “JAPAN.” But the short form narrative hooks and appeal
to emotion are undeniable with this video. Organizing the video in a way that reveals that it’s
14

the oldest surviving short film in history, then providing more information about its production,
and closing with an amusing kicker that these “actors” were the first movie stars, would be a
strong narrative arc with viral potential. The whimsical nature of the film has a strong emotional
component and touches upon a variety of senses: happiness (the story of the movie makes us
happy, sorrow (this is the only film that survived so long), and fear (we watch at first, not
knowing what the movie is about, afraid of the unknown of why this video is important).
The third video focused was titled “What is Bollywood?” and focuses on a specific
international geographic location again, one that I felt couldn’t be ignored just because of its
sheer size and impact in international film: India. Like the Japan video, this one had an
educational component, specifically focusing on the term “Bollywood.” While Bollywood is
an idea that both Bollywood fans and casual viewers know quite well, the actual origin behind
the specific word isn’t as well known to audiences, satisfying both online and offline identity
components, as well as a desire to show off knowledge. In American viewers’ eyes, this puts
Bollywood in a unique light. It’s an industry that feels familiar but completely new,
considering its official industry designation in 1998. It’s also a miscategorized industry, as
non-Bollywood viewers feel the term applies to all Hindi-language films, not those from the
Mumbai film industry. Also, it’s one that filmmakers only referenced casually by filmmakers
whose movies are popular in America, like Danny Boyle for his film “Slumdog Millionaire,”
or Baz Luhrmann when stating he was influenced by Bollywood for “Moulin Rouge.” But
Bollywood itself isn’t a global industry like Hollywood, as the industry “does not extend
significantly to host societies, it operates as an agent of nationalization rather than
globalization.”[17] This conflicting nature gives Bollywood an inherent air of mystique to it to
casual American audiences, something that feels global and familiar but isn’t inherently for
15

them.
Unlike the Japan video, there is an emotional connection here too, focusing on how
Bollywood films aren’t as respected globally as Hollywood films are, a popular industry but
often ignored by American audiences. There’s also a strong narrative arc, starting on a specific
question that must be answered, “What is Bollywood?”, and ending with an open-ended
interpretation, the fact that it isn’t 100% certain who came up with the term. The video, while
wholly enjoyable on its own, serves as a strong springboard into getting digital audiences into
a new type of international film they might have previously been unfamiliar with.

5. Testing Foreign Film Videos
I created an account on Facebook and Instagram to share these videos, each with the
name “Global Movie Facts.” For Twitter, videos were shared from the account associated with
my personal blog, “Movie of the Day.” The reasoning for specialized accounts on Facebook
and Instagram vs. Twitter was authenticity. The videos would have a stronger impact if they
came from an official source like an individualized page on Facebook and Instagram, where
follower count isn’t as pertinent. For Facebook and Instagram, the concepts of authenticity and
quality are more intertwined with how content is displayed. It is more important that a page
looks official to bring in users and viewers, despite how many users or viewers it currently has.
That is not the case for users, as the quality of a Twitter user isn’t primarily associated with
their specific tweets, but by how many followers they have. This is why Twitter is the social
platform most associated with accounts purchasing “fake users” to amp up their supposed
prestige and worth. Creating a On Twitter, though, number of followers is a significant mark of
authenticity, and a specific account just for these videos might not have as strong of an impact
16

if they didn’t come from something more established like my personal blog account. Each of
these videos was posted on each social platform at different periods of time. The “Roundhay
Garden Scene” video, with its strongest emotional tie and its depiction of filmmaking, was a
natural choice to be posted on Facebook and Twitter March 4, the same day as the Oscars
where much of the online news conversation would be focused around movies. The video was
shared along with a couple of sentences of additional copy, explaining the video but without
giving away the enjoyment of watching it. Crafting the perfect social copy for Facebook and
Twitter is a finnicky art, where sometimes multiple paragraphs are necessary to make content
successful, or other times when only a single sentence is needed. Based on the nature of the
video, though, two concise but detailed sentences were the best way to promote.
While the Facebook and Twitter copy remained relatively the same, the process for the
Instagram promotion was slightly altered. While not required, Instagram allows its users to
share a location of where their content is associated. For example, users can post a photo of
their German shepherd and use Germany as a location, even if their dog is situated in the
United States. Because of the geographic nature of the videos, it made sense to utilize this
location field to speak to each of them. So, the Japan video was listed as Tokyo, Japan,
“Roundhay Garden Scene” was listed as England, and Bollywood was listed as Mumbai,
India. Instagram content is also very location and event driven, with users sharing photos and
videos that speak to where they were as much as who they are.
Because of this, I selected additional hashtags to speak even more to those videos’
locations. Instagram users also can comment on their own posts in a way that isn’t obtrusive or
annoying to other viewers or users. This allowed me to post multiple film and location specific,
popular hashtags like #Bollywood, #mumbaigram, #india, #mumbailife,
17

#bollywooddance, making the content more visible to anyone searching for photos or videos
with those terms. Even though it has the largest audience, Facebook’s audience is the most
difficult to reach. Users are closed off from things they don’t want to follow or aren’t friends
with. This required me to “boost” each video with a credit card payment to ensure that it would
be seen. I would wait until a full day after each video has been posted to gauge its success and
determine results.

6. Foreign Film Video Results
On Facebook, the “What is ‘Bollywood?”’ video reached 207 people with 194 views as
of March 11, 2018. The “Roundhay Garden Scene” video reached 420 people with 238 views.
“Japan Film History in 60 seconds” reached 102 people with 62 views. “Roundhay Garden
Scene” received two likes on Twitter and 12 views. On Instagram, “What is ‘Bollywood?”’
received 31 likes and 21 views. “Roundhay Garden Scene” received 28 likes and 18 views.
“Japan film history” received three likes and four views. While no users ended up following the
Facebook account for “Global Movie Facts,” 52 users ended up following the Instagram
account.

7. Analysis and Conclusion
“Japan film history” performed the weakest of the three on all platforms. The video
itself, while speaking to a social media user’s desire to learn, attempts to teach too much. It
required active engaged viewing that contradicted the free-flowing nature of each of the
platforms. While I wasn’t surprised “Japan Film History” did poorly on Facebook, I was
surprised that the video didn’t do well on Instagram, considering that platform has the strongest
18

potential for international reach. But the video might have failed from just an aesthetic
perspective. When looking at its thumbnail image on Instagram, one only sees a big red square,
while the images for the other two videos are much more lively. It’s not until they click on
“Japan Film History” that text and images appear onscreen and by that point, potential audience
members might be gone. Lastly, this video incorporated historic images from Japanese film but
not footage from movies themselves, which might have deterred the progress of the video.
“Roundhay Garden Scene’s” strong performance on Facebook isn’t surprising. It’s still an
educational video, but it’s more focused on telling a story rather than teaching a lesson. The
opening title of “There’s something special about this silent video. . . ” lures audiences in, with
an incentive to watch to find out what that “special” thing is. It’s also the video that’s least
beholden to a specific location, like Japan or Mumbai. Leeds, England and Paris, France are
just places associated with the video, the real joy of this video comes from learning about the
people and this movie they’re making. “What is ‘Bollywood?”’ didn’t perform as well as on
Facebook, but that is likely because it was being promoted to a purely domestic audience. It
still performed better than “Japan Film History,” which can be attributed to how “Bollywood”
included more footage and graphics and wasn’t as overt as “Japan Film History” about its
educational message. But “Bollywood’s” success on Instagram can be directly attributed to its
inclusion of international hashtags like #bollywood, #mumbailife and #mumbaigram.
“Bollywood” also has a very enticing thumbnail image on Instagram, much more than the other
videos.
Without any other promotion besides posting the videos themselves, the “Global
Movie Facts” Instagram page received 52 followers, a significant majority of whom were from
India or nearby regions. This shows that individuals from that part of the world are more
19

inclined to consume and share movie content, and that social video can be used to build even
stronger audiences for foreign films in those home countries. To continue to build audiences
with social video for foreign film, content creators must adopt a storytelling strong narrative
approach for Facebook, where they are not relaying specific information, but telling a story
about how that information came to be. For Instagram, and a cultural identity approach is best
suited to engage more followers for Instagram. Facebook users are more enticed by engaging
with a story about something interesting, like the “Roundhay Garden Scene,” while content
that focuses on a national experience or interest, like “What is ‘Bollywood?”’ performs better
on Instagram. The poor results seen on Twitter speak to the platform’s inability as a conduit for
creating foreign film audiences with social video. It’s important to acknowledge too that just
because users are watching these social videos, that doesn’t necessarily mean that every single
one of them will end up watching foreign films. But there is a proven causation between online
video success and real-life audience building. “Gangam Style’s” success on YouTube directly
lead to Psy touring in the United States in 2013. One cannot know if a viewer of “What is
‘Bollywood?”’ will watch “Lagaan” right after, but the fact that “What is ‘Bollywood?”’ exists
will only serve to build the audience for Indian films that much more.

20

8. Bibliography

[1] Kaufman, Anthony, “The Lonely Subtitle: Here’s Why U.S. Audiences Are

Abandoning Foreign-Language Films,” Indiewire, May 6, 2014
[2] Reyes, Mike, “How Much Movie Content Has Shrunk on Netflix,”
CinemaBlend
[3] VanDerWerff, Todd, “The age of Streaming is killing classic film. Can Turner
Classic Movies be its salvation?” Vox, Oct 19, 2016
[4] Corliss, Richard, “Do Film Critics Know Anything?” Time, Dec 10, 2007
[5] Foundas, Scott, “Why U.S. Audiences Are More Comfortable With Subtitles

Than Ever,” Variety, April 22, 2014
[6] Perez, Sarah, “As Competition with YouTube Increases, Facebook Overhauls Its
Video Analytics,” Techcrunch, June 29, 2015
[7] Gensler, Andy, “MTV Restructuring News Department, Shifting to Emphasis on
Video (Updated),” Billboard, June 28, 2017
[8] Schonfeld, Zach, “Dissolved but not forgotten: Why did so many pop culture sites
die in 2015?” Newsweek, December 26, 2015
[9] Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2016-2021
[10] Beck, Kellen, “Snapchat users are watching 10 billion videos a day,”
Mashable, April 28, 2016
[11] Is Youtube Making It Harder For Animators To Make Money?
Amidi - https://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/is-youtube-making-it-
harder-for-animators-to-make-money-102408.html
[12] “Video shows fire raging near freeway,” CNN
[13] “Heartbreaking video of schoolboy Keaton Jones recounting being bullied,”
Guardian News, December 11, 2017
21

[14] Vedantham, A. (2011). Making Youtube and Facebook Videos: Gender
Differences in Online Video Creation Among First-Year Undergraduate Students
Attending a Highly Selective Research University. (Doctoral dissertation). University of
Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
[15] Bondad-Brown, Beverly A., et al. “Influences on TV Viewing and Online User-
Shared Video Use: Demographics, Generations, Contextual Age, Media Use, Motivations,
and Audience Activity.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 56, no. 4, 2012,
pp. 471–493.
[16] Tsuchiya, Yuka. “Imagined America in Occupied Japan: (Re-)Educational Films
Shown by the U.S. Occupation Forces to the Japanese, 1948–1952.” The Japanese Journal of
American Studies, no. 13, 2002.
[17] Miller, Jonathan. “The World and Bollywood: An Examination of the
Globalization Paradigm.” Anthos, vol. 7, no. 1, 2015, pp. 27–42.,
doi:10.15760/anthos.2015.27.
22

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis examines if short-form, digital video can be an effective tool at building new audiences for foreign film. The thesis explores commonalities of viral videos, gaps in audience numbers for foreign film, while also testing short-form videos focused on international film.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Becoming Dalit cinema

PDF

Give up tomorrow: how documentary uses new digital platforms to create social change

PDF

Social media as a tool for increasing access to art

PDF

Charlie's lot

PDF

Off the record: reimagining unrecorded histories

PDF

Changing the dialogue: How digital creators are reshaping film criticism

PDF

What happened to critical criticism? Art criticism expressing a negative opinion seems to be a dying breed, but this is how we save it from extinction – for we must

PDF

Screenwriting in the digital age: for the first time, new technology and distribution methods give feature film writers power to make a living outside Hollywood studios