Evaluation

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

When a film has been produced it is very common that after it has been distributed, other products will be released alongside it for marketing purposes. These products implemented straight after the film can consist of anything such as magazine covers with the film on it, magazine articles, posters, television press and even flyers. However, due to advanced technology within the recent years flyers have not been used as much. These are the methods used to properly advertise the film, this has been implemented as a well known strategy to build up the hype for the film as the days get closer to the release date. Larger conglomerates such as Disney would have a very large budget for marketing, this gives them the chance to advertise on a larger scale, with a variety of different advertising plans. For example, Disney is well known for partnering with Mcdonalds and putting characters from that film as the toys in happy meals. For example Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has the record of 378.5 million dollars as their budget for the film, this meant the team was able to use a substantial amount to advertise the film efficiently using billboards, trailers, posters, sponsorships and other creative marketing elements.

The images above are two different advertisements from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. On the billboard it only showed one character however the face was split, one male is a creepy, almost supernatural looking with direct mode of address to express how unfearful and intimidating the character is, and half of the face is the skill which indicates they are the same person. As opposed to the one on Facebook this billboard adds enigma as not all of the characters are shown however the audience who view the billboard would feel intrigued and want to watch the film., they also used the pull stratergy to grab the audiences attention. Even though Pirates of the Caribean has a large budget they still have accounts on social media platforms to advertise and interact with the target audience. Facebook is one of the examples as they also use common platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Hey decided to put the poster of the film as the heading, which was of all the characters instead of using enigma as social media is for interaction and openness. With the archetype techniques as well as different methods of advertisement The Pirates of the Caribbean was able to reach a larger scale with their target market and achieve success in terms of the film production.

With this example, it is evident that combinations of different ancillary texts alongside the film production is very beneficial for every film that is being distributed. This includes all films regardless of if they do not have a large amount of budget, different target market and length of the film. For my film ‘Trapped’ I decided to implement two ancillary products which consist of a poster and a magazine cover.

I believe that my poster was a very effective way to advertise and promote my short film, my short film consisted of a smaller target audience (niche audience), independent film and a very small budget which meant I had to create inexpensive ancillary texts. After researching horror film posters, it did no contain a lot of information about the film just the main aspects would would draw attention from the target market. I decided to use Premiere Pro to create the poster as it was very accessible and due to experience in the software from AS Level I was able to implement my skills and create an even better ancillary text. The image consists of a figure in shadow form so the identity is not revealed, which implies they will not be identified within the film either. This adds enigma which will intrigue the audience to watch the film. As well as the the borders are black but fade into a red lighting which is directly above the figure. Red connotes danger and violence which implies that the figure is the antagonist and will cause havoc within the film. I also used red typography as the title for ‘Trapped’ which is in bold writing, which is very conventional for a horror film. This is clear indication that the film is within the horror genre. The tagline and directors past films are in white typography so it stands out against the dark background, this will be easily spotted by the audience. This is a very convenient way to advertise my film production as it is easily accessible to anyone that uses the internet and has access to platforms such as YouTube and social media platforms.

In addition, I also decided to create a magazine cover, as opposed to the film poster it is a more in-depth way to promote ‘Trapped’ has it contains more information on the film and the identity of the figure is slightly revealed due to his eyes showing. I decided to use this image as it does not add enigma, which gives the audience an exclusive insight as not everyone within my target market will read magazines. It also created enough hype, without needed to reveal any important aspects from the narrative, giving the audience clear indication however on who the actual antagonist and protagonist is within the narrative. The types of promotion that I did, in my opinion worked very efficiently as everyone within my target market uses the internet, especially when a new film is out and they want to research about it. When they do, the ancillary texts will be easily accessed online and even globally at a very low cost. The public is able to easily recognise and gain quick information about the film production, giving them a very brief yet informative analysis. Overall, it was an important process to make sure my target audience had the correct information and enough for them to go and watch the film.

Question 3
https://prezi.com/view/dMSmLpBbmVeEJZyHm9E9/

Question 4