main product and ancillary texts

1. How effective is the combination of my main product and ancillary texts?
A film distributer’s role is to market a film. They are in charge of how a filmis marketed; this
can be as either a company or an individual. The film distributer has the control on certain
aspects of the movie; this includes the viewing platform, such as
home viewing, DVDs, streaming, cinema, etc. They will also have
control of the release date of the filmand the ways the audience will
view the relevant information in regards to the film. The film
distributor is very important to a production company in order to
create a successful product and a successful income for the company.
Concerning advertising and promotional techniques, the film distributer will use a variety of
ways to promote their film. Most conventional to high scale movies with a popular hype are
usually able to view in cinemas, the distributer will also ensure a movie premier with a large
amount of promotion, such as press, which hold exclusive interviews with directors and
actors and take pictures of the stars of the movie. This
therefore allows the audience to be aware of the film and in
turn, creating publicity and excitement for the film. A common
place to filmnew filmtrailers is in the adverts section of
watching another film, this immediately engages the target
audience of people who enjoy films and makes them aware of a
new film. Also advertising through social media e.g. Facebook,
Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube. Using social media to promote
a film is likely to attract a much younger target audience. Also
through to print media this includes film magazines, posters
and billboards.
Marketing differs depending on the potential audience for the film based on demographics
and size. With a lower budget, a film distributer may have to consider realistic alternative in
terms with advertising and promotion. The filmmay go straight to DVD; however, the
movies are marketed within the horror industry. They will still release a film trailer, which
can be shown on television, also shared and publicised on social media as
this is a free form of promotion, and is frequently used by a large number
of people, especially within the demographic of a teenage audience as
many horror films are. As we have noticed within the last few years, the
industry has developed and many films are being released straight onto
online streaming services. Attracting a mainly younger audience
demographic. A film distributor must diversify and embrace the
development within the industry and encourage a wide reach for their
film and therefore ensure success.

2. Example of a successfully marketed product-
There is high value of audience research to distribution companies when it comes to
developing their campaign, for example, we can look at recent film, Beauty and the Beast
2017.
Beauty and the Beast was released March 2017, all these posters carry unified identity within
the brand, showing the iconography of the film within the posters, which includes the rose.
In addition, we see the two main characters within the film on two of the posters. As Beauty
and the Beast is a Disney classic, which they have recreated from the original 1991, we can
assume a large target audience as to be expected with Disney. The demographics include the
age of those who watched the original e.g. 26+ and new a new younger audience
demographic who may not have seen the first film however are fans of the Disney brand and
therefore have immediate trust that they will enjoy this film.
The unified identity is clear from the poster by using the same branded and recognisable font
relevant to the Disney brand. The distributer has also showed elements of the narrative and
shared knowledge of the presumed audience. We assume that we are looking at Beauty and
the Beast within the posters and that they are in love, this is also relevant when considering
the trailer, the main poster and the film reviews. Within the promotion and marketing of this
film we saw conventional advertising features such as billboards, premiers, interviews, film
multiple posters, social media publicity and a trailer. The social media expanded through to
Facebook live broadcasting of the live premier event, Twitter hashtags, and a snapchat filter
dedicated to the release date of this film. It is clear that this film was successful due to the
film topping 900 Million dollars at Worldwide Box Office.

3. My Poster-
Magazine cover- specific elements I took inspiration from e.g. font composition, colours,
image explain the value of getting on the cover of a filmmagazine to the film’s promotion
and how my cover relates to my poster and trailer.
Posters I took inspiration
from-
When I was deciding on the design of my poster, I began looking at existing and professional posters. The ones
I thought were most effective were ones with low key lighting, a lot of use of black and white with only the
colour red to represent a blood concept or just simply to relate to the horror genre. I have taken inspiration
from the poster ‘Ancestors’ in regards to the image, as they have also used a shadow on part of the face, which
I have on the left side of the image. This influenced my poster, as I wanted to achieve a scary image, which also
infers creepiness and suspense relating to my filmtrailer and my magazine cover. All the existing posters that I
had taken inspiration from had a very dark or a black background surrounding the image. This is something
that I wanted to include within my poster, as the image was shot in a high-key lighting environment I had to
use an exposure adjustment layer within editing on Photoshop to ensure I achieved a professional finish. The
writing on my poster also symbolises the horror genre and represents the main theme of my trailer, which is a
‘broken’ family. Which was the main reason we wanted to use the smashed glass text effect. The idea to use a
vibrant red was also influenced by existing media texts, just as the colour used in Jacob’s Ladder. On this
poster, the red is the only colour used on the poster and works very effectively in evoking an element of fear
with the text and the colour of the text. The idea to place a ‘from the directors of…’ strapline was derived again
from the Jacob’s Ladder poster and this enabled me to find a suitable and professional placement of the
strapline, title and building block. Just like the Blair Witch Project, I have kept all text within my poster central.
In regards to the age certificates, we decided to make our filman age 15 due to the graphic scenes of
moderate violence and adult themes similar films within the genre, e.g. Split have an age rating of 15 so we, as
a group, presumed this would be appropriate.

4. My Magazine Cover- Existing magazine covers
which I took inspiration from-
Whilst designing my magazine cover I looked at existing media texts to gain inspiration. This included
specific elements such as a masthead, I chose to follow similar design to total film, however called mine
weekly film to differentiate the brand however still incorporate an element of brand identity with using
similar font style, of a large sans serif font. I also used existing media as influence for the colour scheme of
my magazine cover, I really liked the colour of the blue used in the James Bond style magazine, however, as
I wanted to keep unity between my three products I chose the same shade of red used in my filmposter, as
this created clear connection of my product of the film and in addition the red colour is effective in terms of
the horror genre. It immediately alerts the audience of certain danger with what the colour red connotes
(danger/ fear/ gore). With the composition of the cover lines my main guidance and inspiration was the
total film magazine of Star Trek. I liked the balance of bold writing and normal writing and used my cover
lines to shape the face of my image. My image works effectively when considering my three products as
promotion for my film. The image was important to get right to ensure my cover relates to my poster and
trailer. As I have used the antagonist on the magazine (inspiration from empire) it shows the different
characters within the filmand the expression on my characters face again promotes the movie due to his
very serious and ‘evil’ look. It was important not to break the character of the villain engage the audience
who read the magazine. My cover relates to my poster due to the same use of the smashed glass font, and
the use of black, white and red, which has also been a theme throughout our film trailer. I believe my three
products work well together to promote the movie.

5. The Trailer-
In regards to the trailer, my main aim was to create a successful campaign for the movie
‘The Perfect Family’. This included creating three media products that worked in a synergy
to create promotion for my movie. Within my trailer certain aspects are established such as
the main characters and they are quickly recognised within my magazine cover and my film
poster, making it easier for the audience to identify.
Poster Trailer Magazine Trailer
I have used two of the main characters of the vulnerable girl and the male antagonist. This
can be established by looking at all my media texts, showing the young girl in a very
defenceless within my poster and showing a contrast within my film poster as my male
character appears evil and confident within the close up shot, inferring that he is the villain
within the narrative.
The font which I have used on all three products is the same to ensure they continue a
certain synergy and an audience can relate them together, I have also used similar colour
style to denote unity within the tree products I have used red on perfect and white within
‘the’ and ‘family’. Considering all these marketing techniques used within my three media
products I have created a successful unified marketing strategy in order to promote the film
‘The Perfect Family’.