A2 Media Studies

Marketing Campaigns• Film: Inception• Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5VDKVqvo8M • Websites: http://www.mind-crime.com/

http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/inception/mainsite/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/inception • Posters/ billboards:

• Magazine features: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/01/play/inception-director-lives-the-dream

• This was a very successful marketing strategy as it involved every kind of marketing and every format possible, therefore catching everyone’s attention while also thinking big by covering whole buildings and making whole websites and games promoting the film.

Teaser Trailers

• After watching a collection of trailers and teaser trailers I have learned how to tell the difference between them.

• Trailers tend to show the general plot of the film whereas teasers often don’t even show any shots from the film it is advertising

• Teasers are only usually around 1 minute or less in length as they are only used to drum up interest a long time before the film is released, often around a year or more before release.

• They are usually just made for big blockbusters and not art films or smaller releases.

• An example of a film for which a teaser trailer was made is Inception which was a huge budget summer blockbuster with a budget of $160,000,000

• I am going to analyse two teaser trailers which fit roughly into the kind of genre my teaser will be in which is that of a heist/action genre.

InceptionCryptic shot – missing context completely so means absolutely nothing, connotation of speed/beauty.

Again missing context but gives the impression it is a crime/heist film. Connotation of crime/the mob.

Shows the sci-fi/cgi side of the film – defying gravity.

The sound in this trailer is also very key as it plays an important role, blaring whenever a name of an actor or producer pops up on screen.

Fast and Furious 5

Shows the location instantly

Already action – fire, guns, fighting

Traditional Fast and Furious – cars and women to hook the target audience

Inception Poster

Billing Board

Masthead

Tagline

Shows the cast all standing on the sides of buildings, defying gravity – shows the sci-fi in the film.

Mix of dark and light – shows the mix of dream and reality in the film

Lots of guns and briefcases – shows the action in the film/ the heist portion of it.

Bugs

Screamer

Fast 5 Poster

Shows guns being held by all key characters: connotation of action and crime.

Masthead

Billing Board

Bug

Keeps nothing hidden in title – already explains the plot. “Rio Heist”

Exaggerated light and palm trees so evident location of Rio. Exotic connotation.

Big black muscle car show the idea of complete masculinity in the film

Release date to get fans excited for it’s release. Website for more information.

His centered position shows that Vin Diesel’s character is the main character

Inception Empire Analysis

Singularity of character shows he’s important.

Screamer to grab attention

Grabs the attention of fans of “The Dark Knight” or in this context, Christopher Nolan. Name of publication is

the masthead.

Cover line helps to sell magazine

Advertising the empire website

Increased size hints at Inception being the most important thing in the issue

Another reference to “The Dark Knight”. Known as a puff, grabs attention – makes people want to read on

Colours symbolise the high life and riches, goes with “dream” and the prevalence of dreams in the film.

Public Enemies Empire Analyis

“Empire” is the masthead.

Screamer to raise the attention

He is featured alone with a gun so he is evidently important.

Advertising the website.

Meant to raise excitement because it is a first look and the films are not out in the cinema yet.

“Gangster blockbuster” prepares readers for the review and also for the film.

“Exclusive” again is meant to raise excitement as readers can’t get this anywhere else.

Masthead

• The masthead (also referred to as an imprint) is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all. Some mastheads also include information such as the publication's founding date, slogan, logo and contact information.

Cover Lines

• Cover lines are the catchy phrases on the covers of magazines. Cover lines can be on posters, or in newspaper ads.Their basic use is to interest people enough to read the rest of whatever is to be read and maybe get you to do something like buying a ticket to a concert.

Screamers

• A screamer is a distinctive headline which has been written with the goal of drawing attention to the article beneath it. While all headlines arguably serve this function, screamers demand attention, insisting that readers turn to the article in question immediately and without delay. Screamers are typically sensational, and sometimes specifically designed to be provocative.

Billing Block

• The listing of cast and key crew at the bottom of a film poster or DVD back-cover. It also often includes film logos and other film related properties, known as bugs.

Tagline

• A short phrase officially used for a film as a sort of slogan. Inception used “Your mind is the scene of the crime.” and Alien used “In space no one can hear you scream” These taglines often become just as iconic as the film itself, as has been proven by Alien.

Strapline

• A strapline is a British term used as a secondary sentence attached to a brand name. Its purpose is to emphasize a phrase that the company wishes to be remembered by, particularly for marketing a specific corporate image or connection to a product or consumer base.

BBFC

• The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify videos, DVDs and some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010.

• Current certificates: Universal, Parental Guidance, 12A, 12, 15, 18, Restricted 18.

• They are concerned with the censoring of films by way of looking at the content in a film and classifying it by certain issues e.g. drug use or sexual scenes.

• The BBFC have many possible ways to intervene which include by changing the certificate of a film or by banning it all together as in the case of “The Human Centipede II”.

• Last year in 2010, 9 films were cut.

My Film’s Classification

• I intend my film to be a certificate of 15 as it would go in line with the demographic which goes to the cinema most.

• Also, the action genre in which my film would fit is generally at a 15 certificate due to it’s scenes of violence or fight scenes and possibly for not passing violence off as a terrible thing.

• My teaser trailer will feature similar content to what the actual film would include.

My Target Audience

• The audience I aim to interest with my teaser is that of teenaged males who like action films and heist films such as the “Fast and Furious” franchise.

• Their interests may include cars, video games, women and possibly guns as these go inline with the interests of a lot of action fans.

• The audience would also most likely enjoy heist films and just films in a more technical genre than just action as my film is not in just one genre.

Storyboard

Primary and Secondary research

• Primary research is the collection of original data. It often includes questionnaires and telephone interviews.

• Secondary research is often internet research which involves looking at other people’s views or research and using that to form your own research and/or views.

• I used primary research to make my billing block as I took on feedback in order to make it look more professional and also used it to determine the conventions of action films.

Primary Research

• My primary research was in the form of a questionnaire about the genre and target audience of my teaser trailer.

• The results showed that the two best-loved action films are “The Expendables” and “Die Hard”.

• It also showed that 60% of people like action films and that the genders like them equally.

• The most common thing they associated with action films was explosions.

Secondary Research

• I used the Wikipedia entry about Inception to gain knowledge of the film’s marketing campaign then when I found out about it’s strategy I visited the website http://www.mind-crime.com/ which contains the game and other marketing strategies used by the Inception marketing team.

Cast, Props and Costume

• I decided to use only one main actor and cast my friend to be in that role as I knew he would be easy to get hold of and would be free on the days I would want to film.

• The props I used were a Zippo lighter, some crushed ibuprofen, fake money, a suitcase and a car.

• The costume I used for my main character was very simple and was just shorts and a plain white t-shirt because I wanted the film to show that he was a very normal, relatable individual.

First Sketch of Poster

Large title to show that it’s important and is the masthead

The dice picture ties in with the tagline

Billing Block font which is not quite perfect yet – will need to improve for the final piece.

First Draft of Film Poster

I have repositioned the picture and the text “From Director Ben Chuter” to be in a more logical layout.

Film Poster Changes

Final Film Poster

I have changed the billing block font so now it looks far more professional.

I have changed the picture on the poster to be more dark to suit the style of the piece. The picture was sourced from the internet and the website http://abduzeedo.com/daily-inspiration-386

I have now inserted the production company logo in the bottom right corner of the poster to adhere to convention as not including the company logo is very unprofessional and completely rejects conventions.

First Sketch of Magazine Cover

Film Magazine Front Cover First Draft

Cross Cut is the masthead and it’s arrangement on the page is supposed to echo the “Cross”.

Special edition to grab attention and make people want to read it if they like action.

“Best action flick” is a screamer to grab the attention of cinema goers and to make them want to see the film.

Name of actor is used to raise attention and provoke sales of the magazine to fans of Luke Jackson.

Cover line used as a slogan and references the film’s tagline.

Film Magazine Changes

I have now added the names of other students films based on the idea of what empire does with the advertising of several different films on the cover with one main film.

I repositioned the Action edition text to fit on the page better

Final Film Magazine

I have changed the background to be a picture of my protagonist

I have repositioned the price to be less conspicuous and to fit in better with conventions.

I have ensured that none of the text covered my protagonist’s face as it would make him seem less important.

I repositioned the advertising of other films to be in a more logical order.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

• They work well as a combination because the poster and magazine front cover simply publicize the trailer and use shots from the trailer itself, therefore preparing the audience for the film.

• My idea was to not give much away about the film’s plot, which is shown by how I have only used a picture of my protagonist with a suitcase for the film magazine and a dice roll for the poster.

• This was in the style of the marketing campaign for Inception where none of the marketing showed anything of the plot of the film but hinted at some of the themes and styles used in the film such as the sci-fi.

• I have somewhat emulated this as well because I put emphasis on the heist features of the film for the film magazine front cover and more emphasis on the chance feature for the poster.

What have you learned from audience feedback?

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

• I used Microsoft Publisher to create my Film Magazine front cover and my Film poster and Publisher worked well for this as I managed to make fairly professional looking products.

• For the editing of the teaser I used iMovie in which I cut together the shots and added inter-titles as well as using it to find the music which plays through the piece.

• For the sound effects in the teaser I used Internet Explorer and the site soundbible.com.

• I later used Microsoft Word to make the questionnaires I used to get feedback on my target audience, shot selection and faults with my piece.

Evidence of Time ManagementI used a checklist to ensure that I managed my time effectively and know when to complete tasks for.

Links

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKuPj8Vvwk8 - final teaser trailer.

• http://soundbible.com/ - sound effects website.• http://abduzeedo.com/daily-inspiration-386– image on

poster.