Through creating a Twitter account and posting regular updates, Dark Horse Productions was able to effectively promote its new film. This included uploading a trailer and the first two minutes of footage. Using social media allowed the company to reach a larger, global audience. The teaser trailer for the film was only 21 seconds long but conveyed the dark atmosphere through brief clips and left audiences wanting more information. This increased anticipation and views for the film online. The film's unique selling point is its focus on the psychological characterization of the troubled characters, including a religious subplot, rather than solely focusing on crime elements like many similar thrillers.

2. Twitter
We created a Twitter account for our company Dark Horse
Productions. Through this Twitter page we were able to promote
our film by posting updates on what we were doing at the time
and videos of footage we had already collected. We uploaded a
trailer of our film and even the first 2 minutes. This was a good
way to attract a larger audience because social networking is the
main form of communication nowadays if you're interested in the
media industry. Production companies like Fox Productions also
use social networking to promote their shows such as ‘The
Walking Dead’. Nowadays it isn’t enough to simply put up a poster
of your film. By using social networking we were able to have a
larger global reach with people living in America showing an
interest in our film.

3. Poster
After a gradual poster process we reached
this poster to the right. It is dark, and grey
Which implies that the film will have a
Dark atmosphere similar to many thriller
Films. The picture is of the killer looking
Down towards the person reading the
Poster. This is made to scare the viewer
even before they see the film. He is
holding a gun which implies danger, this
The audience will instantly realise. The
Reviews and the title are in red font which
Symbolises blood, the reviews themselves
Are commonly seen on film posters. By
Including such good reviews it improves
The films image and tempts more people to
Watch the film.

4. Teaser trailer
The teaser trailer lasts only 21 seconds and consists of a montage of shots
made up from separate parts of the film. By using small segments of footage
we conveyed the films atmosphere yet didn’t give too much away. It created
questions that the audience wanted answered. Through doing this we raised
the audience anticipation and received more views. Through this trailer being
put up on YouTube we were able to reach a wider global audience. Nowadays
the audience are unlikely to go and see a film without a trailer informing them
of what it’s roughly about first. For example ‘300 Rise Of An Empire ‘released
their trailer almost a whole year before the film was released in cinemas, this
brought it a much higher level of anticipation.
Below is the link to our teaser trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqD8-zEae0w

5. Music
We chose to use Ave Maria by German composer Schubert. This song is used in
many films, a game that used it is ‘Hitman Blood Money’. Yes, this is a game
however it’s a thriller game. If we had used rock music for example, we would
of conveyed a more horror like film. Our film is verging on the horror genre
because of the masked killer so the use of classical music takes it away from
this direction and becomes more of a thriller film. The music changes tempo
continuously and luckily for us it was at the key parts such as when the 1st
protagonist gets shot. This created a more dramatic atmosphere which
conveyed the situations atmosphere. The song itself has an almost creepy feel.
It itself has religious connotations which we believe could link to the film if it
continued after the opening. It also, in my interpretation anyway, tells the story
of loss and tragedy, which of-course compliments the scene well. Our film is a
15 so many young people would likely not listen to music such as this but they
will still appreciate how it relates to the scene and how it creates the more
dramatic atmosphere. Older viewers will be more likely to have listened to
music such as this so are more likely to enjoy it. It shouldn’t alienate a large
part of the target market audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y

6. Unique selling point
Our films unique selling point is the storyline. Although there are many
crime thriller films out there our one focuses more on the characters.
Another character who comes into it after the opening two minutes is
psychologically troubled and finds solace in death. The audience go
further into the characterisation of this man unlike other crime thrillers
which focus on one specific character. Our film also holds religious
connotations much different to many crime thrillers which focus on
drugs. This religious feature is key plotline in the film, it brings focus to
the story.

7. Conventions
We followed the thriller conventions
closely. Most thriller involve a death,
one to kick off a conspiracy perhaps.
Through doing this we opened many
questions such as why did the protagonist
kill himself at the end. We followed
the iconography closely, the gun and
the candles are key parts. Many horror
films like the ‘Women In Black’ use candles which does show that we got
close to the horror genre but maintained a thriller edge because we involved a
gun which is the commonly seen weapon in thriller films, ‘Die Hard’ for
example.
We followed character conventions with the killer. We did what many thriller
films do and kept the killer ambiguous, you never actually see his face in the
opening scene. The film ‘Se7en’ did the same. Kevin Spacey’s antagonist
wasn’t seen until the final half hour of the film. Through following these
conventions the audience will know what to expect, and won’t be
disappointed.