Q2) How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

The three products of the main trailer and ancillary tasks had an objective to fulfil; to promote and advertise ‘The Return’. Although the ancillary tasks (poster and magazine cover) differ in the sub role they play, they divert and increase attention to the main product (the film) which the trailer teases and promotes further in addition with the poster and magazine yet all three products work to the promotion of ‘The Return’ in this marketing project. This has been achieved through the various strategic marketing decisions such as;

1) The decision to consistently feature the typography with the same font, ensuring font consistency to promote a brand identity of ‘the Return’ and the Slasher genre. The genre of slasher and the return is conveyed through the colour palette utilised in the font; Red, black and white which is reminiscent of blood, death and purity which are all formulaic tone factors which resemble the slasher genre. By using this colour palette throughout the three tasks a tone consistency was attained. The font is also distressed and tattered in a bloody fashion again referencing to the genre and tone of the film along with a narrative reference as the character (teens) become  psychologically and physically damaged through Ruby's wrath.

2) In addition both the Magazine and poster utilise the red, white and black colour

scheme, but have also been edited in Photoshop CS6 to have a more grim or 'black & white' filter. This effectively conveys Film Noir & German Expressionism through the dark and contrasting colours of black and white utilised ubiquitously throughout the three products (poster, trailer and magazine)

3) Genre & Narrative is also conveyed when my main product and ancillary tasks are combined with the formulaic and conventional aspects of a Slasher prominent in the trailer; this is evident in my poster, with the conventional location of a deep forest or woods acting as a backdrop for  the Villain (Ruby), the woods with the leafless trees resemble or represent death or a unnatural environment when using Mise En Scene and iconography which therefore refers to the narrative, regarding the teenagers fight against death itself. The magazine also displays the formulaic qualities of genre through the Villain who is masked which is reinforcing the genre convention of a  masked killer but also wielding a  conventional weapon of choice; the knife, which is smeared with blood. The three products work together in conjunction with their referential nature  clearly referencing and emitting the qualities of the Horror/Slasher sub genre.

I have also utilised both my main product and ancillary tasks in conjunction with each other which was achieved via a 'Brand Identity' being established and my implementation of 'Mode of Address'.

My brand identity was an integral factor in making effective use of both of the main and ancillary products; this was carried out via my font consistency and tone consistency in my Trailer, magazine cover and poster. The font consistency was reinforced within the target demographic and the audience I reach out to.  Although the brand identity of ‘The Return’ altered slightly in the magazine cover as I was restricted by Fangoria’s codes and conventions and their own exclusive brand identity in comparison to the poster and trailer. This is due to my higher level of control over the trailer and poster whereas in a Fangoria cover I lose a level of control over how exactly my media product is portrayed which chips away or depletes my brand identity of ‘The Return’.

I utilised brand identity and mode of address in conjunction with each other to display a tone consistency among the three media products for the marketing campaign. This was achieved by conveying the genre of Slasher with dark overtones and a gore and grim theme portrayed throughout the trailer via consistent appearance  of formulaic characters e.g. Final girl and villain which were prominently displayed in my poster, magazine cover and trailer. The narrative was demonstrated via this and shown through characters featuring on the poster and magazine that were featured in the trailer which assisted recall regarding the narrative of the trailer due to repeated exposure to the characters and narrative in a symbiotic relationship between the three products.

However there are some flaws when regarding the effectiveness of the three products working together to market my  film. This reason is that  the promotional and marketing projects are advertising the film via 'old' media platforms, with no major utilisation of 'new' media platforms. This utilisation of 'new' media platforms is required due to the independent studio using a low budget that 'the Return' has been created with, therefore leaving less money for the marketing campaign and less money for distribution of the products  which make usage of 'old' platforms. 'The Return' can not use horizontal integration for the marketing campaign again due to the production being from an independent studio, this horizontal integration is more suited towards production companies attached to an 'umbrella' conglomerate with a much higher level of budgetary support, it is the horizontally integrated nature of these large companies that aid their distribution campaigns, because they own and control other media platforms that might be of benefit when marketing a title. However this is where the 'new' media platforms shine; in the fact that they can promote a product at a fraction of the budget cost for promotion on 'old' media platforms. I believe that 'The Return' has utilised a healthy mixture of both 'old' and 'new', this is essential as my promotional campaign can reach out to a 'fragmented audience/demographic' which can cater to audiences on the old and new platforms of media. This was carried out via the main three products relying on the old platforms but also subtly incorporating social media for example twitter and facebook, in which hash-tags and a likelihood of 'going viral' was achieved. Also my film website utilises Web 2.0 to reach out to a demographic that may not necessarily utilise 'old' media platforms which is vital as my demographic are  fairly digital 'savvy' with ages being between 15-18, by having a website my product can gain the attention of Slasher fans who are the 'opinion leaders' of 'The Return. Indeed, the fact that the trailer was released on YouTube caters to the more digitally natural segment of my demographic allowing exchange to occur (via choice to like, favourite or subscribe and comment on the video and discuss 'The Return' with other "opinion leaders" of the same genre preference. These videos can be shared also onto Facebook and twitter further aiding the 'word of mouth' effect) whilst catering to 'old' media users via the poster and magazine which effectively attains a 360  marketing approach .  This 360 marketing approach which 'The Return' has used refers to a marketing campaign which covers all areas of media to advertise the film, making optimal use of platforms available, ensuring the products reach as many people who fall within the demographic parameters as possible. All this usage of 'new' media platforms that 'The Return' has utilised will inevitably result in a 'word of mouth' effect which is a much more financially sensible option for an independent low budget film like 'The Return'.

The three main products also utilise British Social Realism. This means that 'The Return'  targets pressing social issues within Britain and represents British ideologies more so than media created within the constructs of American Social Imperialism. This is common of independent films. My film utilises unknown actors, producers and score writers and no singular production or distribution company due to the low budget but also the risk of failure involved regarding box office sales as there is a 'niche' pre-established demographic unlike a James Cameron film which has a 'mainstream' larger demographic. However budgetary support from multiple companies such as Film4 who were in association with my film help promote my three products via their brand identity being added into 'The Return' and is evident in the poster and trailer. This means that when the three products are combined they can work more effectively to promote the film due to third party companies like Film4 endorsing the product which grants 'The Return' many forms of recognition.

I believe that The Return can be a success as a result of the factors listed above when the three products are utilised together for marketing purposes. However I believe that the marketing and promotional efforts should not be wasted, I can make optimal usage of the advertising of 'the Return' by using the momentum the film has gained in my favour by releasing the DVD closely to Box Office release which feeds off of the 'word of mouth' effect generated by 'The Return's promotional efforts. This can result in even more film success regarding profit made. This must be done as I do not have the luxury that Blockbusters do in terms of film attention to release the DVD 5 months after release date, if 'the Return' has 'hype' whilst in the DVD release date region more sales are likely hence why this is my future  distribution decision.

In conclusion I believe that all of these benefits and attributes of The Return's three products effectively result in film that has many assets regarding  the marketing & promotion and film success with effective utilisation of 360 marketing, third party company involvement, budgetary support, tone & narrative & font continuity to reach out to my audience and display a respectable and established brand identity with an appropriate mode of address.