How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
1.
2. BRAND IDENTITY
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY MARKETING CAMPAIGN
THE FILM'S UNIQUE SELLING POINT THROUGHOUT ITS CAMPAIGN
The marketing campaign I looked at originally was for „Paranormal Activity‟.
The campaign used to market this film began as very low budget campaign that eventually
developed into a worldwide film sensation.
The horror movie cost a total of $15,000 to make, it was directed by San Diego, and filmmaker Oren
Peli. The film first screened in 2008 at Slamdance Film Festival and ultimately caught the attention
of Steven Spielberg who is the blockbuster director. His initial desire was to direct a high-budget
remake of the film, however he instead brought the film to Paramount/DreamWorks, where it took off
properly.
The Paranormal campaign escalated through the form of word-of-mouth marketing to begin with.
Audiences who first viewed the film would tell others about their experience of the film which
formed a new marketing strategy to help promote the new film.
Another unique selling point for Paranormal Activity was social media. Social media allowed the film
to be marketed to audiences worldwide, it was an essential promotion tool for the Paranormal
marketing campaign. To advertise and promote the movie online users were able to communicate
with others online and share what they thought of the film which help stimulate hype surrounding the
movie . This was a major advantage for the films distributors as the film itself was created on a very
low budget and had no additional funds to set up high value marketing campaigns that would cost
them a great deal. The emerging use of media had meant Paranormal Activity was able to become
an extreme movie sensation due to the media social networking buzz. Their distribution strategy
worked as a whole to create a worldwide sensation that helped encourage audiences watch and
share the film.
3. HOW WERE COLOURS, FONTS, STAR IMAGES AND
TAGLINES USED IN PARANORMAL ACTIVITY MARKETING.
Colours
The colours are kept
relatively plain and simple
throughout. The poster
consists of the main black
background colour. The
white, type-writer style font
has been used on top of the
black background which
makes it easily visible and
easy to read by viewers.
Font – Titles
The red font used on the title
can instantly be seen. The red
colour stands out amongst the
other text on the poster, the bold
font also helps to illuminate the
title. The red colouring is
typically used to identify the
films brand identity. The red is
commonly used to suggest the
danger and thrill surrounding the
film.
The type-writer style font
used can be easily
recognised as
„Paranormal‟. The font
helps support the brand
identity as it can be
specifically identified for
the film‟s branding.
Star Image
The star image shown on
this poster is the filming
footage from the film. The
image shows the
characters from one of the
scenes in action.
Taglines
The film uses various taglines
in their advertising
campaigns. The taglines used
on this poster read „WHAT
HAPPENS WHEN YOU
SLEEP‟- which then leads on
to the title for the film. The
other tagline reads „DON‟T
SEE IT ALONE‟. The
capitalised font indicates to
the viewer the importance of
these words and suggests a
kind of threat.
4. HOW HAVE WE USED COLOURS, FONTS, STAR IMAGES
AND TAGLINES ON OUR POSTER
Colours
We used a neutral,
simple colour
scheme throughout
our marketing
advertisements. Here
on the poster we
used a black and
white colour scheme
which I think works
well to create a
professional looking
advertising poster.
We didn‟t use an
definitive tagline for
out marketing
advertisements,
however we instead
used reviews that we
thought would endure
audiences.
Fonts
We used a bold simple
font for the titles and
taglines displayed on
the poster. We agreed
that this text looked
most professional and
could be easily seen
and highlighted on the
poster.
The title „THE
PROCEEDINGS‟ we
chose to present in a
red colour font which
stands out amongst
the other texts and can
read over the image.
The red helps create our
film‟s own brand identity
as a whole, like
Paranormal we used
this as inspiration for our
own.
Star Image
The main image that takes up most of the poster features an image of the main character presented in the film. The character is
displaying a worrying facial expression that can be confirmed by the slight anxiety within her eyes. The background behind the character
image is the location of the film. Without giving too much away on the poster we wanted to combine two images together of both the
character and setting of the film. Using a blending tool we were able to blend together the trees and facial image into one main image
that I think works well as a final poster image.
5. HOW HAS THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT USED COLOURS,
FONTS, STAR IMAGES AND TAGLINES ON THEIR POSTERS
WE USED ‘THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT’ AS AN EXAMPLE OF ANOTHER MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT WAS MADE ON A
VERY LOW BUDGET.
The background image indicates the film‟s setting and location. This is stereotypical of a thriller genre
being set in a woodland, forest location. The use of the dark, black and white image as the background
creates a fearful impression of what the film may be like.
Colours
The red symbol used here
on the poster instantly
connotes danger, the red
colour symbolises blood
and horror as well as
standing out on the dark
black background. The
symbol itself used is made
up of a cross that shares
connotation of death.
Taglines
The text used here gives a
slight insight into the story
behind the movie. Without
giving too much away the
last line of the text reads “A
year later their footage was
found”. This highlights the
film type and indicates to
the audience that it is
documentary footage used
to make the film. This may
be classed as a unique
selling point as the footage
is more realistic than other
horror/thriller films.
Star Image
When first looking at this
poster the first thing I
recognised was the main,
close up image of the girl that
takes up the majority of the
poster. Positioned slightly to
the right the girl's face is the
main focus of the poster. The
close-up image only displays
part of her face with her eyes
and eyebrows raised showing
anxiety and fear in her eyes.
Font
The title of the film „THE
BLAIR WITCH PROJECT‟
has been presented in bold
capitals. It stands out on the
page with its white font
against the dark background .
It is positioned in the centre
slightly below the main image
to form a main focal point of
the poster.
The website is highlighted in red to stand out
on the poster, this is also a good way to
promote the film and is a simple advertising
technique used that is highly beneficial to
many film distribution companies.
The billing block at the bottom of the poster is presented in
white to stand out. Above this is the caption; „Everything
you‟ve head is true‟ , this creates tension for the audience
and illustrates the real truth behind the film.
6. HOW WERE COLOURS, FONTS, STAR IMAGES AND
TAGLINES USED IN OUR MAGAZINE COVER?
Colours
Like our other marketing
advertisements we kept to plain,
simple colour scheme for our
magazine cover.
For our poster we used a black and
white colour scheme, however for
our magazine cover we didn‟t think
this would work as well because a
magazine cover is rarely seen in
black and white. Also the black and
white would have meant the text
would become difficult to read.
We kept the background as the
woodland image and placed the text
over the background using a visible
font.
Brand Identity
We used the existing magazine
„Paranormal‟ as a magazine to
promote our film. We thought this
magazine was best suited to our
horror genre as they specialise in a
similar genre of films.
Star Image
The magazine image we have
used is an image taken from
our filming day. The image
displays one the main
characters in the film. We
thought that this would be
appropriate to use on the cover
as other similar movies we
research have also used
characters as a cover image.
This creates a clear brand
identity for our film.
Font
We used a variety of bold fonts for
our magazine cover, the ones we
had been looking at previously did
not only contain one font. They
used a mix of fonts but none were
too dissimilar to each other.
We created the title using a
different programme to the one we
design the magazine using. The
title is the main focal point of the
cover which draws attention from
the audience. We wanted this to
contribute to our brand identity in
producing a well-designed horror/
thriller style title.
7. HOW WERE COLOURS, FONTS, STAR IMAGES AND
TAGLINES USED IN OUR TEASER TRAILER?
We used a
similar font
to other
documentary
style
trailers, we
placed titles
in the corner
of the screen
to display the
shots as the
centre focal
point for the
audience.
Colours- We stuck to a black and white/ sepia editing effect for our teaser. Looking at other existing trailers, for example
„Paranormal Activity‟ and „The Blair Witch Project‟ we found that they relatively used a dark colour effect throughout their
trailers.
We thought the black and white worked best and created a spooky sense that was desired for our
trailer.
8. HOW THESE ELEMENTS APPEAL TO OUR
TARGET AUDIENCE
Through the research we conducted we found that the most common audience for thriller/horror films were
teenagers. Generally aged between 13-18 these were ages most interest in this genre of film. Surprising
there was a higher percentage of girls who watched horror movies in comparison to boys.
Focusing on a teenage target audience we chose characters of a similar age to feature in our trailer. I think
this works as audiences then feel they can relate themselves to the film rather than different ages for
instance children or older adults. For our advertising campaigns we used current, modern style designs to
help target teenage audiences and promote the upcoming film.
The marketing campaign we created was on a low budget. We used social media and social networking
sites to help promote and market our film. We decided this was the most effective and current form of
communicating to a teenage audience and could be done on a very low budget. Teenagers are able to
communicate to one another throughout the day by simply the touch of a button. The development in
technology in recent years has meant they can communicate to others worldwide by using social media.