HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF THE MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY

TEXTS?

https://youtu.be/F0hJg8AF9_I

How successful is the promotional package?

Each of the four promotional pieces, shown on the previous slide, have to be effective as individual units of promotion, while also functioning as extensions of one another, channelling the identity and style of the

film being promoted. During the production of these ancillary texts and the trailer, it was essential for me to retain this knowledge and apply it to these creations and, retrospectively, there were several key strengths and weaknesses of the final products and of the promotional package as

a whole. Overall, however, I feel as though the promotional package for ‘The Basement’ will be successful when it comes to attracting the

relevant target audience.

There are many ways in which each of these pieces achieve success through the use of symbiosis. Creating symbiosis between each piece of media is essential, as it allows for audiences to ‘build up’ a developing idea of the film’s narrative, style and imagery. As a consequence of this, audiences will find it easier to separate this particular film from other horror films being advertised, as they are able to recognise key iconography from one form of media – i.e the poster – and see it, recurring, within another. With this in mind, I placed a strong emphasis on generating symbiosis during the production of these pieces, and I feel as though this is one area where I have been very successful. In order to achieve this success, it was necessary for me to create a basic underlying theme that would serve to link all four pieces together, while reflecting the identity and ethos of the film being promoted. As can be seen in the promotional package,

the pieces are connected by the idea of a partially unseen force, controlling and manipulating what the viewer is able to see. In the posters, the malicious entity – shown in the use of shadows – is possessing the protagonist, and on the front cover, it is pushing its face through what would otherwise be an ordinary wall. This ‘fear of the unknown’ is often cited as the greatest fear of humanity, and it is for this reason that the antagonist remains unseen in the ancillary texts. However, in order to fully entice audiences to watch the film, the trailer builds upon this premise and will serve to reward them for their perseverance (assuming that it would be the last element of the promotional package to be released) by showing this entity, submerged in darkness, at the very end. Audiences will then feel as though they have had their curiosity satisfied.

Symbiosis is also achieved through the colour scheme, particularly within the posters and trailer. Colours specifically associated with the horror genre (red, black, white) were used to signify the genre with ease, and help generate an atmosphere that audiences will be familiar with – which is especially necessary due to the relative ambiguity of the content. Furthermore, the continuous use of a vibrant blue hue will coincide with the demonic imagery (i.e horns) to show that the film is not just a horror, but a supernatural horror, and this will automatically attract the relevant target audience while disassociating the viewers that the promotional package does not cater for. However, although this is typical for the genre and allows for constancy between the promotional pieces, a more minimalistic colour scheme was used in the main image of the front cover in order to prevent audiences from becoming bored with the exact same colours each time. This also accounts for why

the image is an extreme close-up, as opposed to the medium/long shots that are used in the trailer and posters. Although establishing continuity is essential to reflect the identity of the film and satisfy audiences ‘definite expectations’, changing certain features within my promotional package will show that the film is still able to surprise them, as well as reward them. These ‘surprises’, although not radically different, will allow them to develop their existing opinion on the film at hand, as well as increasing the appeal of ‘The Basement’ itself i.e one person may not like the front cover much, but will find the posters particularly effective. This allows for a wider range of viewers to be targeted, with different interests and personalities to be appealed to.

In addition to this, symbiosis is also achieved through the font and style of the text used across all four pieces. For the title of ‘The Basement’, the same white, Times New Roman font and red tint is used each time. As this is the title of the film, and therefore the first area of text that audiences will seek to look at, it is necessary for it to retain these features, as it allows audiences to connect that particular style of text to the film – and the repeated uses of this text only serves to reinforce these connections, making them more likely to remember the film in their daily lives. Moreover, it expresses the identity of the film – the innocence implied in the white colour is slowly being corrupted by the red, signifying otherworldly evil and, of course, Joel’s possession by the devil. Both these colours, and the simplistic serif font, are also emblematic of the subgenre, and are seen across a variety of horror films, as shown below.

This fully establishes the film’s place within the supernatural subgenre, and ensures that this is prominent across all four pieces of media. Outside of the title, a similar font and font colour is also used throughout, seen in the straps for the trailer and masthead for

‘Overlook’ magazine, for this same reason. However, in regards to the magazine, certain alterations within the font colours and styles were used so that the identity of the magazine could also be reflected – in addition to the identity of the film. These alterations and adjustments to the overall aesthetic were limited, however, as I did not want to detract from the film being promoted, unlike certain magazines such as Empire that are entirely focused on projecting their own brand identity. As highlighted in the previous section of tis evaluation, it was quintessential for ‘Overlook’ to a be a magazine that is able to base its overall look around the style of the main film on the cover image, as I am attempting to appeal to fans with a developed interest in the genre. This, I feel, has been achieved to

relative success; the front cover functions both as independent form of promotion and as a component within this promotional package. Despite the continuation of font styles and colour schemes, however, I feel as though the main image could have developed upon the poster images in its own individualised way. Apart from the basic thematic link that it shares, it is quite separate from the

other media within the package, which almost serves to develop an abstract narrative (Joel’s transformation into the devil). Although I did indeed want to individualise the cover image, it could have retained individuality while also fitting into this narrative,

generating a more developed feeling of satisfaction for audiences when watching the trailer.

HAVE I SUCCESSFULLY

APPEALED TO MY TARGET AUDIENCE?

Both Hannah and William from my focus group greatly influenced the methods I used to assemble this promotional package. They represent the target audience for

‘The Basement’ and the focus group as a whole – their particular feedback and responses were professional, opinionated and helpful. Overall, I feel as though I have achieved success at catering towards their needs and, as a consequence, the

needs of my target audience. Hannah’s favourite horror film, ‘Disturbia’, is an outsider in terms of the genre, as it is more of a psychological thriller with many twists and ambiguities. Indeed, her favourite aspect of the film was how it ‘evolves’ – and this idea of evolving can

be seen across all four promotional pieces, specifically the development from poster to trailer highlighted earlier in this presentation. The concept of evolving,

although only highlighted here, is one of the themes that would be prominent across the narrative of the film itself, thus appealing to Hannah’s desire for a

smarter, more complex kind of horror.

Both participants seemed to prefer the content of older horror films, with Hannah preferring the new ones only for how they are ‘put together’ i.e the sleek production design, more sophisticated technological advances. Bearing this in mind, I created the promotional package attempting to emulate the French expressionist horrors of the 1950s and 60s in terms of imagery and composition, as seen primarily in the abstract, atmosphere-driven trailer, and the emphasis on a strong blue hue throughout all pieces. Furthermore, William expressed concern over how the devil would be presented – he didn’t want viewers to be able to draw comparisons with Freddy Krueger, who enters dreams as opposed to controlling and distorting them. This forced me to change certain aspects of my trailer mock-up and, subseqauently, final draft, as his concern was indeed justified and, upon re-evaluation, the original draft of the trailer would have incorrectly portrayed the devil as someone who enters their dreams, as opposed to controlling them. Indeed, this was a gaping flaw that not only would have given the target audience the wrong impression of the film (allowing them to liken it to A Nightmare On Elm Street, an altogether different kind of horror), but would have jeopardised the narrative I had formulated during the extensive research and planning stages. William’s feedback here, therefore, has allowed me to cater specifically for the needs of the target audience that he is representative of.

In regards to the other members of the focus group and questionnaire recipients – some of whom are shown above – a variety of their recommendations and feedback was utilised during the creation of my promotional package. Xavier’s idea of Joel not knowing he was possessed until the very end severely impacted how I

approached the plot of the film, and how I would convey this plot. Encouraging me to place more emphasis on Joel, as I did in the two posters, allowed me to remain ‘rooted’ within the conventions of a horror film, as I was previously in the process of creating an atmosphere-driven package open to interpretation. Placing more

emphasis on the human characters and weaving them into the narrative was, as Xavier put it, ‘essential’, and allowed me to achieve a greater level of complexity in the overall product (I initially wanted them to be insignificant in comparison to the levels of evil generated by such a powerful force as the devil). When presented with my initial plot summary, Tony felt as though the project was ‘too similar’ to various other supernatural horrors, and upon re-watching the horrors he named (Insidious, The

Conjuring) I was able to work out how to draw inspiration without directly copying them. This is shown by the deliberate use of ambiguity across all four pieces, which serves to represent the confused dream state of the characters and the mystery of the film.