The promotion of a new film release is a massive part of the marketing process as mentioned in my earlier blog post 'The Role of the Distributor' and can determine the success of a new film. It determines how well-known a film will be and whether many people will go to watch it or not as the promotions need to be spread across a wide range of different media and events that will get people talking about the latest film releases. Publicity is also another big way of getting a new film release noticed because by having a really good publicity team, it will allow a media product to receive good publicity and get people talking. Publicity teams, often supported by specialist agencies, arranges media interviews with available members of the film's cast which creates good publicity for both cast members and the film itself as both will be gaining publicity.
An example of a promotional package can be something exactly like what I have created on my blog. A teaser trailer for a new film being released along with a film poster to go with it are both big starting points that a marketing team promoting a new film would use as a way of promoting the film. We also had to create a magazine front cover that featured the release of our horror trailer. This is an example of gaining publicity for the release of our trailer as it offers an exclusive interview with the cast of our trailer 'Off Campus' which as mentioned above is good publicity for both the cast members and the film itself.
When it came to creating a film poster to go with my horror teaser trailer 'Off Campus' I wanted an image from the trailer that wouldn't give too much away to my audience but would intrigue them enough to want to watch the film. The image that I decided on for my poster was a still taken from the trailer of the main character and also the final girl 'Charlie' standing behind a fence and looking over her shoulder which reveals a dark garden, lit by a single light. The reason I chose this image for my poster was that I felt it highlighted the psychological horror within the film as well as portrayed the vulnerability of a girl in a horror film which tends to be a conventional element within horror. By having the main image of a film poster the same or similar to a shot taken from the actual trailer, it gives away to the audience a small insight as to what the narrative of the film may be about. This also includes the tagline I have chosen to use on the film poster as it is one of the intertitles used within our trailer which again reveals to the audience a brief insight into the narrative.
We also created a magazine cover which I chose to feature an exclusive interview with the cast of our trailer 'Off Campus'. Because I had already created a magazine front cover in my AS coursework, I found this rather simple to do as my skills in Photoshop had developed significantly from AS to A2 so therefore it was much quicker for me to create it this time round. Having a new film featured on a magazine cover is a great way to gain publicity for a new film and is beneficial for both the cast who are featured in the magazine interview and the film itself as both are gaining good publicity. Editorial coverage of a new film release can sometimes be more effective and persuasive than other advertising as an audience may find an independently written story more readable. Publicists will also compile press kits for journalists which will contain information such as: the cast and crew lists, biographies, notable facts about the production and a synopsis. All of these things will create big publicity for a film as they are available for journalists to see so that they can then arrange to have the cast of the film featured in different magazines and interviews, all of which will gain big publicity for the release of a new film. I also included a website for the magazine which again can be a big way for our film gaining wider publicity.
As well as a film poster and a magazine cover featuring the film, the biggest way to promote our film was through creating a trailer. This is one of the biggest ways of promoting a new film as it is spread across the biggest areas within the media such as TV and Internet so that it can be seen by a large proportion of our target audiences. The purpose of our trailer was to promote the film but through visuals that give the audience a basic idea of what the film is and will consist of, without giving too much away but revealing enough that it makes them want to view the full film at a cinema. The idea is to persuade and tease our audience into wanting to know more about the film which is why this in combination with the film poster works great as a promotional package.
Together I believe that my combination of our teaser trailer 'Off Campus' along with my film poster work well as a promotional package for the film as both are designed to tease the audience and promote the film. My magazine front cover is also another good combination with our trailer as it is designed to gain publicity for our film by gettng people interested in both our trailer and the cast so that our film has a wide range of good publicity which can also help in promoting the film.
