Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your product and ancillary texts?
Film distributors use many different advertising techniques, depending on their audience.
Examples of different ways to advertise are:

• billboards
• posters on the side of buses
• posters in magazines
• internet trailers
• cinema trailers
  
• radio adverts
• social networking site groups

The advertising techniques they use vary on who their target audience is. A film aimed at teenagers will most likely advertise in magazines, on tv and on social network sites such as Facebook. This is because these are the mediums that teenagers come into contact with most often, and are therefore more likely to see the advertising this way. Film distributors must ensure they advertise through the right mediums, or they may be speaking to the wrong audience and this means their target audience is not reached. Also, if the target audience is fairly small, such as a small budget film on skiing, then they may only advertise through skiing magazines, as this is the only way to reach that small audience. To ensure they get the right advertising technique, film distributors may conduct audience research, similiar to the survey we conducted when doing the research for our trailer. This is so they can ask the audience which forms of media they come into contact with on a regular basis, and other questions so they can find out for themselves what the most effective form of advertising would be.

These are examples of advertising for the film series 'Twilight'. As you can see, there is a website, there are posters and there are posters on the side of buses. These are all appropriate to the target audience of the films, which are young teenagers to young adults. This target audience is likely to go out and see these buses, hence the reason the distributor decided to advertise it's film on the side of the bus. Creating a website for the film is also appropriate as this generation will most likely have access to the internet and reguarly use it, so are very likely to search for this film on the internet, and then find this website, therefore the website fulfilling it's purpose of advertising the films. The poster in the top right hand corner of the picture could have been used as a billoard, or used in magazines or even sold in shops to stick on your wall, which the younger part of the target audience will most probably do. As all these mediums call out to the target audience, the film distibutor has therefore successfully called out to it's target audience.
As you can see, there is also merchandise in the picture and a logo. This is to show that all Twilight relate products carry this logo, showing a consisitent style throughout the films products. They also carry the same misty sky images, and usually have dark colour schemes. This is shown on all the images in the picture, as they all have the misty background. You can also see that the advertising for 'Twilight: New Moon', shown in the picture as the website and on the bus, carry the same autumn themed colour scheme, with browns and dark reds, but it still carries the Twilight misty sky appearance. The trailer for the first Twilight film can be seen below, and it carries the same font as all the posters, and the same blue, misty colour scheme as the rest of the advertising for the first film. This is essential so the audience can recognise the film however it is being presented, whether through advertising or merchandise or any other form.




The DVD case for the film also carries this theme through. The review on the front of the cover also helps promote the film, as it is showing something positive someone has said about the film.


Different films require different advertising. For example, the recent children's film Gnomeo and Juliet, is aimed at children so the advertising will need to reach a childish audience. Children are not likely to browse the internet, so instead the advertisers looked towards posters and merchandise to promote their film. They knew children enjoy toys and are likely to come into contact with a poster somewhere, maybe on their way to school on a bus or maybe on a billboard, so they used this to their advantage and advertised this way. The bright colours used also attract the young audience, as the colours will draw them to the poster and help them be attracted to it. This is evident below.

Adult audiences would require a different avertising technique. The new movie 'Battle: Los Angeles' takes a more minimalistic approach to the advertising posters, as shown below.

These three posters do not have any text about the film, the plot, or who stars in them. They merely say the name of the film and the date it is released. This technique is perfect for the audience, as it does not patronise them, it instead gives them a taster of the film and lets them make their own mind up on what they think it may be about. This makes the audience wonder what the film is about, and makes them curious and therefore entices them to go and see it. It also assumes the audience is mature enough to know there is nothing missing on the poster, it simply eludes to the mystery of the film. This appeals to the audience as they are being considered intelligent and not underestimated. However, the audience is not at a complete loss as to what the film is about, as we can tell a lot from what is on the posters. We know it is about some kind of invasion, as the third poster shows light coming from the sky and the second poster shows things coming down from the sky that appear to be extra terrestrial ships. We also know it must be on a large scale, as the first poster shows someone in military uniform, so they must have been called in to help, and this is further reinforced by the big machine in the background, and we assume this is the reason the person is looking so frightened. These subtle hints to the film ensure the audience knows just enough about the film to be interested, but are curious enough that they want to know more and therefore watch the film.

Our marketing campaign
We decided to class 'Alice' as a 15, as this gives us enough range to be able to use more scary devices than are appropriate for a 12 certificate, but doesn't restrict our audience by raising the certificate to an 18. Also, our results from our audience research show that our main audience would be around this age.
In my poster, I used an image of Alice that is easy to recognise as her in the trailer. I also placed a negative effect on her, similiar to the ones we used in the trailer itself, and this would help the audience recognise her. The negative effect also gave the poster and trailer a more eery effect, as this was the feeling we wanted to create. I also used the same logo in my poster as we did in our trailer, and luckily enough i found a way to incorporate it into my magazine cover too. This all helps create a style for the film, and one that can be recognised. A dark colour scheme was also the key to keeping the style of my final products consistent, so I ensured this was kept to.
Managing to get onto a film magazine cover is a huge advantage for the film distributor, as it means huge promotions to the main audience for any film: film fans. If film fans are reading about your film, and the first thing they see when they pick up the magazine is an image of your film, then this is a huge success as it means they are reading first hand what you want them to read. By getting onto the front cover of a magazine, you will also need to have an image of the main character(s), so this means your characters will be recognised as being in your film too.
On my cover I used an image of Alice, and also used the heading "Introducing Rebecca Sharman as Alice", which meant I was incorporating different aspects of promotion into one sentence:

• I am promoting the actress who is starring in my film, therefore promoting my film
• As the film's name is also the characters name, I am promoting the characer and the film
• As the character's name is the film's name, I was able to use the film logo as the final word in the heading, which helps the logo get recognised

Film Poster

• I used a tagline from the trailer, to help relate the poster back to the trailer
• I used a dark background to fit in with not only the dark colour scheme of the trailer, but to fit in with the conventions of the horror genre
• I used an image of the main character as she is what the film is based around, this also helps get her recognised for the film
• I used the same logo for the poster as I did for the trailer and magazine cover so this creates a consistent style
• I included details of who starred in the 'film' and who produced it, to keep with the conventions of this type of poster
• I used fire in the poster as this relates directly to the plot, the use of the colour in the image of fire also attracts the audience, as it is the only use of bright colours on the poster
  
• I used an image of 'Alice' and added a negative effect, as not only does this connote eeriness but it also relates back to the trailer as we added a negative effect to many of the shots we took of the young girl playing Alice
• I used the production logo on the poster so it could be recognised and promote the 'production company'.
• I used a 15 certificate image on the poster as film posters must show the age certificate that is required to watch the movie, and we were trying to make the posters seem as life like as possible
• Alice is the only person on the poster, so the audience are drawn directly to her
  

Magazine Cover

• I used another picture of Alice on the magazine cover, as she is what the trailer is based around
• I did not use a particuarly dark colour scheme on the magazine cover, as I tried to keep with the conventions of a magazine
• This meant I kept to a colour scheme on the cover
• I added healines and sub headings showing what was inside the magazine to attract the reader
• I appealed to a male audience by promoting on the cover that there were stories on attractive actresses inside the magazine such as Penelope Cruz
• I used an image of a barcode on my magazine cover as this is necessary on the front of a magazine cover
• Because of the conventions of a magazine cover I also created a dateline, used a well known logo and included a price
• I used headlines that would shock the reader into buying the magazine, such as "This years must see british horror", this is a technique also used by tabloid magazines and papers