Evaluation Q2

Evaluation Q2How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Promotion and Marketing Marketing of films involves the launching of the film into the market place. The aim of marketing is to create excitement and hype for the film within the target audience in the run up to the theatrical release of the film. Marketing of films is either push marketing or pull marketing.Push marketing, which is also known as heritage marketing is about pushing the marketing and advertising of the film to their audience without them having the desire to go and look for the film themselves.

A popular method of push marketing is posters. They include the standard elements that are used to sell the idea of the film to the audience. Posters often have a unique selling point that shows what is different about the film or special. Typically they will feature an image of a key moment in the film or of the main places involved or a main character. They are also likely to include the names of the stars whom were in the film and this all helps to create the interest in the film. For example these horror film posters are all being used to attract the audience with either the location of the film or the main characters.

Another method is a film trailer. They are about 2-3 minutes long and are released about 3-6 months before the theatrical release of the film. They are used to give the audience hints about the narrative and what will happen and there are usually many different ones for the film. They will show the best parts of the film and so for a horror film trailer they will show the scariest parts of the film. Here is an example of a trailer from the horror film dont breath.

Press junkets can be used which are a primary marketing force and are used to promote and sell the film. They involve the main actors or directors conducting a series of interviews, which have TV presenters doing the interviews. The interviews are then shown on TV and on shows that the target audience of the film will watch as to aim the interview at the appropriate audience. This is a press junket with the actress Maria Bellow from the film Lights Out.

Premieres are also used as push marketing that are the launching of the film. They are televised events that are used to create hype for the target audience before the opening weekend of the film. The actors, actresses, directors and other people involved in the making and distribution of the film attend the event and there is also many interviewers and TV presenters there. This is part of the premiere for the horror film Split.

Websites are a method for pull marketing as the pages give out information for the people looking at them. These websites are usually where fans will go to look at posters, trailers and enter competitions that may be of interest to them. Fans can sign up to these sites by giving their email addresses and therefore will be updated with news. Here are some examples of horror websites Horrornew.net and Bloodydisgusting. They are websites that offer news about the current and upcoming horror films and have links to social media accounts as well.

Pull marketing, also known as digital marketing and is about pulling the audience in so that they are interested and have to go and find the marketing themselves

Social media sites such as facebook, twitter and youtube are also used as pull marketing. Fans are encouraged to share material and also go onto the film pages and share them so that they can spread the word about the film. Fans can go onto youtube and find the trailers themselves and can also create their own versions of the trailers and can publish them for other fans to see. For example this facebook page for the horror film Incidious has posts about competitions and there are many trailers and clips fro the film that fans can watch. They can also get tickets from this site page as well.

The poster is effective because it would be seen outside cinemas and in public areas and the featured image, typography, actors names and release dates make it clear to people that this is a horror film poster. Instantly people can understand that the film is of the horror genre because of the dark colours used and also the colour red, making it an effective promotional tool.

For my ancillary texts I chose to do a magazine cover and film poster for our short film, which are both methods of push media. They work effectively as promotional tools because they are conventional and follow typical aspects of posters and magazine covers.

The magazine cover follows the conventional aspects of many typical film magazines. The masthead is related to the horror genre and the lexis is also horror related because it gives insight of what other horror films will be involved in the magazine. The colours of red and navy blue and contrasting colour yellow make it clear to the audience that this magazine is a film horror magazine and therefore is appropriate for the fans of horror. This is an effective promotional tool because the aspects used connote to the audience what the magazine is about. I kept it relevant to this time and had new upcoming films mentioned in the lexis and red bars at the top and bottom of the page.

Narrative and GenreIt also reflects the narrative of the film. The featured image is a wide shot of the outside of the house, which is the location of the film and the antagonist is also in the shot as well. This reflects the narrative because the film involves the antagonist or threat being outside to begin with and almost stalking the protagonist. The shot is one that is used in the film as to show the antagonists point of view. I used this shot and out the antagonist in it as well to show that he has the control in the film and is controlling the girl and the narrative.

My poster clearly reflects the horror genre because of what is featured in the image. The conventional wide shot showing the location of the film is used as the background of the poster. Through cultivation, audience have grown to recognise this as being associated with the horror genre and therefore they will understand that the poster is for a film in the horror genre. The title and release date reflect the slasher part of our hybrid sub genre because they are in red which connotes blood and is therefore associated with the slasher genre.

The magazine cover is connoting the horror genre because of the colours used and the main image. The close up of the antagonists face which shows the bloody cuts on his eye and mouth which clearly is not how people are expected to look and it is intended to scare people and create fear which is the theme of the horror genre. The slasher sub genre is encoded in the magazine cover because of the image as well as the prop of the knife is featured which I emphasised the light reflecting on the sharpness of the blade. The sharp prop is associated with the slasher sub genre as it is a convention that a weapon such as a knife is used. The narrative of the film is also constructed in this magazine cover. In the lexis I used the phrase are we all a bit psycho which is about the film Split but it also relates to the narrative of my film because the antagonist is all in the girls imagination and she ends up killing herself because the antagonist takes control. To reflect this aspect of the film I used a close up shot with a dark background. This shot does not show anything behind the face of the antagonist as to emphasise that in the film the antagonist is the one with the control over the girl and is all consuming.

Similarities My ancillary texts are similar in that they both feature the antagonist and so they are representing otherness. He is the outsider in the film and is not human and so he is the outcast or otherness. The inspiration for the antagonist came from the idea of the slender man which many people are familiar with. As the antagonist is based on this representation and he is featured on the poster and the cover it is homage to this representation that I have reinvented and reinforced. Therefore both of my ancillary texts are postmodern.

Target AudienceOur film is aimed at an audience aged 15 and over and aimed mainly at teens. The poster will be available for the target audience to see because it will be outside cinemas. Teenagers visit the cinema quite often, regardless of what is on. This is because going to the cinema is not usually about the film, but the experience and getting together with friends. Therefore when they go to the cinema they will see other film posters and so they would see a poster such as this one and so it is an appropriate marketing method. The film cover is appropriate because teens buy magazines and so fans of horror will buy horror film magazines. Magazines are sold in shops such as Whsmith and corner shops where teens may shop for products such as sweets or stationary and so it would be suitable to use a magazine cover to advertise the film.

Both the poster and magazine cover could also be made available online as well and on websites that the target audience look at. Nowadays, 99% of teenagers have a mobile phone and most are quite capable phones with an internet feature, and almost every teenager has access to a basic computer with internet and therefore they can access the internet at anytime. Essentially they could look at websites and look online at either the poster of magazine cover as well and it is appropriate because the younger generation are more likely to use the internet.