The document discusses the effectiveness of a poster, magazine cover, and trailer created to advertise a horror film called "Cold Blood". The poster, magazine cover, and trailer were designed to fit horror genre conventions and be cohesive. They feature a dark color scheme and images relating to the film's plot about a character undergoing a transformation. The materials are aimed at a target audience of males and females aged 18-25 by including elements of both sci-fi and psychological horror genres.

1. Cold Blood
Evaluation Part 2
Beth Quittenton

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

3. When creating my poster I wanted to have a strong central
image that was the most dominant aspect of the poster.
Another important aspect was the colour theme of the
poster. I wanted to connote a dark and gloomy atmosphere;
therefore the background image of the poster is black. This
also connotes a sense of mysteriousness because you cannot
see anything in the background. I also wanted to reflect how
the film has elements of science-fiction; therefore I wanted
to include the colour green as the second dominant colour.
To connote that this is a horror film, I have added subtle
hints of red on the poster. I placed a cracked glass texture
over the eye so that it drew more attention towards it. I
wanted the eye to be the main focal point of the image,
because it shows how the main character has undertaken a
transformation, and therefore represents part the film’s
narrative. This also creates a sense of direct address towards
the audience; it naturally draws the eyes of the audience to
the face that is looking at them.

4. I have followed the typical conventions of a horror poster. When comparing my poster to an
official horror poster we can see clearly similarities within it. Firstly, the title of the film is the
boldest and most eye-catching text on the poster. Also, the image is either of the protagonist, or
the antagonist; these are the main characters within a horror film; therefore they need to be the
most recognisable. Both of the posters have a tag line; the tag lines usually connect with either the
place, or what happens within the film. Tag lines can be used to build tension, and also to inform
the audience of the type of scary location that is going to be used. Black is the most dominant
colour within both of the posters. This connotes a sense of mystery due to the pathetic fallacy of
night-time, and it also reflects on the scary atmosphere of the poster. The colour red on both
posters represents blood, therefore the audience know by the subtle hints of red on both posters
that there is going to be some body-horror within the films. We have both also credited the
relevant people and companies, in the billing block at the end of the poster, that have helped to
make the films; this is situated at the bottom of the magazine, underneath the title of the film. The
images that are used in both posters display either the protagonist or the antagonist, this helps to
draw the audience into the image through the use of direct address, and also it gives the audience a
sense of the location, and the overall sense of the atmosphere of the film. My image fits the
conventional structure of official horror posters because I have used an image of one of the main
characters within the film, I have also used part of the custom used throughout the horror film to
allow the audience to get a sense of what the film entails.

5. During the construction of my magazine cover, I wanted to make
sure that I had a strong central image that related to my horror
trailer Cold Blood. Although the model does not feature in the
actual trailer itself, I wanted to use it because it indicates that
there will be a strong “final girl” character who will challenge the
antagonist in the full film. When looking at the image you can see
that it is going include some sort of amphibian; the colours also
help to reflect the genre/s of the film. The colour red again
connotes that the film is going to have elements of blood, and the
colour green usually relates to aliens, therefore this reflects that
there is going to be elements of the sci-fi genre due to the
herpetology-based narrative.

6. When comparing my magazine cover with an official magazine cover you can
spot some very clear comparisons. Firstly, we both have a very clear and
dominant central image of a “star” in the film; this allows the audience to be
drawn towards the magazine as they can clearly see the character. The film
titles are also very boldly placed underneath the image, and also the colour of
the text links into the overall colour theme throughout the magazine. Both
magazine covers have also advertised free magazine posters; creating added
merchandise to draw in potential buyers. The magazine titles are written in
bold at the top of the page and relate to what the magazine is about, and what
area of creativity they feature in. There are also quotes from both of the
featured films either above or below the film’s title, which humanise the film’s
production and draw us into feeling closer to the film’s stars.

8. On the slide before is a screen shot of a scene from my horror trailer Cold Blood, as
well as my magazine cover and my poster. Together, they carefully try to create an
advertising campaign that sells both the narrative and genre of our film. Both my
magazine cover and my poster fit to the trailer because of the use of the colour green,
as well as the use of scales to connote a lizard-like creature. Also, the use of black
throughout all three images consistently create a sense of mystery, which would lure
the audience in to find out what happens, and how someone can become a lizard-like
creature. The selected target audience that Cold Blood is aimed at is predominantly
males, as well as females, between the ages of 18 to 25; we have achieved this through
the use of having a final girl on the magazine cover. Another horror film that has a
target audience of both males and females, and also features a final girl is The
Amityville Horror; the final girl character has to protect her child in order to save her
husband.

9. The trailer for Cold Blood is aimed at a wide target audience
because of the way it merges two genres. Cold Blood features
elements of sci-fi, and sci-fi is stereotypically more appealing to
males in comparison to females. However, the trailer also features
elements of a psychological horror, which is more appealing to
females, so some females would take an interest into our film.
My magazine would appeal to a more mainstream audience,
rather than a niche audience; this is because horror is quite a
mainstream genre amongst teens aged 18 to 25, therefore the
magazine would mimic the conventions of Empire magazine, but
with a horror twist.