FINAL EVALUATION

Question 2.

How effective is the combination of your product and ancillary texts?

The distribution of a film is a very important process. It has to has to be done correctly to

ensure that a film makes as much income as possible and gets out to the correct target

audience to gain this. The distributor of a film is an individual responsible for working with

the film’s producers, movie studios, as well as other movie professionals to ensure that the

movie is released in a correct manner and to the widest audience possible. As a distributor

they may set the release date for the film as well as the method which the film may be

exhibited and made available for viewing for the audience. There are various different

advertising and promotional techniques which a film may use to promote and distribute

their film. They make use of various types of promotions to try and reach a very large

audience to attract them to watch. The most common form of promotion would be the film

trailer. The trailer is of extremely high importance as it gives the audience a taster of what

the film is actually going to be like. It shows them first hand footage which will determine

whether they will like it or not and this will attract them to watch even more if they do. The

trailer is distributed in various forms to once again reach a very large audience. They are

placed in cinemas so when people go to watch different films they will be shown to them

also to attract highly. Not only this but they will also be placed as an advert on television to

Key Frame from trailer Magazine front cover Poster

attract a much wider audience as most people today have televisions in their home which

they watch regularly. This will spread too much more of a wider audience overall.

The second most common form of promotion for a film I would say is the poster. A poster is

created usually with one main image containing the central characters/s in the movie. It

contains the title of the film, usually the release date, age restriction, character information

and also creation and production information. It tends to be very attractive to the audience

of the film. The main image is usually the main attraction as it is big and bold. With it usually

containing the main character/s of the film, if these are big stars and members of the

audience like these stars then it will attract them even more and then make them want to

watch the film again. With the production information also on the poster viewers may

notice that a film is created by a good production company who have made previous films

they like and this will make them want to watch also. The director is another big attraction

as their name is also contained on the poster and again if these are well known to some

viewers they may want to watch the film because of them also.

Today most films which are being distributed also have their own website. This is also a big

promotion method as it tells the viewer a lot of individual information on the film itself. It

will tell them about the characters, the story of the film, maybe the trailer, information

about the production team and much more. It will also usually provide photographs from

the film which can be viewed to give spectators a better idea of what it is going to be like.

The website really does provide a viewer with a lot of information on the movie, sometimes

more than what a trailer does and this is a method which can really attract someone to

come and watch. This is because they would know a lot more about a film on a whole and

would know whether it was something they would enjoy. I personally think that the

promotion method of a website can be very effective in bringing individuals to watch a film.

There are other smaller methods of promotion which can be used to get a film well known

to a large audience. Large posters will usually be placed on the side of buses large billboards

can be used to make the adverts stand out highly to everyday people whose attention will

usually be attracted. Mini versions of the film poster will be sometimes placed on a page

within magazines. This is another very interactive method of promotion as readers are

pretty much guaranteed to notice the poster when reading through the magazine. It is

usually bold and stands out highly as it takes up a whole page and will grab readers

attention for them too look. The film will sometimes be on the front cover of a magazine

also which is the first thing the reader sees. This can then attract them to look at the

magazine overall, going to the pages inside which are about the film. They may then read

these finding out more about the film which may encourage them to watch. All of these are

the main methods of promotion that a film would use to promote to the largest audience

possible.

Marketing can differ depending on the potential target audience for a film. Of course if the

target audience for a particular film is very large they will have to use larger promotion

methods and techniques which reach much more of a larger audience and are placed across

more locations also. If the film has a smaller audience they will then use promotion methods

which don’t reach as much of a large audience and this therefore won’t cost as much.

Depending on the type of target audience which a film has it will depend on where they

place their promotion. For example if the audience for a film was younger children, then

promotion won’t tend to be as adverts online or on the web they will tend to be inside of

children’s magazines and as film posters and trailers where this will interact with that type

of audience much more. If the audience consisted of adults then the form of promotion

would consist of online advertisements, adverts in adult type magazines, trailers in cinemas

and much more. This is because adults are likely to be interactive with these things where

they will therefore receive promotion of the film. Audience research to distribution

companies is of very high importance when trying to promote a film. It allows distribution

companies to identify what type of audience a particular film has. They would be able to

identify the age ranges of the audience and the type of audience (what they are interested

in etc). This then allows the distribution company to figure out where they need to promote

a film and how they need to promote it. It also the gives the film creation company

information about the audience so they can then tailor the film and trailer and to this

particular audience to attract them highly. Audience research will usually be completed via

surveys and questionnaires asked to members of the public. They will usually be asked a

range of 10-20 questions about the genre of the film which is being made. All of the

collected results will show what people expect from that genre of movie being made. This as

explained then helps the film production company to tailor the film to the audience’s needs.

Of course advertising for a film varies depending on the type of film and its audience. The

advertising method has to fit around the audience so it will be able to attract them very

highly. The two film posters on the next page show how advertising can differ with different

types of audiences. Both of the films advertised on the posters have different audiences

which means, as shown, the content, colour scheme, and attractive methods are different.

As explained previously also in this evaluation, with different types of audiences, advertising

can vary as distribution companies may have to choose particular locations to advertise to

fit around a particular audience. I explain in depth more about the film posters and how

there advertising differs depending on their audience on the next page.

The poster above is one for a children’s film.

The main target audience for this movie would

tend to mainly consist of children aged 3-12.

Therefore because of this the distribution

company have had to place certain colours,

content and text to attract this type of

audience. Instantly because of the type of the

audience the poster has to have certain

content to ensure they attract the right

audience to gain a high income on the film

also. The colours are very bright with the

yellows and blues used. These are attractive

aspects anyway so will attract people highly.

The main characters are animated which is a

very large attraction to children and placing a

variety of these as the main image on the

poster will attract children instantly making

them look at the poster finding out more about

the film. So as the poster is for a children’s film

there has been a variety of bright content used

to match a children’s audience and to of course

attract them.

This poster is of course for the film- ‘Taken 2’.

The target audience for the film tends to be

much older this time where the majority of the

audience are aged between 15-30. Again the

style of advertising and content on the poster

has to fit in with the target audience of the film

to attract them highly to the movie. As this film

is much more serious and aimed at an older

audience the colour scheme tends to be a lot

darker. The main image is of the central male

character who is a serious type of figure and is

also older. As he is of this age it would instantly

attract the attention of older people to the

poster and then to the film. A younger child

wouldn’t be instantly attracted to the poster

because it isn’t something they would take note

too or are interested in at that age. They

usually are attracted to brighter colours and

happy characters. Overall the content on a film

poster has to be correct with the right content

to attract the right target audience for the

movie.

There are various viral campaigns around today and these are very effective in promoting a

film and making it well known to a wide audience. A recent viral campaign was one on

Paranormal activity 5. There has been various stories and videos on the web about the

upcoming movie. The audience then get very excited at these for the new movie where they

will then share the content with various friends and it escalates from here where it reaches

a wide range of people and goes viral. This then makes more people aware about the film

and make them want to watch etc. It is attractive content and this is why it goes viral as

everyone wants to share with each other how good they think it is. It is easy to say the

campaigns are very appealing to the audience overall. Another viral ad campaign is one on

The Last exorcism. The movie placed an advert on chat roulette. When people go onto chat

roulette, a video of a girl about to strip would come up where she turns into some kind of

monster to the viewer. They then placed the movie website after the video to promote. It

was a very good promotion technique which caught many viewers out and they found it

very clever. Of course as they found this good, funny and scary they would then show their

friends and it would go viral again promoting the movie even more.

Unified identity for a film is very important. This means that with promotion methods such

as trailers, magazine covers, and poster, the content on them all should link together very

well to promote the film. Having the same colours, content and much more will increase

awareness about a film. On my own created products, they do link together very well. On

my magazine cover I have used a lot of red and grey/cream colours. The magazine cover

looks paranormal however it also follows typical horror conventions with the red colour

representing a bloody look. My created poster looks completely paranormal with the text

quite modern and the main image a close up of one of the characters in the trailer which is

scary and intimidating. The images on my poster and magazine are also both different. I

decided to create both pieces in this way as I wanted to aim at a wide audience. I wanted to

aim at an audience interested in paranormal horror however I also wanted to attract an

audience who were interested in a variety of horror like gore, slasher etc which is why I used

that type of colour scheme on my magazine. This would then attract that type of audience

where they could look at our paranormal movie to see whether it would be something they

are interested within. The image on the front of my poster for our film ‘Torment’ is actually

a shot taken from our created trailer. So overall our trailer links in very well with my created

poster for the film.

As explained previously my poster and trailer have a good relationship. The lighting on my

poster in the main image is as it is in my trailer. It is very dark. This creates suspicion for

viewers and an intimidating scary look to the poster overall. The character in the main

image on the front of the poster is from my trailer as the main image is a shot from our

created trailer as explained. I tried to connect my poster to ones created for the paranormal

activity films. They are dark and suspicious too as they are also a paranormal type of film.

For our film we decided to set the classification as a 15. This is because a wider audience will

be attracted to the movie where they then will be able to watch. After some research into

other films like paranormal activity we noticed the classifications for these movies were also

15 and they have a wide audience who go and watch. With this classification it would also

produce a higher income for the film. Getting our film onto the cover of a magazine is of

very high value. The main cover of a magazine is the first thing a reader looks at when

buying. This means the movie would then be the main aspect which has to attract readers

to buy. If the reader see’s the front cover they may then read this finding out more and

wanting to read about the film in much more detail which may lead them on to go and

watch. It is a large promotion method which can result in an extremely large audience.

Shown below are some examples of horror films with a supernatural sub-genre which have

a classification of 15 and link to our own movie.

The middle poster is my own on our film-

‘Torment’. The poster on the right is for

Paranormal Activity 2 and the poster on the left

is for The Blair Witch Project. These were both

very inspirational throughout the creation of my

own poster. I like their dark colours and how

they set a supernatural look. The poster on the

left is very similar to my own with the main

image. It also contains a close up of a charatcers

face like in our own. I constructed my poster

neatly so the main image stands out and the

poster is easy to understand overall for viewers.

The poster on the left is for the film- The

Crazies and the one on the right is for the

film- The Omen. I also used both of these

and inspiration for the creation of my own

poster. Both of them again are supernatural

which is how I wanted my own poster. They

also are both quite dark which sets

suspicion like I have also produced in my

own creation. Despite the poster for ‘The

Omen’ being scary and suspicious it is a lot

lighter than the other examples shown on

this page.

The middle magazine shown is my own created

one with the front cover being based around

our film- Torment. The one on the left is an

Empire magazine which has a horror front

cover. The one on the right is a Total Film front

cover. I again used these for inspiration when

creating my own front cover. They link to my

own very well. The colour schemes on both are

red with black which is how I have created my

own. They are also quite dark and suspicious

which is also how I have created mine. I aimed

to use this colour to attract a wider audience

who are interested in different genres of

horror.

The magazine cover on the left is a sight and

sound cover. The one on the right is a Fangoria

magazine cover. I also used both of these front

covers for inspiration. They are both dark and

suspicious which is exactly how I wanted my

own cover to be. They both also use brighter

colours for text on the front cover to stand out

to the viewer to attract them to the magazine

overall. I did exactly this on my own where I

used red and white colours for the text to

make it stand out highly.