How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Above are our finished magazine cover and poster for the branding of our horror film, Lara. These products contribute to the brand identity of the film and themes that run throughout it and continue in our advertising materials.
As part of our trailer, the promotion and advertisement of the trailer is a vitally significant part of the project. The poster and magazine cover we have created to help promote our horror film are the pieces of promotion that shape our trailer's popularity and reputation among horror fans, which means they have to be exceptionally professional, iconic and memorable. It is also important to create a sense of branding when creating promotional material for a film. A successfully branded film and its promotion materials will ensure success and high sales and ratings because of its long lasting legacy and popularity.
In order to make our promotion material both extremely eye-catching and professional looking, we have incorporated similarities and recognisable features from the trailer in our poster and magazine cover. For example, the poster features the two girls posing in the way they act in the film. Asena's pose as a scared and confused victim matches up to her character in the trailer, and Georgia's pose of controlling Asena also matches up to her being possessed in the trailer and having the powers of a poltergeist to perform paranormal activities in the house. The characters on the poster make it instantly recognisable and match up with the film, whereas if the characters weren't featured on the materials and we didn't include any recognisable features from the film that the audience remembers, it wouldn't be as eye-catching or iconic for the branding and image of the film. Well branded and well styled out promotion materials will be easily remembered and recognised by horror fans for its iconic imagery and continuous themes.
In order to create our ancillary texts and ensure we maintained a consistent theme across all three products, we looked at various examples of horror material that is easily and instantly recognisable. The more distinctive and recognisable the product is, the more popular and well remembered the film will be. Designing memorable and high quality branding can help your horror film to stand out from other competitors and add value to your identity. It will draw your audience in and give them an iconic image that will always remain the main image in their minds and always remind them of that film. By having a strong brand and image, the film will be easily recognisable to horror fans and will be able to achieve more views and more popularity.
In order to make our promotion material both extremely eye-catching and professional looking, we have incorporated similarities and recognisable features from the trailer in our poster and magazine cover. For example, the poster features the two girls posing in the way they act in the film. Asena's pose as a scared and confused victim matches up to her character in the trailer, and Georgia's pose of controlling Asena also matches up to her being possessed in the trailer and having the powers of a poltergeist to perform paranormal activities in the house. The characters on the poster make it instantly recognisable and match up with the film, whereas if the characters weren't featured on the materials and we didn't include any recognisable features from the film that the audience remembers, it wouldn't be as eye-catching or iconic for the branding and image of the film. Well branded and well styled out promotion materials will be easily remembered and recognised by horror fans for its iconic imagery and continuous themes.
In order to create our ancillary texts and ensure we maintained a consistent theme across all three products, we looked at various examples of horror material that is easily and instantly recognisable. The more distinctive and recognisable the product is, the more popular and well remembered the film will be. Designing memorable and high quality branding can help your horror film to stand out from other competitors and add value to your identity. It will draw your audience in and give them an iconic image that will always remain the main image in their minds and always remind them of that film. By having a strong brand and image, the film will be easily recognisable to horror fans and will be able to achieve more views and more popularity.
Research on Iconic Imagery
To help us decide on the most iconic and significant image in our trailer, we researched other horror films and looked at their iconic images to see how effective and recognisable they are to the brand. One example that we looked at was the famous and one of the most well known horror films, Scream, which was released in 1996. Their iconic image is the use of the mask of the killer, which is what the film is most greatly remembered and recognised by. It is what defines the film and makes it instantly recognisable to its fans. As this image became more and more popular and identifiable as the film's image, it was used to promote the rest of the film's sequels and became the main image to represent the brand. This iconic image is now how the films are recognised and will always be associated with this film in horror. Their effective branding and imagery in promoting their films and brand has made them one of the most recognisable and popular franchises in horror history.
This is, therefore, why we used this image as inspiration for creating our own media products to help accompany and promote our film. We wanted to be able to do the same thing of creating an iconic image that is instantly recognised and linked to our film, making it a well-remembered and extremely popular film in the horror industry. |
Research on Iconic Texts
We also researched iconic texts in films to find out what has worked best for different films and which films have been the most successful and memorable in their title fonts. One films that we researched was Harry Potter, which is a huge film franchise that has released several films over the years. The font for Harry Potter is incredibly iconic and instantly recognisable. Even those who are not Harry Potter fans or those who have not watched the films will still recognise the font of the title and know exactly which film it belongs to. It is part of the iconic branding of the Harry Potter films and helps it to stand out in its promotion materials. A film with a font that is so powerful that it can represent the film entirely on its own is so inspirational and iconic, that we wish to be able to achieve this as well and have used this as our inspiration along the way of creating and producing our own promotion materials for our horror film.
This title font is also relevant and useful to us because it is so effective not only because of the font, but also because of the name of the film, which is the character's name himself. Harry Potter is the main character and is a widely known character among film fans. Our film also has the title of the main character's name, Lara, which can be as effective as Harry Potter's legacy. It shows just how important the character is to the film and helps the to stick in the audience's mind and remember them as the main focus and image of the film, which is exactly what we want to do for our film and get our audience to instantly recognise Lara when they think of the film and how she gets possessed and controlled by a poltergeist. |
Research on Iconic Posters
After researching both iconic images and text in films, we finally researched magazines and posters that different films have created and produced in order to help promote and advertise their films. These pieces of promotion material are very important as they accompany the film and are vital to gaining popularity and views for the film. Firstly we looked at posters and began with the poster for the horror film, Sinister, released in 2013. This is a very recognisable and memorable poster as it includes the iconic image from the film and its title in the text from the film. The main image of the girl in her pyjamas and the picture on the wall is featured in the poster, which makes it stand out and become instantly noticeable what film it is from to horror films. The background in the poster is a cracked, dull wall, which helps the iconic image to stand out and be used to its full potential of attracting horror fans and catching their attention. The use of the iconic image and ionic text in this poster compliments the film itself and works well with the main images in the actual film. It matches exactly how the film is and what it is about, which helps to attract its audience and meet their horror needs.
This is why we have used this poster as one of our inspirational ideas and has helped us to come up with our own ideas and layout for our poster. The use of an iconic image from the film to represent the brand and become the well known image of the film is vital to be used on the poster from our research on this poster and other horror posters, which is why we have looked into our trailer and gathered research and other people's opinions on what they think is the most iconic image in our trailer and the scene that stands out the most. This helped us to determine what iconic image would represent our brand the best and could be used on our poster and magazine cover. |
The second poster that we looked at was the Woman in Black, released in 2012. It stars Daniel Radcliffe as the main character and his face is used as the main image and most iconic image of the film on the front of the poster. It also, like Sinister, uses its iconic text from the film also on the poster for its title. These two elements well known from the film help it to stand out and become instantly recognisable and also well remembered with its fans. Its background is of a dark and mysterious nigh time that seems to be in the middle of no where, creating a very scary and unnerving atmosphere, which links completely truly with the film and the location used in the film. This is another element of using themes from the film and incorporating it into the poster to make it even more relevant to the actual film. There is also a mysterious and scary figure in the background that we can assume is the 'woman in black' and adds to the thrill and fear of the whole film and makes the poster even more gripping and eye-catching by spotting that figure in the background.
This, again, was a very helpful poster because of its significant and iconic image used from the film, which is exactly what we wanted to do in our poster. These posters helped us to recognise that using an iconic image and text from our film is vital to having both a successful poster and magazine cover. It is needed to match the film to the promotion material and links them both together. It makes them recognisable together and a huge part of the branding and also successfulness of the film. This is why we chose to use this to our advantage, as many other horror films have done, and use an iconic image well remembered from the film in our media material to help enhance the memorability and popularity of our film. |
Research on Magazine Covers
Another magazine cover that we looked at was another from Empire but on a different film. The main film in this particular magazine was Suicide Squad. Like the previous magazine we researched, the main and only image used is of the main character and the most iconic image from the film. It makes it instantly apparent what film it is and who the character is to its fans, along with the title using the iconic font and style. The size of the title is bold and big, just like on the previous poster for Superman. It stands out just like the title of the magazine, Empire, does and is in a central or instantly noticeable position on the cover. Both the title and the image represent the brand of the film and are the main and most significantly memorable images from the film, which is why we need to ensure we also achieve this in our magazine cover so that consistency in themes across all 3 media products are maintained and it compliments the actual film itself. We also looked at the colour themes in this cover and the extra features included on the front page to possibly use as inspiration and guidance for our own cover. The colour theme on this magazine cover is yellow and white as this matches the colour themes from the film, Suicide Squad, therefore, complimenting the film and making it even more relevant with the theme of the film and more identifiable with its audience. This is another use of consistency in the film's themes, which is another aspect we need to consider incorporating in our own project. Extra features that make up the cover are pieces of textual information on what else can be found in the magazine, such as '30-Page Oscars Preview Inside' and 'Meet Deadshot!'. These extras add more excitement to the cover, interesting its audience and fans even more. This makes people more likely to pick up the magazine and buy it as they are being given previews of what they can find inside it and extra details on the film. These special features on the film can also be used on our magazine cover and will be great for providing extra excitement to the release and hype of our film. It will also contribute to making our cover look as professional and appealing as possible. Again, like the previous magazine, this one is also not too crowded. Although there is a more detailed background on this one, it contributes to the main image and helps to focus in on it and the other pieces of text and the title around it, which again, is also important for us to think about for our background in order to make it the best possible one to make our main image and title stand out in the most recognisable and eye-catching way.
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Along with our research on posters, we also looked at some different magazine covers that have been made for new film releases to help give us inspiration and guidance for own magazine cover. One of the magazine covers we looked at was covers from magazine company, Empire, who provide reviews and news information on new and upcoming film releases. The first cover we looked at was one on Superman, which is instantly apparent from the main image and bold text of the title of the film. Just like on the poster where the iconic image and iconic text is vital to make it instantly recognisable and also effective, it is exactly the same for magazine covers. An iconic image and iconic text style is important in order for the cover to stand out to its film fans and match the theme of the film. The main image in this magazine cover is of the main character in the film. Superman is the iconic image from the film and instantly recognisable to film fans, so by using him on the magazine cover to promote the new film, it will easily attract and draw in the attention of the film's fans and get them to notice straight away what they are advertising in the magazine. It is simple yet effective, as there is not too much crowded onto the page, but just one image. This one image is enough and all that is needed to promote the film in an effective and attractive way as it is the main iconic image from the film that it is known for. This is also the same with the title which is in the typical Superman themed font, again making it recognisable and identifiable with the film.
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Above are our final and finished poster and magazine cover. After much research into what makes an effective and successful poster and magazine, and iconic images and texts, we created the above pieces of media material to accompany our film trailer as promotion materials. We focused on the iconic image of the film that is most well remembered and represents the brand of the film most clearly and effectively. This was the main character of the film who's name is also the title of the film, just like in huge films such as Harry Potter. We, therefore, used Georgia as the main image on the poster as she plays the main character in the film and is the memorable character and iconic image from the film that reminds the audience of the film and sticks in their mind as the stand out point of it. We also used Georgia's image on the magazine cover as well to make it instantly recognisable what film it is as the audience will know it is Lara and instantly notice where they know her from. We also incorporated the other character in the film onto our magazine cover to help contribute to the hype and excitement around the release of the film. This extra image and special extras added onto our cover, like 'The truth behind Lara' and 'Free Pull Out Inside' makes it even more appealing and creates even more popularity and buzz for the film's big release. We made sure to include these special added extras on our cover as other magazine covers have done so to add more excitement and interest to the film and persuade viewers even more to want to buy the magazine and read it after being given a preview of what else they can find on the film inside it.
Just like the importance of the iconic image, we also ensured we incorporated the iconic text into both projects. The style and font of our title is also featured in the film trailer, so by having this also on the poster and magazine cover, it makes it instantly recognisable and links with the film; keeping that same theme throughout all 3 promotion materials. The title, Lara, was used on both the poster and magazine over in the same font and same colour to keep consistency flowing and help to keep the brand of the film the same and always recognisable as that logo and title. Another element we also considered after researching its importance and use in real life projects was colour themes which is another vital part of maintaining themes from the actual film and matching it to the film that fans will recognise straight away when looking at it. We used a theme of red and white on both pieces of promotion materials to ensure there was consistency from the film and that it matched the theme and style of the film of blood red and pure white. These colours helped to enhance both the poster and the magazine cover's images and text and made it stand out and even more eye-catching to our audience.
Finally, we chose to use just a plain black background on both projects so that the image was the main focus. We had other features surrounding the image, such as extra pieces of information on the magazine and names of the actors on the posters, so to keep a strong focus on the image and the other pieces of text and also the title, we stuck to a black background to ensure the image was truly enhanced and shown off in the best way possible. After researching different backgrounds and seeing how effective different kinds could be, it was a difficult decision to use just a plain black one, but we believed this was the best and strongest background as it was simple, yet effective for our particular images we were using and trying to get to stand out as the most iconic image and representation of the brand.
Overall, we were very happy with our final poster and magazine cover as we had done a lot of research into different posters and magazine covers and how to make it as effective as possible and supporting of the film itself. We felt it complimented the film very well as it used the iconic image and iconic text from the film, maintaining the themes from the film and being consistent throughout, which helped to make our brand look professional and also hugely recognisable and memorable in the minds of our audience and horror fans.