Sunday 27 March 2016

How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?

My research into films marketing campaigns illustrated to me that there were many consistencies throughout. This is to make sure that when the audience sees one thing (for example: the poster) and then another (teaser trailer), a link can easily be established. Making this link builds a 'profile' in the audiences minds and therefore when they want to watch something in the cinema, this profile is there. They are more likely to watch a film from a unified marketing campaign.

In my campaign, I decided to keep as many things uniform as possible for this reason. One of the things I kept the same was the fonts I used on my poster and in my teaser trailer. This makes them instantly recognizable so the audience can draw a link.




However, when it came to making my magazine front cover, I was not able to use the same font. Production companies have full control over what the teaser trailer and posters look like, but when it comes to magazine front covers, they have very little say. Production companies will send round a press pack with photos and information they have provided, but more than this, they have no control. It would have to be a very rare and special occasion for a magazine to change its font for a film.




I also used the same tagline's in my teaser trailer and on my poster. This further builds the 'profile' in the audiences mind and draws an instant link. While the font might be a bit trickier to pick up, a tag line has the potential to be memorable so when you see it on a poster and a teaser trailer, an instant link is established. I feel the tagline's I picked represent my film suitably without giving away too much of the story line. They also have an action feel to them, so when seen, a member of the audience can identify that the film belongs to the action genre. There is no tagline on the magazine, as the magazine is independent of the production companies. Instead the magazine has a cover line which  it comes up with itself to show its independence from the film.







The dominant central image on the poster and magazine front cover might not be the same, but the both feature the central protagonist. When the audience see the central protagonist on both the poster and the magazine front cover, an instant link can be made.




On my poster and in my teaser trailer, I used a similar billing and the same production company logos. I did not include a billing on my magazine front cover as this is not a convention for magazines. Rather, they have things like cover lines which display names of actors, directors and other films.





Finally, the release date on my teaser trailer and poster is similar. One of things I noticed is that many teaser trailers do not have exacts dates. They tend to feature a line like 'coming soon' or 'summer 2017'. It is for this reason that in my teaser trailer, I used the latter. As my poster was not a teaser poster, I included the actual date of release. The similarity in dates provides an extra opportunity for a link to be made. This link provides a push for the audience to see the film before it is actually released.



Friday 25 March 2016

Other Ways My Film Can Be Marketed

I have created a marketing campaign for my film 'The Witness' which consists of a poster, magazine front cover and a teaser trailer. However, there are many other ways in which it can be marketed. Below are some other methods for marketing films.

  • A series of posters - Teaser posters, regular posters and posters focusing on specific characters. Here are the series of posters which were released for the latest James Bond film Spectre.








  • A series of trailers - Both teaser and theatrical trailers to excite the audience and promote the film. Here are the teaser and theatrical trailers for Spectre:




  • A soundtrack which features in the film. The music video will tend to have clips from the film. This is the soundtrack from Spectre (Writings on the wall - Sam Smith)


  • A website to post latest news and features about the film. This is the website for Spectre:


  • Facebook page to excite fans on Facebook and promote the film.




  • Merchandise such as clothing, keyrings, etc. 


  • Press kits which contain chosen pictures, audio, videos, storyline and information regarding the film. These are sent to media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, etc. to publish things and promote the film.

  • Red carpet events such as premieres. This leads to social media and local media reporting.


  • Chat show and radio show appearances such as Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross

Thursday 24 March 2016

List Of Websites Used

During my research, I used multiple websites to assist me. Here is a lost of the websites I used:

Youtube - To watch and analyse existing trailers.


IMDB - To research information about films, cast and crew.



Impawards - To find and download posters to analyse.



DaFont - To find and download fonts for my teaser trailer, poster and magazine front cover.



Wikipedia - To research film publications and information regarding the action genre.



BBFC - To conduct research into the certificate of my film.








Hardware And Software Used

In order to make my marketing campaign, I used multiple different types of hardware and software in order to create my teaser trailer, poster and magazine front cover. Below is a list of things I used.


  • Blogger - Used for my research and planning blog. 

  • Spotify and Google Play (Music) - To locate sound effects and music tracks for my teaser trailer.


  • Soundcloud - To store audio files and upload them onto my blog.

  • Adobe Audition - To record and edit audio files for my teaser trailer.

  • Panasonic HDC TM900 (Camcorder) - To record shots for my teaser trailer.

  • Avid Media Composer - To edit my teaser Trailer. 

  • Adobe Photoshop - To create my poster and magazine front cover.

  • Nikon D3300 (Camera) - To take pictures for my poster and magazine front cover.

  • Shure SM58 (Microphone) - To record voiceovers.

  • Mackie Mixer - To record voiceovers.

My Finished Magazine Front Cover

This is my finished magazine front cover:


Monday 21 March 2016

Actors For My Teaser Trailer

Main Character - Aharon Grant




Main Villain - Aaron Cohen



Psychiatrist - Aaron Godsi




Lead's Girlfriend - Jodie Nassim



Other Villain - Pinny Zaidorf



Pedestrian - Setor Tettey