Media evaluation question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

2. My group and I construct a marketing campaign for a new zombie horror film
incorporating a film poster, a magazine front cover and a film trailer. We chose to base
our ancillary texts on the genre of the zombie horror apocalypse as we as a group find
that genre enjoyable and interesting, plus we know an abundance of codes and
conventions of the zombie horror apocalypse.

3. I believe we have created a very strong brand identity, through
the use of the same fonts for the title of the film “The Hunted”
across all three texts, and the use of similar colour schemes
including black, white, red and green. We have built a brand
that clearly communicates the zombie horror genre, as the use
of deep reds clearly signifies blood, while the green colours
connote the zombie and sci-fi themes in the film. This has been
emphasised by our use of make-up and mise-en-scene in the
use of imagery of the character’s face on the magazine front
cover, and the he film poster and the use of make-up in the
film trailer. This creates hype and buzz, because the protagonist
appears as a zombie on the two print ancillary texts, and this
builds a reputation of mystery and a dialogue with the
audience questioning if the protagonist will survive or not.
For all the texts combined (the magazine cover, film poster and
film trailer) they contain media convergence and synergy as
the brand is displayed across three platforms.
Also, our use of degrading and textures on Photoshop and
iMovie in all three texts build a feeling of run-down and
dystopian worlds conventional to the post-apocalyptic genre.

4. The title can be seen in each text which instantly tells the audience that each text is
related and contains different forms of advertising and promoting the product by it
being varied and giving little details that may not give any secrets and narratives away
from the film but at the same time, this creates hype and buzz through word of mouth
as the target audience may tell other who they may know even that they may not be
part of the target audience may expand the target audience overall.

5. Synergy has also been used by having the main protagonist of Dorian being
displayed on the Poster of the film and being displayed within the film trailer in
numerous amounts of shots (shown the most within trailer).
Other products, such as the film magazine have used our film to advertise their
product (the magazine itself), so both companies – ours and theirs – have a
mutual benefit and the collection of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

6. To measure how effective our product was as a whole campaign, we exhibited all of
our work to a group of 40 students in our target audience in an assembly. We
constructed a questionnaire that was based on all three ancillary texts and gave
them to an audience of 40.

7. Within the questionnaire responses one of the questions that was asked was “How
well do you think the combination of all three texts is?” which all respondents of
both male and female said that it was quite and very well. The majority of the males
said it was quite well and the majority of the females said it was very well.
This tells me and my group that the synergy and media convergence across all three
texts was very effective and has the same codes and conventions used within all
texts. We were expecting to appeal more to a male audience base, so the greater
positive response from the female demographics in the audience was surprising,
however pleasing. This may be because they were also in our target age-group and
life-matrix segment of ‘fun-atic’ and ‘tribe-wired’.
0 5 10 15
Poorly
Quite well
Very well
0 5 10 15
Poorly
Quite well
Very well

8. The film trailer displays the date which is June 11th which is
very good time to show the film as it is within the summer
months and on a Saturday which is perfect for our target
audience as they will be on the summer break and have plenty
of time to view the film (more convenient for the target
audience).
They would also have plenty of time to share information about
the film with each other by word of mouth, and electronic word
of mouth (EWOM), and provide free and useful marketing four
our production company.
The film poster also displays the release date which reinforces
synergy and media convergence even further and creates hype
and excitement and also word of mouth as more of the target
audience are informed of this product by the film being
displayed on various platforms.
The film trailer is very effective as it creates hype, buzz and excitement as it displays
conventions that a normal successful theatrical film trailer would display.

9. Our links to social media on the print texts show an understanding of media
convergence, and encourages EWOM, which is proved to be a highly cost effective
and viral marketing strategy, which would be necessary for promoting and marketing
our film widely. This is a popular genre, and so there would be a wide fan-base for
this.

10. Other codes and conventions that can be found on all three texts are the characters of
the film being displayed. The main protagonist Dorian is displayed on the film poster
with him holding his signature weapon (iconography) confronting zombies.
Dorian and the antagonists are also displayed within the trailer as Dorian and zombies
(antagonists) are shown in multiple shots. The antagonists of the film trailer (Dorian’s
strange doppelganger) are also shown on the magazine front cover which is shown
across all platforms which is what the film is about.

11. The conventions of the magazine cover creates hype,
excitement and uses intellectual puzzles (Rick Altman) as
it gives the audience little information about the film
which gives the audience more to think about the
potential of the what the film could show and be about,
therefore generating more buzz from the speculation of
the fans. The use of the colours displayed informs the
audience of what the genre is which creates more
excitement and hype as the target audience enjoys films
of this genre and by there being a new film of this genre,
they will be intrigued and want to find out as much
details about it as possible.
The website of the magazine that is displayed below the
barcode also reinforces media convergence as the target
audience can find out more about the film by going the
magazine’s website. This would particularly appeal to
superfans and opinion leaders, and so we would have to
have interesting and interactive features on our film
website.

12. The codes and conventions of the film trailer make the audience feel various
visceral effects which the target audience’s memory will trigger when viewing the
magazine cover and the film poster that they experienced whilst watching the film
trailer which they may feel a low stimulation of excitement and adrenaline when
identifying the film title’s name The Hunted.
The title sounds full of action and outdoor scenes,
which we marketed effectively to our rugged
traditionalists through use of imagery and footage
of outdoor settings in all three texts. Additionally,
the images of graphic blood and the effects of
violence will create the visceral pleasures enjoyed
by fans of this genre, as it suggests that there are
exciting and bloodthirsty scenes in the film. As a
result, the film marketing campaign effectively
appeals to its target audience of especially male
viewers, aged 15 and above.

13. The conventions of the film magazine subliminally conditions the target audience who
enjoyed the film, which they will associate the visceral effects they experienced whilst
watching the film trailer when they see the film title’s name on various platforms such
as the magazine cover and film poster which makes all of the texts more effective.
Overall, these conventions displayed across all texts makes it easier for the audience
to identify what the brand product is when they see these images on different
platforms without seeing the title. I feel that this one of our key strengths in the
project.