Evaluation Pt. 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The combination of both my ancillary tasks and my main product was used in a very effective way, in the sense that the magazine cover advertises the film and offers many different incitements to draw people in and look at the front cover.

For my film poster I decided to keep it simple. I thought the best way to make this poster would be to use the main catalyst of most of the events in the film. By this I mean of course the poker game, in this film it acts as a catalyst for the vast majority of the film, also this is what the trailer showed the most of so it would make more sense to make it more about the poker game so that the audience could associate better with it instantly. The poster also plays with the title of the film because it shows 3 of the main characters as playing cards in the foreground and in the background is fire. This is a reference to the title because of the “playing” cards and the “fire” in the background it goes with the title of the film “Playing With Fire”.

As for my magazine front cover I decided to go for a similar simple style as the poster. I used the same main character on the magazine cover as I did on the poster wearing just slightly altered clothing as he was on the poster. I made sure to put enticements on the left hand side of the magazine because that will be the side showing on the magazine stand so that is what will be needed to draw people’s attention. I also made the magazine reach its 100^th issue as a milestone and as special issue that might make people more inclined to look at it because it has reached 100 issues.

The image I used for the main character (Farai Ngarande) is a low angle shot looking up. This is to give him the impression of him looking powerful and the prop of the gun also adds to this image I am trying to portray. His card number is the Ace of Spades because in most card games the Ace is a very valuable card to have and this is done to represent that he is the main character. The second character on the shot was taken at a slanted angle to give it a more dramatic look and feel to it. Her card number is the 8 of Hearts this is a little reference that later on in the film there is a bit of a love interest between the main character and the antagonist and since she is put in the middle it hints that she may have to choose between the two at some point in the film. The last character depicted on the poster is the antagonist. He is put at the back because his character in the film typically works behind the scenes and usually has a hidden agenda, this is represented by the way the other two characters are looking towards the front of the poster but he is looking elsewhere as if to say his attention isn’t where you’d expect it to be. In addition to the theme of playing cards the cards Ace of Spades, 8 of Hearts & Ace of Clubs are a reference to the “Dead Man’s Hand” which is a pair of Aces and 8’s which is the hand a character in a film was holding before he was shot to death. The whole poster is a play on the title, the playing cards in the foreground represent the “Playing” part of the title and the background is of fire which is a direct reference of the “fire” in the title. I have also added a hash tag at the bottom of the poster as a marketing scheme, (#PWF) this is so that the film can be discussed on social networking sites and I can see who to advertise to and save money by targeting the people who want to see my film and how to advertise it. Also with social networking my product gets free advertising by word of mouth which is a very powerful form of advertising.

The magazine is called Preview. The magazine is called Preview because in the world of cinema preview is usually when a film is shown to critics before it is released to the general public. This is done so that magazine, newspapers and even blogs can make a general consensus for the film and also this is also done as a sort of free advertising for the film even if the reviews are bad “any publicity is good publicity”.

I made this issue be the 100^th issue for the magazine as a milestone because even if people aren’t usual readers of the magazine they may be drawn in by the thought that it has managed to survive 100 issues and might want to pick it up on a whim. Also this will be a sort of collector’s edition for some people and therefore it is more likely to be bought just for reaching this milestone.
The tag line “The UK’s No.1 Independent Film Magazine” this is to draw people in since it is the number one independent film magazine in the UK so there must be a reason for this so people might be more inclined to pick it up.

The left side of the magazine offer a free poster inside special issues, obviously for those who really want the poster they will buy more than one to get the poster and since its on the left hand side it will most likely be what the audience see first when they look past the magazine rack. Also on this side there is a competition to win 25 Blu-Rays and 50 DVDs this is enough to make people to do a double take at the magazine and then pick it up buy it to enter the competition. Also on the left hand side is the price of the magazine which is cheaper than some of the major film magazines and offers more prizes and competitions, such as magazines like Empire. The main article of this magazine is the “World Exclusive Interview” with the star of “Playing With Fire” since this Interview is world exclusive no one else will have an interview with this person so the only place they will be able to read about it is in this magazine. So if they want to know more about it they will have to buy this magazine. The other cover stories talk about an upcoming film by a well known director “Zack Synder” this is also used as an incentive for people to buy the publication. The main image is of the main character who is also being interviewed for this magazine. His attire is roughly the same as the attire he wears in the poster but it different in the sense that he wears a different shirt and tie but still wears it in a suit style this is done to represent the luxury the protagonist is trying to achieve in the film. The image was taken form a low angle looking up at the protagonist to make him look more powerful since the general theme for him is power. For the smaller images I decided to focus on the film “Playing with Fire” and therefore I created a film reel with scenes from the actual film or rather scenes from the trailer to further advertise the film rather than also advertise other films.

Products similar to mine would usually have a marketing strategy similar to this;

1.      Before the film is ready to be ‘officially’ announced, they will make adverts with minimal information revealed perhaps a single coloured bus ad with the tag line for the film on it and a ‘coming soon’.

2.      Once the film has been officially announced then the company will start doing more detailed advertisements but still nothing substantial they may have the main character/s on the adverts now but not much will be known about the actual film’s plot or much else.

3.      The trailer would be due for release soon after that period of time now that the effect of word of mouth has had a chance to spread and get people’s attention. When the trailer is released it will most likely be released in the cinema first then it will be advertised on the internet most likely YouTube and finally it will be released on TV

4.      Next would be the tie-ins to the product, product placements and promotions. For a film like this would be a cash prize or a holiday to a destination mentioned in the film or if its glamorous enough it will be to the place where the film was shot. This gets more awareness for the film and makes people more likely to want to watch the film.

5.      The next part would be merchandising and copyrighting. This usually involves reserving the name of anything you want associated with the film such as toys, video games or just hand held products a special edition iPhone as a promotion for the film.

6.      The next part of marketing strategy would be the publicity. This will usually involve the stars of the film, going on talk shows and doing interviews for magazines, trying to promote the film as much as they can. Once this is done they film will have reached the hype it will.

7.      The next step would simply be the film being distributed to the cinemas and people would go and watch it.

8.      This would be the final part although the majority of the time this part is out of the hands of the producers or anyone on the film company. This is where the critics either tell people to go see the film or not. Also this is also the part when people who have seen the film will either tell their friends about it and it will either be positive or negative but most companies rely on this if they opening weekend didn’t meet predictions they would then expect the second weekend to bring in more revenue.

There is some obvious strength with marketing your media product like this one of them is that it will attract a lot of attention and will essentially reach everyone you want it to reach. 
However, after a certain point you really have no control over the situation. By this I mean to a certain point you can tell who has seen your advertisements and who hasn’t and therefore you cannot adjust your marketing as it situation develops. Also it is very expensive and if the film isn’t advertised correctly it can be a colossal waste of money. 

For this film I intend to launch it with the trailer being put up on YouTube and create a viral promotion After that release the posters, on the posters I put the hash tag #PWF this is used on twitter and via this I can see who is talking about the film and what is being said. This will also act as a sort of free advertising and let the name of the film spread via word of mouth. After I have released the trailer on YouTube and I have had the posters up for a 3 weeks I will then start advertising the trailer on TV and the cinema before films such as Contraband because they have a similar type of genre. Then finally I will start advertising in film magazines such as “Empire” and “Preview” but I will show a massive emphasize social networking. For distribution it would be in the best interest of the film to be distributed by Harvey Weinstein. He is the co founder of the “Weinstein Company”. I would choose this company to distribute this film because he is famous for turning small budget films or independent films into massive blockbuster successes or cult classics. 
The cost should be kept to a minimum because I am using word of mouth and social networking in order to try and be innovative and break away from normal conventions. Also the adverts in Empire won’t be full page adverts so costs can further be kept down.