Compare the impact of two promotional methods used by one film across two different media platforms. Choose from one print and one audio-visual: A

cinema trailer and a film poster.

The film I will be analysing is The Conjuring. The Conjuring is a horror film, released in August, 2013 and is about a family terrorized by a dark presence in their house. I will be analysing its main film poster and trailer. These are crucial in advertising the film as they can be used in different ways to raise awareness about the film. For example, the poster could be printed in newspapers, on public transport and on billboards which is accessible to the public. However, the trailer can be posted on social media websites like YouTube and Facebook, and shown during TV advert breaks. The target audience for the film is adults and older teenagers, 15+. This is clear as the age rating is 15+ and horror films are commonly targeted towards adults.

Poster

The rope symbolises suicide and death, this has negative connotations and gives context to the film by suggesting that someone was not at rest when they died and therefore links to a haunting which is appealing to the target audience.

The house is in the centre of the photo, this shows the film is based around the house and gives context to the film.

Provides a clear sense of season (autumn) due to the bare tree and leaves on the ground- the season symbolises negativity and coldness/beginning of darkness.

The shadow of person hanging from tree suggests the film is about a haunting and instantly represents its genre (horror), it also gives a bit of information as the shadow looks like a woman but still contains enigma.

‘Based on the true case files of…’ – this makes the film seem more appealing and scary to the audience because it has truth behind it, this is a clear unique and major selling point.

The title is the biggest size text on the page which draws attention to it as it is the most important thing on the poster, the use of a classic font makes it look old-fashioned and could relate to the films context. It also looks professional and fairly simple.

‘From the directors of…’ shows that it has been directed by people who have participated in other successful films within the same genre so it gives the audience confidence that it will be good and successful too.

The setting looks quite isolated and derelict, shown by the trees, which is common within horror films and gives the feeling of loneliness and seclusion.

The weather shown looks dull and cold which gives connotations of negativity and unhappiness.

‘Coming soon’ leaves the audience with anticipation for its release, shows that it is a teaser poster.

The high-key lighting contrasts to the negative connotations the poster gives and makes the poster stand out more to its audience, so it is clearer for people walking past billboards etc.

The credits are the smallest text size on the page as they are the least important information.

The poster contains enigma because it suggests it is about a woman haunting a family, but it doesn’t show her face so makes the audience interested.

The poster is important in its marketing campaign as it gives the audience a taster of the film, and provides enough information to make them interested but also not too much, which leaves enigma. This fits its role as the trailer is meant to be more in depth.

Trailer

The beginning of the trailer has low-key lighting which links with the horror genre and makes it clear it has a dark tone.

The text is shown on the screen, ‘Based on the true story of the Warrens’, which makes the film scarier and is a major, unique selling point for the film.

The text flashes on throughout and gives information about the context of the film, acts as the narrator and prevents confusion.

The trailer shows short clips of some of the main parts within the film, e.g. scenes which give information about what is happening to inform the viewers about the films context or the scariest scenes to make the audience want to watch it more.

The last scene in the trailer is scary which is necessary when advertising for a horror film because it will make the viewer confident that it is successful in its purpose of scaring the audience.

The eerie sound effects in the beginning of the trailer draw the audience in and instantly show its genre, so appeal to the target audience straight away.

The trailer contains scenes which inform about the characters, mainly with a strong use of dialogue, so you get a further understanding of the film and the characters.

There are non-diegetic sounds in some scenes which add tension and make it seem scarier, so achieve its purpose.

It states that it has directors that have made other successful horror films which gives the viewer’s confidence.

There is no voice-over so it makes it seem like an insight on a real occurrence and more realistic and therefore scarier.

There are links to social media at the bottom of the trailer, trailers are usually on social media/online so it is easily accessible for the audience to go onto it and therefore targets the audience well.

The title is shown near the end but the release date is shown at the very end as it sticks in the audiences mind.

The beginning of the trailer shows a clip that is filmed like the viewers are in the room too which makes it realistic and scarier.

The production companies are shown at the beginning because they are recognisable and it also advertises them.

The trailer is important in its marketing campaign as it provides the audience with a more in depth story, so more information is given closer to the film’s release.

Comparison

The trailer shows the characters and gives more information about the context of the film, whereas the poster doesn’t show any of the characters in the film. This is because trailers go into more depth and detail about the film whereas film posters just have to outline the key ideas, eg the rope on a tree.

They both mention that it is based on a true story and that the directors have made other successful films, like Saw and Insidious, which are unique, major selling points in advertising the film and gives the audience confidence that it will be successful too.

The key points of focus are shown in both the poster and the trailer, like the tree, but are developed more in the trailer as the trailer has more of a chance to go in depth, so there is synergy between the two. Also, the poster is meant to leave enigma and then the audience will go onto viewing the trailer when it is released so the poster acts as a teaser/taster.

The actual release date is given in the trailer at the very end whereas in the poster it just says, ‘COMING SOON’, trailers usually come out after the poster and are more official.

The genre is able to be explored more in the trailer as they can use non-diegetic sound, like scary sound effects, in order to add tension to it.

The same font for the title is used in both the trailer and the poster as it is clearly their version of a logo and represents the film.

There is a link in the films context between both promotional methods as in the poster a shadow of the hanging woman is show and in the trailer there is a scene where a woman is hanging from the tree, represents that it is a key part of the storyline.

There is mainly low-key lighting in the in the trailer whereas in the poster it is quite bright and high-key, which contrasts the genre, this makes the poster stand out more to the audience whereas if it was dark it wouldn’t be as interesting

Derelict setting is emphasised in both the trailer and poster, represents isolation and remoteness and makes the film scarier.

The trailer contains links to social media whereas the poster doesn’t, trailers are usually put on social media websites like Facebook and YouTube whereas posters are usually on public transport or billboards, so appeals to the audience more and is more accessible.