Research- Promotional Packages

In this post i will be looking at promotional packages of films. I will see how the use of the trailer, poster and the film on a magazine front cover will help to make people more likely to go and see the film. By looking at all the different things used to advertise just one film will help me to make my coursework stand out more and make people enjoy my film.

The first film and promotional package i will look at is 'The Ring 2'. This is the poster for 'The Ring 2'.

In this poster for ‘The Ring 2’ it shows an image of a girl sitting in a chair. The image is a very powerful part of the poster. The image looks as if it has been faded and blurry. This is because it is supposed to keep the mystery and they want it to look spooky.

The main colour in this poster is black as it is the scariest colour and they want things to be dark and creepy so that the poster looks chilling. The section of light is where the girl is showing and that makes the audience think that she is the main character in the film and she the one to look out for.

The costume in the poster is a white gown which shows that she may have something wrong with her and she is not a typical young girl. She is also sitting alone in a room with only one chair which suggests that she is very lonely and she is has no one who cares for her. As this is a horror movie it may suggest that she could be the one who everyone is afraid of. The poster shows this as she is the main focus and she does not look happy but very upset and frightening.  The writing looks like children’s handwriting showing us that maybe the girl on the front  has wrote it. This shows us that she is the one who is planning everything. 

This magazine front cover for ‘The Ring 2’ also shows this girl on the front. This shows that girl has a lot to do with what is going to happen in the film. This magazine follows all of the conventions a magazine has to do for example put the barcode and price.

In this magazine the main feature on the front is the film but it does have other things that will feature on the front as well. I will do this on my magazine front cover so that it looks realistic as it is not realistic that throughout the whole of the magazine they will only have one feature.

The title of the magazine suits the horror genre as it is red and it is in capital letters and bold. This shows that the film can be placed onto a magazine without it looking different.

The girl is the main character in the film and this magazine front cover has her as its main focus which shows that they are advertising the film in the way in which the poster has done which is a good thing as then the most scariest character in the film is being shown making people want to find out who she is and why she looks so scary.

This trailer has a voice over from the beginning. This narrates the story so the audience can clearly see what is happening. Also as it follows on from the first ring movie it may need to quickly say what has happened in that movie so the viewers that did not see the first one can understand what is happening.
The fast moving scenes all ending with this girl who looks very distressed and scary makes the audience feel on edge. Also with putting the girl at the end it shows that she is the main focus of the trailer and could even suggest that she may be the evil character.
There is a moment in the trailer where the young boys face is reflected in an eye. This in particular looks very daunting yet it is a good effect. Having effects does make the film trailer more scary and showing some of the things that will be well anticipated in the film during the trailer is good so that the audience will be excited and therefore want to go and see the film.
The woman in the film wears every day clothing so it looks as if she is normal and not the one who will be evil. Whereas the small girl is wearing a gown which is unusual for a young girl and may suggest that she is the person who is different or strange making her the scary character.
The girl has very long black hair which is very straight. This may show that unlike a normal young girl she does not go to the hairdressers or experiment with different hair styles and she is not concerned with her appearance. This may make the audience feel sorry for her as it may show that her parents do not care about her and as she is not like any other girl of her age it may make her become a bit crazy and it may make her start to feel lonely and an outsider.
The close up of the girls face does make the trailer more scary. Her hair is jet black and is all over her face. This makes the girl look deranged and different from all the other characters shown in the trailer who all look quite normal.
In this trailer they use sound effects such as the body bag being pulled open. This is a scary sound effect and it gives the trailer more of a frightening vibe to it. The way in which the sound, editing, mise en scene and camera angles or shots have been used in this trailer and shown very effectively and the genre of horror definately shines through.

The next promotional package i will be analysing is for the film Paranormal Activity.

In this film called ‘Paranormal Activity’ it is based around a couple who believe there is a paranormal creature living in there house.

The poster for this film has a lot of writing on the front. It is white writing as it stands out against the black. The words written do make you feel quite uneasy and scared. This is because it tells that you will be affected by this film guaranteed. This make you feel anxious.

The image is of a couple who are waking up in the middle of the night. This shows that something has happened to wake them up. Also the door been open suggests that something or someone has left or entered the room.

The little writing in the corner of the image of the time shows that it is just after three am. Some people think this time is superstitious and this would be shown in a film about paranormal creatures.

The tagline ‘what happens when you sleep’ on the poster can make people feel unsafe when going to bed and also wonder what is going to happen to these people when they fall asleep. Also it says ‘Don’t see it alone’ which implies that you are going to be scared of it and that it will make you feel terrified. This is a good thing to make you feel on just the poster.   

In this magazine front cover of Entertainment Weekly it shows the film ‘Paranormal Activity’

The main image on the front shows the couple in bed which is where most of the scary things happen. Without watching the film you are able to tell that the couple is scared showing that something is happening to them.

The text on the front stands out as they are all in different colors’ Also what they say do make you want to read the magazine to find out more. I will try and make my text interesting even if it isn’t about the film so that every bit of the front cover will be interesting.

Showing an image where the woman is screaming make you want to find out why and also automatically make you feel sorry for this person as you can see that she is scared showing that she is not the evil person in the film.  

To begin at the start of this trailer it shows the audience in the cinema who will be watching the film. They start by looking very normal and they are acting very normal but then as the trailer goes on and they see the film they become more agitated and start to scream and look very frightened.
The sound begins quite and just starts with a couple of faint knocking noises. Then it starts to get louder and quicker which i have noticed is a sound convention which a lot of trailers follow. The sound begins to become screams for the audience watching it and this creates more people to be scared as you know that normal people are finding it terrifying so you may likely also find it disturbing.
The mise en scene throughout the film trailer is of people wearing normal clothing which indicates to the audience that it is a true story and this is actually happening to these innocent people. The adults do not wear any unusual make up and there hair looks normal showing that someone hasn't tampered with them and that this documentary horror is completely true.
The way it has been edited shows the start to be less scary and terrifying and then as the film progresses it gets more scary. As it is a horror film about someone thinking there is something else in the house. The way the film gets more scary towards the end could show that the person or thing who is there is getting more angry throughout. This shows at the end there may be something very scary or unexpected that will happen.
The way they have filmed it themselves looks especially creepy. It makes the audience believe that this horror film is real and that this actually happened to these people. The main characters use the camera to show what is happening to them and it makes the audience believe them as we are seeing unexplained things happen through the eyes of the camera.
Altogether, the film trailer definitely shows the horror genre as the realistic qualities in the filming and the mise en scene makes the audience feel on edge. The tension is created and grows during the film as the sound begins to get louder the audience gets more terrified. The reactions from the audience in the trailer makes you feel as if it is going to be a very scary film because they are getting really frightened and beginning to scream which shows the real scariness and horror of this trailer and continuing film.


Finally, my last promtional package i will be analysing is from the film 'The Dark Knight'

This poster is from the film ‘The Dark Knight’

The image in this poster it shows a huge building with a man standing in front. The building appears to have something scorched into it which looks to be the symbol of a bat. A bat usually represents something scary suggesting the man on the front maybe an evil character. Also the costume is black and he has a mask over his face. Now a days this would show someone who is not good and someone who maybe in trouble and who is dangerous.

Although in a film setting the mask and costume could show a hero and not a villain. Also the title may give you a clue that he is a good character as it says Knight you would associate this with a good person. What is good about this poster is that it doesn’t give too much away about the film and that you don’t know who he is gives the film some mystery and danger which an audience could be captivated with.

The tagline in this poster is ‘Welcome to world without rules’. This shows that there will be many risks and threats throughout the film which makes the audience think of danger and also excitement. This shows that will not get bored during this film as there is always something happening in this world.

This magazine front cover has been taken from Empire magazine advertising the film ‘The Dark Knight’

They have used the image of the villain of the film. This shows someone who is dangerous and scary looking showing that the audience will be anticipating this character’s role.

The man in this image has a lot of makeup on his face to make him look more frightening and alarming. This may make people want to see this film as they want to see what this evil looking character will do.

As his hair is messed up and his make up is running shows that he is not worried about his appearance and that there is something more important he has to do.

The green text shows other information on the magazine along with the title of the film. This has been done so that everything will look presentable and not too over the top. This magazine front cover stands out as it is very unique as most magazines have brighter colours and the image really makes the reader fear this person without even knowing who he is. The title of the magzine is black which goes with the image on the front. This shows that they have considered how the image and the title go together on the front of the magazine as they are the most stand out things lots of magazines so they need to match each other. 

The Dark Knight offical trailer shows many action sequences which has lots of intense moments. The sound they use to do this creates the tension by starting off very slowly and then getting faster as the clip gets more shocking. When they have a scary or shocking bit on the trailer the music starts to make people feel more apprehensive and then they are more likely to be stunned when the important bit is showed. During the trailer you hear someone laughing which makes you feel very uncomfortable as you know that something bad is going to happen as the laugh symbolises the villan doing something wrong. 
The camera angles/shots in this trailer show the camera from a crane point of view which shows a building exploding. As it shows the whole building being blown up it suprises the viewer and but as they have used very good effects it shows the audience something they will find amazing. The crane view shows the whole buliding which makes it look more believeable and more astonishing. By using a close up on the villans face it shows his emotions better as the audience can really see how upset, angry and twisted this character is.
This trailer begins with someone jumping off the top of a very large buliding and the editing for this is remarkable. Also the way they edit the trailer with all of the excting parts such as the blowing up of the bulidings is incredible. Showing action scenes is hard as there has to be a very big budget to get the film to be exactly as you want it to be which is breathtaking. When they have editied it they have made sure that through every part of the trailer they is always something coming which is suprising. They have put some of the things which are explosive and incredible near the start of the trailer and some towards the end which make the trailer excting from start to finish and not just one thing at the end but several throughout.
The mise en scene in this particular is very eye catching. The character callled 'the joker' who is the villan has very dramatic make up on. He has a mask through the use of makeup. The lipstick is smeared across the face and there is black all around the eyes while he has a painted white face. This makes the character stand out plus it enables the audience to realise that his role is important. It also looks very messy when put on showing that he has may be done it for himself not like someone in the cast has done it for him. His characters name is 'the joker' so this shows that he needs to show why he is called this nickname which is the reason for the dramatic make up as he does look like a joker. The costume for the hero of the film shows someone wearing a black outfit. Black ususally has connotations for death and darkness so this contrasts agasint the fact that he is actually the hero not the villan. The villan wear bright clothing showing that it is not obvious who is the good or bad character from the costume which gives the trailer and the film more mystery.