Our poster, magazine front cover and trailer all worked well together to create a consistent and recognisable advertisement campaign. Each one had a slight twist that allowed the viewer to see the film from a different angle, yet they all had consistent features, giving the audience more reasons to want to see the film.
The most obvious way that the campaign linked together was through the establishment that it's an action genre. Each of the pieces of the campaign had guns in, which is a clear indicator of the genre. It was most difficult to make the magazine front cover look like an action film, as the 'Hollywood Reporter' design doesn't show a frame from the film, but instead the actors behind the film. To counter this, we made the actors hold guns and balaclavas and set the photoshoot in a room that is visible in the trailer. This all pointed towards the action genre, and linked the film in with the trailer and poster more. It was also linked by giving prevalence to certain characters; in all three adverts, Lucas Thorne is the biggest/highest/given the most prevalence, followed by Rothen (the villain, played by James Richardson) and finally Zubasu. It is clear throughout the campaign that my character is the main character and we made this even clearer by releasing a special 'character poster' of Thorne, and not releasing a poster of any other characters. By making this clear the audience is able to get to know the lead protagonist more and connect with them, rather than just view them from a distance. At the same time, we focussed a fair amount of the campaign on James Richardson's character Rothen, as the film has a large emphasis on the villain as well as the hero. This is following Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary oppositional forces; that stories focus on the conflict between opposite forces, in this case good and evil. To make this conflict clear, our advertisement campaign had a large focus on the villain as well as the hero, and we even released a second magazine front cover with an exclusive interview with the actor playing him. The trailer also supports this theory, as the first half of the trailer has a heavy focus on Thorne, whilst the second half focuses on the villain. Each one has a lengthy speaking role at the beginning of their section, establishing them as the two conflicting forces. In the same way, our poster shows both the lead protagonist and the lead antagonists in similar poses, showing how whilst they're very different, the very nature of their opposites makes them similar. It follows the line in the trailer when the villain says 'we're not so very different you and I, we're both destined for the same damnation, only I'm willing to let the world burn along the way.'
Another way that our advertising campaign works together successfully is through showing the film in different lights. This is particularly prominent in the differences between the poster and trailer and the magazine front cover. The poster and trailer very much focus on the film and the storyline, whereas the magazine front cover's focus is more on the technical, behind-the-scenes side. This allows the audience to get to know the film on multiple levels, from behind and in front of the camera. It makes the audience feel more involved, as if they were part of the process themselves. The poster offers a slightly different perspective than the trailer, as it has reviews from magazines and newspapers at the side, to show its positive critical reception. Neither the magazine front cover or the trailer show this, so it again gives the audience a different reason to watch it - that it is critically acclaimed. This also appeals one of the uses in the Uses and Gratifications Theory by Blumler and Katz (1970), as one of the reasons that the audience might watch it is to talk about it. This links in with our magazine front cover, where the reader can find out more about the film. With these two together, the audience might watch the film to talk about it with friends, both as a critically acclaimed film and a technically interesting film. The magazine front cover also appeals to the gratification of being informed; it gives interesting information on the film that wouldn't be given in the poster and trailer. The trailer on the other hand appeals to the other of the uses and gratifications; it's action packed nature fulfils escapism and entertainment and watching the characters makes them easier to relate to. Through our campaign, we are able to exploit all of the factors in the Uses and Gratifications Theory to create a thoroughly well rounded and appealing film campaign.
The most obvious way in which our campaign links together is through the title of the film. In all three texts the title is very big and bold and the most obvious piece of text (apart from 'The Hollywood Reporter' on the magazine front cover). This is the way in which the audience is ultimately going to be able to identify that they're from the same advertising campaign. On the magazine front cover, the viewer may recognise the actors and the feel of the film, but the text is obvious so that they can confirm their thoughts. In the poster it is also very obvious, so the audience first sees the exciting action in the top half of the poster and then scans down to see which film it is. In the trailer the title is put at the end and is very obvious as it takes up the whole screen. This is a convention of film trailers, as if it were to be put at the beginning then people might lose interest in the trailer before watching the entire piece and then deciding on it. Throughout the campaign the title is reinforced and the brand of the film is made very clear. There are many posters which don't show the film's title and assume the audience know what it is, however this could easily lead to confusion, so our campaign avoids this.
The campaign is also successful as it doesn't give too much of the plot line away. All three parts of the campaign avoid using cliche tag lines, as this would make it seem less 'high brow' and make it seem even more mysterious. The poster in particular leaves many enigmas, something which theorist Barthes considers vital, with the big eyes in the background looking directly at the audience. The viewer may wonder whose eyes they are and why they are shrouded in darkness. The magazine front cover creates enigmas in a different way, as it reveals very little about the plot line at all, just revealing the genre of the film to appeal to the target audience. By doing the magazine front cover as The Hollywood Reporter instead of Empire or Total Film, we have revealed ever less about our storyline, as The Hollywood Reporter concentrates less on plot line and more on the celebrities. The trailer probably leaves the most enigmas, as the plot line is never explicitly explained. The dialogue in the trailer is very vague, with lines such as 'you're not the only one with a stake in this world' avoiding what the 'stake' is. The poem read at the beginning of the trailer begins it with an enigma. The audience is left wondering what the poem has to do with the film, and why it was read out. The poem itself is very unspecific and put out of context (as it is) it could mean almost anything. This makes the audience want to see the film to discover what it means and why it was used at the trailer. However it does also establish some of the key themes of the film, so that they get some idea of what the film it about. The opening is full of enigmas, and the use of lots of silhouettes helps to establish many more riddles.
Overall each part of the campaign works both individually and together to create a rounded campaign that appeals to a wide audience. There are many enigmas established and we have used many theories to help boost the impact of our campaign. Whilst the different parts of our campaign use very different techniques, they are clearly linked together, and make a full cohesive marketing campaign for our film.
