Pre release promotion

1. Taken
Ella Duncan

2. Print Analysis
 Taken 1 was released in 2008 and directed by Pierre Morel staring Liam Neeson. The
film is about a CIA agent who travels across Europe after hearing his daughter has
been abducted from her hotel room by human traffickers and sexual slavery in
France.
 The film is a thriller action film, relating to the genre and sub-genre based in my
production.
 The print media used for the film was useful because it allowed the film to be
advertised to a wide range of people rather than just being online and on TV. The
posters allow the film to be promoted to a mass target audience making them aware
of the film roughly two weeks before the trailer is released. The posters I found
during research each showed the protagonist character Bryan Mils (Liam Neeson)
either in action during the film of a still shot of him. This therefore introduces
audiences to the characters and allows them to grow an interest in the film as the
posters do not reveal a lot of information about the plot of the film. The posters
mostly follow the same house style with low key lighting and bold fonts that stand
out well and entice audiences.

3. Poster
 This poster denotes the protagonist in a still action shot that
has clearly been taken in a photo-shoot on a green screen. The
protagonist has been then placed on a background where
there are smaller images of different shots from the film. This
allows the audience to see the main character and some of
the action, however it does not give away the plot of the film.
The house style is low key, dark greys with the title in a big
bold font that is continuously used throughout all of the
advertising media. The white font that is used for the release
date and the main actors stands out from the background
making it clear and enticing for the audience as they may see
the poster on a bus and billboards in the street. The tag line
used at the top of the poster allows creates an enigma for the
audience as it gives the audiences an introduction to what the
concept of the film may be. “He will HUNT them, He will FIND
them and he will KILL them” is stated at the top of the poster
which links to a quote said by the protagonist Bryan Hils,
however audience members would not eat be aware of this
therefore they are forced to question what this means.

4. Poster
 This poster shows an extreme long shot of the
protagonist as he runs through the streets. The
poster is a French poster, implying that it was used
in France in order to attract a wide range of
audience members to watch the film and be made
aware of it. The red font used for the title is an eye-catching
element of the poster and allows this
aspect to be the eye-catching central part of the
poster. White font is also used to show the main
actor, Liam Neeson and also the director, Pierre
Morel which stands out well against the dark,
mysterious blue background which makes it clear for
the audience to see. This poster would be clear for
audiences to see in the street on billboards, busses
and trains in France. The poster also allows the
audience to get some ideas about the film because
we are able to see the Eifel tower in the back of the
action shot, introducing audience members to the
setting of the film. This is also means that the action
is not given away to the audience and creates a
sense of mystery and an enigma because they are
only shown one character.

5. Poster
 The final poster is the most simple poster but
allows the audience to become aware of the
concept that could be included in the film. The
use of the dark black background creates the
feeling of absence and absorbs all aspect of
light. Therefore with the ark grey font used to
portray the quote stands out more but also fits
the house style of a dark, mysterious colour. The
use of the orange font for the title “TAKEN”
allows the focus to be on that title, meaning the
audience are made aware of the title of the film
so they can find out more about the film and are
aware of the name of the film so they can watch
trailers. This orange font also matches the range
font used for the main actors name, this allows
any members of the public who like Liam
Neeson can see that he stars in this film and will
be more likely to go and watch the film,
meaning a bigger mass of audiences are aware
of the film and will watch the film at cinemas
etc.

6. Posters overall
 Overall, the print media used to advertise the film Taken,
was a big part of the distribution process of this film. By
having a wide range of posters, it allows the audience to
become use to this new film as the different posters would
be used in different places such as busses, tubes, billboards,
magazines etc. The films all allow ait of information to be
given to a mass target audience about the film, but also
creates a huge amount of enigma because none of them
simply give away a great deal of the plot that the film
consists in the film. Print media allows the film advertising
to be promoted to a wider range of people, meaning more
people are aware of the film and will watch the trailer and
will hopefully then be interested in the film itself.

7. E-Media Analysis
 E-media was used to a huge extent for the distribution of the film Taken in
2008. The use of E-Media allows the film information to be spread all over
easily and keeps people up to date with the process of the film. This also
attracts other audience members to show an interest in the film. Different e-media
advertising techniques that were used to promote the film included
Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

8. FaceBook
 Facebook was used in order to promote the film meaning it can be seen by
Facebook users. The Taken facebook page was used to promote the film to a wide
range of audience members as they constantly posted teaser 30 seconds trailers
and photos. This allows the audience to be made aware of the film so that they
can then go and see it in the cinema. This also allows people to be able to share
the film with others on their Facebook, easily and quickly therefore meaning it can
spread globally.

9. Official Website
 20th century fox also created an official Taken website which again helped the
film to spread to a wide range of audiences all over the world. The website
also shows links to other social networking sites such as twitter, Facebook and
Google, allowing audiences to get updates and means the film is spreading
around to different social networking sites. The website also posted different
action shots taken from the film allowing the users to get closer to the mise-en-
scene and the plot of the film before the official trailer was released.