1. How effective is the combination
of your main product and ancillary
texts?
By Josh Shelley
2. Brand identity is a vital part to the marketing campaign of a film
It creates a USP and makes all marketing elements recognisable as part of the same film
I studied the marketing campaign for the films ‘Warm Bodies’ and ‘Split’. These can be found on my
journal. Split uses a variety of techniques to establish a brand identity. The techniques are
summarised below:
o The title of the film appears cracked in all marketing products, this makes it easily recognisable
o They marketing campaign focuses on the narrative of the main character having multiple
personalities, they have used shadows in the poster to illustrate this idea
o The director’s name appears on all marketing products clearly linking
them all together
Brand Identity
3. We wanted to create strong brand identity across our three media products.
We chose to focus on creating it with genre, lead actor’s name and narrative.
However, during the creation of these products brand identity was
established by other factors as well.
The hardest element of creating brand identity amongst all three products
was the magazine. We chose our magazine based on the research and as the
magazine is more educational, it would not follow the conventions if we were
to attempt to convey genre or use a scene as a cover. Instead, we decided to
use the actors on the front cover to create a link with the other marketing
products.
Our Brand Identity
5. We tried to establish the same genre and narrative in
each of our products. We were successful in creating
this in our poster and teaser trailer, however, due to
the nature of the magazine cover it was impossible to
do this while fitting the conventions of a magazine
cover.
It is clear from the teaser trailer what the genre is and
is notable from several features. The narrative is a
vital part to revealing the genre. Obviously the
narrative is much harder to convey in the poster. We
took inspiration from ‘Split’ and looked at how they
had used shadows to create the idea of multiple
personalities. We used faces with different facial
expressions to also try to convey this idea, as it was a
vital part of our narrative.
Genre & Narrative
6. We also used a white and black contrast to create a clinical feel which would reinforce the
psychological genre. It was also suggestive of the narrative as a ‘clinical feel’ would directly
relate to the main characters medical issues (multiple personalities) The sectioning of
poster also helped to amplify this ‘clinical feeling’ meaning the genre was conveyed in both
media products. We also used black and white colouring for the magazine cover
background and the text elements in the teaser trailer. This helped to establish a brand
identity.
Genre & Narrative Continued
7. To an extent brand identity was created across all three media products by using
visual elements. Visual elements is the biggest component to creating brand
identity. The film split uses the same text font across all it’s marketing products,
the main character and has the director’s name in every one. This links all the
products together.
We used actor’s names across all three products to establish and brand identity.
The name ‘Josh Shelley’ appeared on the poster, magazine cover and in the
teaser trailer. This is vital in creating a brand identity as the viewer is aware that
the actor is in the film and by them appearing on other marketing products,
means they are aware it is part of the same promotional campaign.
Visual Elements
8. We accomplished this by using the actor’s face on all three products. This created
a permeant link between the products and means it is instantly recognisable.
Moreover, most of the fonts on all three products was the same (excluding some
wording on the magazine cover as it was relating to different articles and so did
not want to confuse the brand identity).
Visual Elements Continued
9. The tagline only appeared on the poster , which when evaluating, which an error
that severely affected brand identity. The tagline makes the products linked and
is easy to remember meaning if used effectively, would have proven a valuable
asset. For example the film ‘Split’ has a tagline which is effective as it is used
across more than one of its marketing products. This is helpful in creating brand
identity.
Visual Elements Continued
10. Representation of Characters
In the poster and teaser trailer, the main character is represented in the same
way. The other characters have minor roles and therefore are not in the poster. I
will not be discussing their representation as it does not contribute to the brand
identity. The main character is represented as a little bit crazy and weird due to
his multiple personalities. This is easily recognisable in the teaser trailer as the
changes are shown. However, as a poster is still, it was much harder to represent
the character in the same way. We showed his craziness by having photos of the
same character, pulling different facial expressions, stacked on top of each other.
This created the same effect thus creating brand identity between two of the
products.
11. Representation of Characters
Continued
The magazine was much harder as the characters themselves did not appear on
the cover, but the actors themselves. As the actors were not the acting, it was
impossible to represent the main character in the same way.
12. Target Audience
Our target audience is males and females, predominantly male, and aged between 15-24.
We are not going to target a particular class as my target audience research
demonstrated little difference between the categories.
Two of the three media products appeal to our target audience and both have strong
brand identity with each other. I believe both our poster and teaser trailer appeal to the
target audience due to the narrative, genres within the marketing campaign. Without
brand identity between these two, features such as genre etc. would not be conveyed in
other products meaning they would not appeal, to as much effect, to our target
audience.
The magazine cover does not entirely appeal to our target audience as the magazine is
more informative meaning it would not appeal to our target audience. Moreover, it has
the least brand identity meaning certain elements of the teaser trailer aren’t conveyed to
the audience.
