The distribution company has a direct role to play when deciding what is included in the promotional package, i.e. the magazine cover & poster, to ensure that the correct design and content is used to appeal to their target audience, while keeping it within the genre of horror.
The two images above show the original image (left) and the image when used in my second ancillary task, the magazine cover (right).
The image shows the director of the movie, therefore the feature article in the magazine will be from the point of view of the director; a director's cut. Leading with the idea that the director in my image is well-known amongst the film world and, therefore, this magazines target audience; the image of him would be enough to establish that the article would be a director's cut. Many people are attracted to a film simply due to the actors within it or the directing/production staff behind the scenes, i.e. someone may go and see a film simply because Brad Pitt was the star or Steven Spielberg directed it. However the image of the director still stays within the horror genre, with the low lighting and dark background, therefore it gives the audience enough information just from the front cover.
Good publicity campaigns are essential for any movie that wants to succeed in the film industry. Things like magazines and interviews/chat shows are a direct outlet to the audience, which creates an enormously powerful form of promotion; word of mouth. Many people will decide to watch a film because of a review online or in a newspaper or a recommendation from a friend.
However, using magazine features as publicity can be dangerous as they are given the freedom to establish whatever opinion on the film they choose. Usually, depending on the magazine size, they are read by thousands of people nationwide, sometimes internationally. Therefore, if given a bad review, it could trigger the downfall of the publicity campaign and result in the movie being a flop.
The above images show the two stills from our trailer (top left) (top right) that I used to create my promotional poster.
The poster establishes the genre immediately. The image and colour scheme alone connote horror conventions, e.g. the red used in the font connotes blood and pain. The image suggests that the eye is that of a distressed person, as it has expanded; connoting fear. The shadow of a black silhouette is present in the iris of the eye; suggesting that, by looking at the eye, we can see the reflection of what this person is seeing, thus explaining the look of fear. The slogan "Lock your doors, shut the windows. Pretend you're safe" implies that nothing can detain and keep out this horror, intriguing the reader into wanting to know what is creating this fear. The use of the certificate 18 in the bottom left corner of the poster also suggests that this film falls under the genre of horror. All of these things establishing that this is a promotional poster advertising a horror movie.
The use of dating the release of the movie as 'August 2012' is subtle but effective. It leaves the audience with a feeling of uncertainty towards to the poster and, overall, the movie. This would either repel or, in most cases, intrigue the audience; filling them with the desire to see this movie in order to answer any pressing questions they may have. Thus being a successful promotional poster.
It is not correct to say that the distribution company as a central role to play in the production of the magazine cover. The magazine cover is an example of the successful generation of publicity. In order to achieve this the distribution company will have a publicity strategy, which will involve a press pack, organising interview rounds with stars and directors on chat shows or in the press etc, press screenings of the film and so on. You should explore how a production company will try to generate this publicity. Your other two products the poster and the trailer, are both advertising products directly created and controlled by the distribution company, and you have said some good things about these, particularly the poster, but you do need to show how the poster and the trailer work together, in a coordinated fashion, to give out the same message about the film. Put simply you have to show what is similar in your trailer and your poster. For example have you used the tag line from the poster in the trailer itself? You don't have to just put what you have done, you could also put what you now think you should have done. So for example if you used a different font for the title of the film in each product, you could be self-critical of that.
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