Advertising the film

A film makes most of its money during the opening weekend, and this is due the successful advertising used before the release date. Trailers are proven to be the most successful way of advertising the production however there are other ways of raising the films profile such as posters, websites and magazine covers.

Trailer advertisement  

A good place to show the trailer would be within the cinemas, showing the trailer before another horror genre movie comes on is a good way to market directly to a horror-loving audience. For example, when I recently went to see the new horror film ‘Annabelle’ there were adverts for other horror/thriller movies such as, ‘Horns’ or ‘Ouija’ and as a horror fan such as myself I felt enticed by these movies and I wish to see these films when they come out in cinema.  

However there are other places to advertise the trailer, for example in the adverts between programmes or even now-a-days in the adverts between songs on music players such as ‘Spotify’.  This is a really good way to market to a boarder audience of all ages and not just those who like horror movies; this is a good way to reel in audiences who simply like the look of the trailer. Especially if the trailer is shown in the adverts of a well-known programmes such as ‘The X Factor’ or ‘Coronation Street’ for example.

On the other hand, having done audience research and found that we should market more to a younger demographic we should really find ways to advertise directly to the younger generation. A perfect way to do this would be via social networking such as Facebook and Twitter, displaying a link to the trailer on someone’s personal timeline might interest them enough to want to watch the video and hopefully then go to watch the film in the cinema.

Take for example when ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ came out, I saw the trailer for this on many occasions before the film was released on adverts on the TV, iPlayer and even adverts before Youtube videos. Not only this but they also created a Facebook page which I ‘liked’ and then found posts like this whilst scrolling down my timeline, reminding me to watch the movie. 

In addition to this, on the page there is a section dedicated to the trailer where the viewer can find out information such as the genre and starring actors etc. And also watch the trailer.

I definitely think that social networking will be an aspect of advertising that my production team and I will use. It seems very effective and a great way to connect with our audience. We can also promote all of our ancillary tasks in one place and perhaps excite the audience by posting countdowns to reveal dates. 

Film Posters

Poster are a great way the capture the interest of an audience because they are intrigued by one or two snippets of the film edited to make one poster with a couple of catchy heading and vital information to help sell the film for example actors used or ratings by well-known critics.

Looking at ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ as an example again;

We can see that the title of the movie is the item that stands out the most, there is then a small print where the production companies ‘Universal Pictures’ and ‘Blumhouse Productions’ are established along with various other important figures.

Underneath the small print there are various images of the awards it has won which impresses the viewer of the poster and gives the film a higher rating. There is then a headline of ‘Welcome to America where one night a year all crime is legal’ this describes a little bit about the film so the viewer of the poster can get an idea as to whether or not they will enjoy the storyline.

We can also see ‘#Survivethenight’ which enables the viewer to use that hashtag to join  discussion on social networking sites about the movie and add their thoughts in but also easily find reviews people have written.

This is all written on a background of what could be a screenshot from the movie with some rather creepy looking characters which gives a sinister feel to the poster.

Film posters can be used as advertisement where a video cannot, for example on busses or at the bus stops, in movie theatres or even within a newspaper or magazine. 

Film Websites

Websites are yet again a very successful method of advertisement for various reasons,  not only can all the various methods of advertisement be shown here but also various factors which give the viewer a deeper insight into the movies, for example on-set photographs are screen-shots from the movie. ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ website even contains a ‘GIF’ section where short clips can be seen from the movie.

Some websites from blockbuster movies such as the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise even contain games and virtual worlds too.

However this would probably not be relevant in advertising my film as our filmed is aimed at a more teenage audience who are perhaps not interested in playing a game but more interested in watching related videos, perhaps containing the actors talking about their experiences etc.

Overall, there are endless possibilities as to how we can market our trailer, not only to a specific demographic but to a much wider audience which would perhaps help increase the awareness of the film.