How Effective Is The Combination of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?
Target Audience
The target audience for my movie is 18+ as it is a horror film and contains scenes for mature adults.
I had to made the audience aware of this before they watch the film so people of the right age are watching it and no underage people are watching it illegally.
I made this clear in on my movie poster as in the bottom right hand corner there is a clear age certificate showing thats it is only suitable for 18+. This is so as soon as people see the poster, they might not be able to tell how graphic or scary it will be, as they are more likely to see the poster before they see the trailer. So the age rating is clearly on the poster to warn the audience.
I also made this clear in my trailer itself as the first thing you see in the trailer is a green screen which says the content is only appropriate for appropriate audiences. This again helps to give the audience an idea of what sort of scenes you may see in the movie.
I did not show any rating on the magazine cover. This is because my magazine is a horror magazine only, so when you first buy the magazine, you will be able to tell what sort of contents it will hold.
How Genre Is Portrayed
The genre of my film is horror, and i has to make sure that this was portrayed in my trailer, magazine cover, and poster.It is important to get the genre across before people watch the film as they need to know what it will be about, so the audience will know if they will want to watch it or not.
In my trailer I portrayed the genre of horror in different ways, with the help of my previous research.
I had a simple yet mysterious storyline, which left you asking questions. which leads to mystery and makes it soft of spooky. I chose my font carefully as it is simple, but effective as it is bold, so makes you pay attention and the text had blood splatters over it which is a giveaway of the genre.
After looking at horror trailers I had noticed that the action starts off slow and builds up along with the music at the end and end suddenly, so this is what I tried to do with mine. This helps to build effect and make it have more of an impact. I had also used sound effects when the titles appear to make it more loud and have an impact.
In my magazine cover the genre is pretty self-explanatory as the magazine is a horror magazine anyway, so the audience will assume that it will be horror. This assumption is helped with the main image with is a large blood covered hand, so you will see the blood and think horror.
I also used gothic/horror type fonts to help make it the genre clear, and i used a white font as it shows well against the black background
I also chose my wording carefully i said 'the frighteningly fantastic film, that will have you screaming for more!'. As it has the words frighteningly and screaming in then they also help to give an idea of the genre.
In my movie poster i have made it look more mysterious than horror like. This is because it is only the poster and I don't want to give too music away from just the poster as it may spoil the trailer. However, i have some elements of horror in it like the location of this image. As they are against an old looking brick wall, so this makes you think where are they and what are they doing.
I have also made the background black and white so the characters stand out and you can see their importance. I have the details at the bottom of the poster and an age rating certificate saying it's suitable for an audience age 18+. I have also stuck to one font, so that doesn't give to much away based on the font, and all of the text is red to represent blood.
Audience Appeal
As my target audience is 18+ I had to try and make my film appeal to males and females age 18+. So it needed to be professional looking and contain character of around the same age, this is so the audience can relate to the characters.
In movie poster the main part that appeals to the audience of the main image. This is because you can see who the characters are and what they look like, and from looking at them you can see they are a bunch of students age around 18-19. So this would help the audience relate to the characters as they are around the same age.
Also the fact the background is black and white makes the characters stand out and shows them more to the audience. Also there is more image than text which means you can read what you need to without finding out too much about the film and it getting spoiled.
In my magazine cover again the image helps to appeal to the audience as it is a large red blood covered hand so it immediately draws you in to look at the image. Then it leaves you with questions wondering what it's doing, and why it's there. Also the magazine contents helps to appeal to the audience as it says there is real life stories inside, so this helps to audience relate to what's inside, and the stories are horror/unhappy themed to the horror magazine.
Plus there is a part which says Plus!, so this appeals to the audience as it makes them interested about what it says
The images of the characters also help to appeal as they are looking straight ahead at the audience, so it's like they are making a connection with them. However the character Megan is looking away, and this could be making you wonder why.
In my trailer I had to make it appeal to the audience as the trailer is what needs to interest the audience in the film. I did this in a few different ways. I used a mixture of sounds and music to go with the action, which throughout the trailer builds along with the action so this captures the audiences attention and adds tension which adds effect. I added a sound effect on the title screen to make a loud impact and get the audiences attention. I also used characters in the film which are around the same age as the target audience so the audience can connect with the characters and relate which their lives. As the characters are shown in pain and sadness, the audience may be able to empathise with the charters at points, and also the audience can be made to feel sorry for the characters.
Promoting And Selling The Product
As I have a new film, then is important to promote and market the product, so it will sell and people will watch it. It is important to market it in the right places, for example i am using my horror magazine to promote my horror film. It would not work if I was promoting my horror film in a comedy magazine.
In my movie poster I have used media convergence to help market and promote it. I have got a website for the movie, which is www.blame.com. This is so the audience can look on the website before they see the film to find out more about it and see if they like it. It also has a hashtag which says blamethemovie. This is so people can use Twitter and Facebook to help promote the movie and spread the word themselves. Also you can see the names of the actors in the films, so you know who is in it, and if there is anyone in there which you have seen before.
For my magazine cover the magazine itself is doing the promoting, as it is introducing the new film.
Inside the magazine you can read interviews with the cast, gossip and stories from the set, and you get a free giant poster. This means you can read about the cast and crew, and the film to find out more about it before you see the film. As it also comes with a free giant poster, people can stick it on their walls and help spread the word about the film.
The magazine also has it's own website which readers can go on, and find out more about the film there as well.
For my trailer, as you watch it you see parts that let you know the director, so you can see of you know any of their other films.
You also see the names of the actors in it, so you can see if you recognise any of their other films.
At the end of the trailer there is a screen which also has media convergence on. There is a Facebook icon so you can 'like' the films Facebook page and get updates and see images. A Twitter icon, so you can follow the film on Twitter and get updates and see pictures, and you can even tweet the people in the film. There is also another hashtag which says blamethemovie, it is the same hashtag as what's on the poster to keep it simple. The website for the film is also there so people can see it again, and visit the website to find out more about the film. There id also the release date so the audience will know when it is released,and when they can go to see it.
