Along with producing the main product during the project, which was the film trailer, my group also created several ancillary texts, which are essentially accompanying texts used by film producers to advertise their product when it is released. For example, I created a film poster and a magazine cover based around our horror film trailer; Subliminal. The ancillary products often contain images with characters which may appear in the full film, this is to draw the audience into the story and intrigue them so they watch the final film. The three products all tie in well with each other because they all contain the essential elements of the horror trailer and I think they promote the film well.
We focused on three aspects of promotion while creating our three media texts, the first of which; Audience, secondly, Advertising, and finally Publicity. The audience was very important to think about while creating the products because in order to properly target our audience and interest them, we needed to tailor our products to specifically attract that demographic (16-30). Therefore, the products we created were modern looking, and attractive to the younger age range. The trailer story line was based around three young people, who were living very normal lives. This was a deliberate and intentional because it was a crucial way to attract our target audience. Next, the magazine cover was important because it allowed us to advertise the film in another way. The magazine cover contained the picture of the mask which features in the trailer, and is associated with the antagonist, this is important as it fortifies the horror genre and would interest the magazine reader. The image below shows that the magazine cover looks professional and is very similar to other magazines of the film genre, particularly Total Film. While creating the cover on Adobe Photoshop, I had a background of a Total Film magazine cover and built mine around it, making it look as professional as possible, as the image below shows. The mask features heavily in the magazine cover, as it does will all 3 media texts we created, building links between the three and this would hopefully interest people, building momentum, with the intention of a big film launch. This is a common technique used by many film production companies. It was particularly important to use a well known magazine company as the base of the magazine company as it suggests that the film is of the professional nature, and as the film is affiliated with a popular magazine brand, its fan base would assume the film would be worth watching. When professional film producers release new films, they try to join up with these kinds of magazines in order to gain publicity which allows their target audience to read reviews and teasers of the film, which in turn, would make them want to go and see the movie, therefore, making the producers more money.
Another way our audience was targeted was the poster I created. As you can see from the image below, the poster looks very modern and has the conventions of a professional poster, compared to the Let The Right One In poster, a modern horror film aimed at the same demographic as ours, the two are very similar. Posters are a commonly used when a new film comes out because they build links between other advertisement texts and they also give a quick snapshot of the film, giving the audience an idea of what the film may be about, without telling them the entire story line. This is important as the audience then automatically wants to know more about the film, so would then pay attention to other texts such as trailers and billboards. Another good thing about film posters is that they are very cheap to produce and can be put almost anywhere to promote a film. They can be printed off in thousands for very little money so are therefore an effective way of advertising. If my group were to actually make the whole Subliminal film, poster advertising would most definitely be used due to our low budget. Posters are very effective because they can be viewed by countless amounts of people in many different formats, for example, they can be stuck up around the area, in magazines and in shops, in comparison to trailers, which can only be viewed online and on television, limiting the opportunity of audiences to see the text. Also magazines covers will only be viewed by people who buy film magazines and therefore have an avid interest in films. But in actual fact, you dont have to be a huge fan of films to be able to go and watch them at the cinema. So by using posters as well as magazine covers and trailers, we make sure the target audience is aware of the film as the poster would be very accessible and it would simply tell them that there was a new horror film coming out, they could then research it further if the audience was interested by the poster.
Usually film producers have the luxury of using many different forms of promotion when they bring out a new product, for example; billboards, synergies, trailers, combining with other companies and there are many more methods available in order to advertise their product. However our group were only able to use the three, trailer, poster and the magazine cover. However one thing which is noticeable from studying promotional packages made by professional film producers is that all the different texts they create in order to promote the film, all include the protagonist or antagonist. Therefore we decided it was crucial that we did this when trying to promote our film. As you can see from the images of the film poster and the magazine cover, the mask is very central in both images. The mask being the antagonist in the trailer. Although it doesn't feature too heavily in the actual trailer, there is definitely still a sense of its importance in the way that the pace and mood of the trailer instantly changes as soon as the antagonist features. This creates an atmosphere around the antagonist and gives the audience a feeling of fear. This would make them want to see the actual film. This is a commonly used technique by film producers in order to excite and entice the target audience.
Overall, I believe my group have all produced professional looking ancillary texts for our Subliminal horror trailer. With our low budget and few skills with the technology used, we have succeeded in making three texts suitable for the professional film market. I am pleased with the way all the ancillary texts link with one another and I believe we have produced them at the best of our abilities. We all understood the importance of the three ancillary texts and I believe if we were to actually release the film, Subliminal, it would have a successful launch, due to the impact of the supporting texts, as well as the horror film trailer itself. They are very effective and support the trailer very well in my opinion.
Kieran Browne
Usually film producers have the luxury of using many different forms of promotion when they bring out a new product, for example; billboards, synergies, trailers, combining with other companies and there are many more methods available in order to advertise their product. However our group were only able to use the three, trailer, poster and the magazine cover. However one thing which is noticeable from studying promotional packages made by professional film producers is that all the different texts they create in order to promote the film, all include the protagonist or antagonist. Therefore we decided it was crucial that we did this when trying to promote our film. As you can see from the images of the film poster and the magazine cover, the mask is very central in both images. The mask being the antagonist in the trailer. Although it doesn't feature too heavily in the actual trailer, there is definitely still a sense of its importance in the way that the pace and mood of the trailer instantly changes as soon as the antagonist features. This creates an atmosphere around the antagonist and gives the audience a feeling of fear. This would make them want to see the actual film. This is a commonly used technique by film producers in order to excite and entice the target audience.
Overall, I believe my group have all produced professional looking ancillary texts for our Subliminal horror trailer. With our low budget and few skills with the technology used, we have succeeded in making three texts suitable for the professional film market. I am pleased with the way all the ancillary texts link with one another and I believe we have produced them at the best of our abilities. We all understood the importance of the three ancillary texts and I believe if we were to actually release the film, Subliminal, it would have a successful launch, due to the impact of the supporting texts, as well as the horror film trailer itself. They are very effective and support the trailer very well in my opinion.
Kieran Browne
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