Initial research - methods of promotion

In order to gain maximum awareness and profit for an upcoming film, promotion needs to take place so that the target audience are informed as to the type and plot of the film before release. There are a number ways in which a film can be promoted by it's production company to attract the most attention possible from the public, and this is part of the film's marketing campaign.

Carried out in conjunction with the release date, film promotion normally takes shape as a 'press junket' which often includes a number or press releases sent out to various media platforms for reporting, interviews with the people heavily involved in the production of the film, the use of merchandising and release of trailer footage from the film. 

The most common place that a film trailer is shown is in cinemas before the showing of a separate film, followed by YouTube where a sponsored video will include it before the content of the video is played. 

Films are also promoted through the use of posters that are made to be different sizes and formats so that they can be used for both domestic and global scale markets. They are normally displayed in general public areas which means that people unconsciously consume the information, raising awareness. Stereotypically, the main actors star as the main image on the poster to inform the audience who stars in the film, as this can appeal more to a specific target audience. 

Production company Warner Bros created a marketing campaign that promoted the film The Dark Knight (2008), while engaging the audience. They created public stunts that would attract attention to the film at world known events such as San Diego Comic Con, where Dark Knight branded items such as dollar bills were left or the public to find. The discovery of these bills lead the owner on a 'treasure hunt' where hidden clues about the film were released once codes had been cracked.
One of the bigger stunts that they planned was a plane writing numbers in the sky for people to gain more clues. Along with other Batman propaganda, it lead to a record breaking box office taking of  $1,005,000,000.

Marketing a film has changed over the years due to the proliferation of hardware playing a major role in how it is advertised. Generally, we see less heritage marketing as the rise of the internet has opened many platforms in which a film can be marketed -  trailers can be distributed to a much wider audience through the use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, where the trailer can then be viewed across the world.
Technological convergence has allowed people to access a vast number of tasks on one device, making marketing a product digitally/online easier as it will reach more people. With heritage marketing, only those physically surrounded by the promotion of a film (e.g a poster, billboard) will be made aware of what is being promoted; where as with the advance of technological convergence, the majority of people online will come into contact with the marketing as they are able to download, view, search and be shown via advertisement the film on one device at one time.
An example of this is the James Bond franchise which shows a number of ways in which the film can be viewed, explored and digested by the audience. The film are available on DVD and Blurry making it more accessible for a greater number of people therefore expanding the target audience. There is a 007 app that can be downloaded on to Apple and Android devices that will inform the user of update, special previews and behind the scene footage that only those who use and download the app will be able to see. The company has also expanded and created 007 video games; one of the 22 being Goldeneye 007.  Video games have become a form of entertainment and are perhaps assumed that they are more immersive that a film, which is a reason as to why the film industry has adapted by converging towards this mode of technology. This allows even more people to access the franchise and will appeal to a greater demographic as video games are stereotypically aimed at the younger generation. All of this information is available on their website, specifically created to provide the audience with details about the franchise and other news associated to 007.
http://www.007.com

Initial research - chosen media

For our coursework in this unit we have chosen the brief that includes the creation of a film trailer and two of the following options:

• a website homepage for the film
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film
• a poster for the film

In order to create the best possible product from this brief, we need to understand the key features of the type of product we are making. 

A film trailer is a feature film that advertises a production that is to be released at a later date, it is often shown in cinemas before another film or can be posted online (e.g YouTube) for people to view when they search  for it. Trailers are made up of a montage of clips and extracts from the film and they are put into a sequence that gives the audience an idea as to the narrative of the film; however they don't include spoiler clips so that it encourages the audience to go and view the entire film to find out what happens. The maximum length that a trailer should be is 2 minutes 30 seconds, which is the time issued by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). 

The first film trailer to be shown in the US was in 1913, where a short promotional film was produced for the film 'The Pleasure Seekers'. The name 'trailer' is from when they used to be shown at the end of a film screening; but viewers often walked out once the film was finished so they moved the trailer showing to before the film started. There are dozens of companies that specialise in the creation of film trailers in Los Angeles and New York. The trailer may be created at agencies (such as The Cimarron Group, MOJO, The Ant Farm, Ben Cain, Aspect Ratio, Flyer Entertainment, Trailer Park) while the film itself is being cut together at the studio. Since the edited film does not exist at this point, the trailer editors work from rushes or dailies. Thus, the trailer may contain footage that is not in the final movie, or the trailer editor and the film editor may use different takes of a particular shot. Another common technique is including music on the trailer which does not appear on the movie's soundtrack. This is nearly always a requirement, as trailers and teasers are created long before the composer has even been hired for the film score

Common features of a film trailer include shots from the best parts of the film, but that don't reveal any spoilers of the film. They also often have short elements of conversation between the main characters to show that they have an important part within the film as well as a number of credits to introduce the title of the film and occasionally reviews from credible companies such as newspapers. trailer also tend to include a specifically recorded score that will run throughout the trailer to set the tone for the film and to alert the audience to this.

An example of a conventional film trailer is Suicide Squad (2016); this trailer follows a linear narrative that outlines the basic storyline of the film without giving too much information away. There are small clips of conversations between the characters (2:07) that represent their characters to the audience before they view the entire film. However the score for this film hasn't been specifically produced to represent the the film, as it is the Queen song 'Bohemian Rhapsody', released in 1975. This  has been done though as it is an incredibly well known song and will capture the audiences attention as soon as it begins to play over the shots. Conventionally, the trailer includes the titles at the end, informing the audience about the name and the actors staring in the film. 

Introduction

My name is Annabel Wilford and I am an A2 level media studies student currently studying at Chenderit Sixth form. I have a strong interest in media, and wish to study media and communications at university; having achieved a B at AS level I would like to get an A this year in order to move on to my further studies at university.