Research on Marketing Campaign for a Horror

The following Market Campaign that i will be researching is The Woman in Black which is a horror movie. I have chosen this movie as it has the same genre of the film trailer I am creating. As shown above is the trailer for the 'Woman In Black' movie.

In London on the 10th April 2011, the films first teaser trailer was released for the public to view

. A second trailer was released in July 2011 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which also stars The Woman in Blacks main actor, Daniel Radcliffe). A worldwide trailer was then released on the 17th August 2011, which contained much more footage from the film itself.

The first official UK teaser poster was released on 24th August 2011, followed by the full UK trailer being released on 14th October 2011. 

A one minute teaser was released by CBS Films, the makers of the film, at Spike TV's Scream Awards which was held on 18th October 2011. A day later, a teaser poster was released to the public. 

In the new year, on 11th January 2012, Momentum Pictures finally released an official poster for the film, and the following day, a one minute clip from the film was released by MTV.

As a way of reaching those more interested in novelisation, the novel that the film is based on was re-released alongside the film, this time with the front cover featuring Daniel Radcliffe who is the star of the film, which would market the film further.

Blake Snyder's 10 Film Categories

Monster in the house:

The monster in the house genre is essentially the horror genre. It usually tells a story of a creature or things hurting or killing others in the film. It is then the protagonist’s job in the film to eliminate this monsters or thing before they are eliminated by it. For example, Jaws.

Golden Fleece:

The Golden Fleece categorises films as being 'road movies', this means the protagonist in the film must hit the road in the movie and find themselves, or find out things they didn't know before in the movie. An example of this is ‘the hobbit’.

Out of the bottle:

The out of the bottle type of movie is a movie suck as a fantasy or a magical film, the can also be a film where the main protagonist is granted a wish, for example, in Bruce Almighty he is given gods powers. They are granted a wish which usually changes them as a person and the film will usually have a moral.

Dude with a problem:

The dude with a problem film category usually involves comedy, action and slightly horror genres. It will usually be about a normal character in the movie that will develop the heroism and throughout the movie they have will find they will have to deal with life or death situation and may have to save their loved ones or the planet. For example taken and taken 2.

Rites of passage:

Usually in this type of film the protagonist will come to a point in their life where they may be divorced from their loved one. Different things will happen in their life throughout the movie. The problem is not always solved but when it does the protagonist usually feels a huge relief at the end of the movie. An example of this is Crazy Stupid Love.

Buddy love:

Buddy Love films are typically centred around 2 characters and the problems they face together. These problems usually bring them closer together and they realise that they can't live as well without each other. These films aren't always about friends, but it can be able love, for example in the notebook the 2 main characters fall apart and end up getting back together many years later as they simply can’t be without each other.

Whydunit:

In these films, the focus of the story is more why the bad guy committed the evil deed instead of who did it - it is not about the characters discovering themselves, it' about the audience discovering the evil reason why the bad guy did his evil doing (the audience are almost like the detectives). There are many extremely famous 'Whydunit' type films such as Blade Runner, Seven, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Sixth Sense.

Fool triumphant:

Fool triumphant films tend to fall under the comedy genre. They are about a character that is oblivious to the world around them labelling them as an underdog who eventually comes out on top giving the film a happy ending. Examples include Dodge ball and Forrest Gump. 

Institutionalized:

This category follows movies that are centred around a group of characters/friends who often go on quests/adventures. There are happy and sad moments in these films, with the ending usually being that of a happy outcome. Examples include ‘Stand by Me’ and The Goonies.

Superhero:

The 'Superhero' category is usually about a hero who usually, saves the world for example. In the film 'The Avengers' this happens where all of the world’s superhero's team up to fight another world. These heroes’ are usually the most loved people in the film.

Film Poster Conventions

Shown below is a list of typical conventions you would find on a movie poster,i will be sticking to these conventions when creating my poster and will try and use many of them: 

•Release dates
•Production company logos/Sound logos
•Website
•Social networking links i.e twitter, facebook
•Billing or Credit blocks
•Names of recognisable stars/Images of stars (in my case, actors in the film trailer myself and my team create)
•The film's title is usually the biggest and most bold font on the poster
•Rating
•Reviews
•Tagline
•Name of the director
•Reference to other films
•Reference to source material

Conventions of Magazine cover

As well as my film trailer and poster I will also be producing a magazine front cover. Having looked at magazine covers from scream, I have looked at magazines such as film and scream and through doing this I have realised that the basic conventions of magazine front covers are the same regardless of the genre or audience for the magazine. The following conventions appear in all types of film magazines:


Firstly, the Masthead is a common convention, this is usually, well most of the time the biggest font on the cover and is often in a colour that stands out from the background and the rest of the cover. An example of a really eye catching text is shown below;

 

Dominant central image- In a mainstream magazine this is usually an A-List character whereas in an independant film magazine, this is often of a director or a less recognizeable actor from the movie the magazine is linking to.
As shown below on the left is a mainsteam magazine called 'film' which has an image of Daniel Craig on the front of it as James Bond from the new film Skyfall. On the right is an independent film magazine with, what looks like the director of the film on the front cover.

 

The price, date and issue number are also conventions of a film magazine. Shown below is an example of a 'scream' magazine with these conventions. The website is also a typical convention, this is their so that people will know what to search for if they want to go onto the magazine website, usually to subscribe or to purchase new, and old magazines.

 

 

The Bar Code --- Example below;

 

 

 Coverlines and Banners on magazines are typical conventions, these could be things like advertisements of what is in the magazine or what you can win. Or generally just sub heading enticing the reader into reading more which will make them want to buy the magazine, these are both very important conventions.

Todorov's Narrative

In 1969, Tzvetan Todorov produced a theory which he believed can be applied to any film. The theory states that all films follow the same narrative pattern making the features of the theory typical codes and conventions of a film. If each stage has been thoroughly thought out and planned well, the film will most likely become a success.

Codes and Conventions of a Film Trailer

The codes and conventions of a film trailer consists of themes that are reflective of that film's genre. For example in horror films there would be scenes such as people screaming and any other creeky or loud noises, blood and gore and things happening between the protagonist and the 'monster' or whatever it may be, in the film. Also in a action high adrenaline film, in the trailer the audience would see scenes like explosion, fast adrenaline rushing car chases and possibly gun shootings. Lastly, in comedy's you would pretty much see scenes of people laughing, possibly telling jokes and any other humours insidents that may occur.A convention of a film trailer is that a film trailer includes graphic captions such as the release date of that film, the directors name, the actors' names starring in the film and any other text that is related to that film.
Another convention of a film trailer is the use of non-diegetic sound. This is used to help reflect the type of genre a film is. Non-diegetic sound is a sound who's source that is not visible on-screen. An example of non-diegetic is sound effects such as soundtracks to help create different effect to the feel, for example if it was a romantic fil, happy music would be played in the background to help set a mood for that part of the film.
Also included within a film trailer is the production company's logo who have made the film/trailer, a couple of examples of companies are 20th Century Fox, Paramount or Warner Bros. The production company's logos are usually show at the beginning or ending of a film trailer.
Another code and convention of a film trailer is the camera shots used within the trailer. Any camera shot can be used but when in a trailer they are showing the actors who star in the film, close up shots are usually used to show clearly who they are in the film trailer.
Editing is probably one of the most important codes and conventions of a film trailer. A film trailer will literally depend on the editing that is done in it, if the editing is very good then the movie has a high chance of getting a big audience with great review etc. In a horror film it will usually start off with slow cuts then as itb gets futher into the trailer everything usually starts to build up many cuts are used to build up alot of tension for the film.

History of Film Trailers

1937 - Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
In this trailer there is no actual footage from the film only single cells of Walt Disney showing us these cells. Also in this trailer to introduce the audience to the characters Walt Disney describes who all the characters are and their personalities. This is one of the very first movie trailers to come out and the first of its kind for a cartoon based film. Without the technology we have today it would of been to demanding in 1937 to create a trailer with actual clips from this film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kWr9e4JN5I

1942 - Casablanca
In this trailer the whole trailer was in black and white with lots of colour text covering the majority of the screen which means it is a heavily texted film, in moderns days around now their are not many film trailers made like this, if not none are made like this. This is because companies now feel that showing more images and film scenes than text it will get a bigger audience, film trailers have much bigger audiences now-a-days without much text used.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJvlGh_FgcI

1960 - Psycho
The Psycho trailer is very different to any other trailers as it is on for 6 minutes and 36 seconds. Whereas most every other trailer is roughly 2 minutes long. Only one trailer per year from a certain production company is aloud to exceed the 2 minute mark. In this trailer we see Alfred Hitchcock giving us an in site into the film by giving the audience a tour of the set of were Psycho was filmed. We see no footage from this film and there is no text either. He takes the audience on the tour to tell them about certain significant events in the film and describes what happened, making the audience want to go the cinema and see what actually happens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps8H3rg5GfM

1991 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day
This trailer has come on alot in terms of the technology it has used. There is alot of CGI used but it is not of the great quality we have today, they have used this format when you see lightning, characters morphing and explosions taking place. In the trailer there is also a very loud voice over giving the audience a better insite to the film. But in my opinion this trailer is in danger of showing all the best scenes from the film in the trailer because of the amount of detail it goes in to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eajuMYNYtuY

2010 - Inception
Inception is a trailer that shows modern technology at its very best. CGI is more enhanced so that it looks more realistic for the audience. When you compare this trailer to Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs from 1937 you can see a drastic change in technology and see how technology has advanced in this space of time. For example at the start of the Inception trailer we see three logos from different production companies and in Snow White we don't. This trailer consists of footage from the film itself and has quick cuts from one scene to the next. Whereas in Snow White there is no footage from the film. Text that is used in this film trailer shows the director's name Christopher Nolan, the main actor's name Leonardo DiCaprio and other text saying "your mind", "the scene of the crime" and finally the title of the film "Inception".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM


After studying these five trailers from 1937 - 2010 we can see how technology has drastically changed. Where technolgy has become more advanced and more and more CGI Technology has been used, less text on the trailers and more footage from the film included within the trailer.

Trailer Analysis- The Conjuring

From the directors of Saw and Insidious they have brought us 'The Cunjuring'. This film trailer stands out from the rest of the film trailers i have watched in class, this is why i have nominated this trailer to review it. This trailers stands out for the rest of the trailers for many, many reasons, first of all the story begins with to protagonists, shown through a video camera which gives it the 'home recorded' video type look. This give a great affect to this trailer and may possibly make it seem more nerve-wrecking to watch, it also gives you a solid idea on what the story may possibly be about. Whereas the other trailers that i have viewed where not created in this way. When the trailer starts you first see the two people ;who both seem to be either friends or husband and wife; in a dark basement which really sets a creepy mood for the trailer which automatically caught my attention when watching this trailer.  Their is a quick fade between each cut in this trailer, then as it gets further into the trailer more faster jump cuts are used to build a lot of tension as sop many things are happening at once. Their is some text used throughout this trailer but the text that caught my attention most was near the ending of the trailer when it says ‘It will consume you’  this gives you the impression that their is something in the film that we cannot see until we watch the full movie. The last great thing about this terrifying horror trailer is that it doesn't give away to much information to spoil the whole movie for you, but it shows you enough to make you want to see more to see what happens next which is a great and easy way of making people want to go and see this film.