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

I think the combination of my trailer, poster and magazine cover is very effective. The teaser trailer was the first thing we produced, so it put down the foundations for what sort of style the ancillary texts would be made in. The horror is supposed to be very gritty and real, taking ordinary events and turning them into something scary, instead of a far fetched plot.

Film production companies always want to create a 'buzz' around their films, sometimes over a year before its release. To do this they will use their publicity skills. This includes releasing a teaser trailer, plot synopsis, and keeping the balance of how much of the product they hold back, and how much they show, to make demand for the film. More recently, 'viral advertising' has been used to quickly spread the word. It's a technical method, but for example, a website might be created and have hidden videos and pictures to find, often in the context of the narrative. This then becomes more popular as people try to work out as much as they can, and soon becomes an Internet phenomenon.

Another thing they will do is try to get their film on the cover of a popular film magazine, such as Empire or Total Film, giving them a platform to show their film off with. Getting the cover of such a magazine is no easy feat, but the exposure it gives the film is invaluable. The producers of the film can control what is seen about the film to extent, by the materials they supply the magazine with, such as photos, videos, interviews and more found in the press kit.

Poster

I wanted the poster to reflect this, and it fits in well with the look of the film. The poster originated as a still frame from our trailer, in which the protagonist is walking towards the camera with a flickering television effect. Using a still from the trailer creates a relationship between the two, although without any editing, it would have looked very plain and not attracted the viewing public.

To this end, I used several features in Photoshop to give it a more artistic look. The use of desaturation, halftone blending and the dash of colour in the face of the protagonist gives it a mysterious feel, leaving many questions to be asked.

Magazine cover

Obviously magazines aren't produced by the production company of the film, unless they are a promotional device. The magazine 'FilmFan' was created as I wanted to invent my own house style instead of following one by Total Film or Empire. The title alliterates and describes the magazine's target audience, fans of films - with the tagline above the masthead 'The magazine for people who ♥ movies'.

I mainly followed the conventions of magazine design, although I really wanted to create a different looking product at the same time. Many film magazines look cluttered and are full of text - I kept the layout similar to other film magazines, but with a higher quality look. The coverlines are neat and the fonts minimalist, to draw attention to the highlights of the issue, without throwing them at the readers' faces.

The idea is that the cover image would have been sent by 'Wicken Productions' to 'Film Fan', not taken on the set by the magazine's photographers. This means that the film's production company get a big say in how the film is represented, maintaining control over the 'brand image'. The grainy effect seen on the poster and in the film remains, and the slight unbalance of colour also combines to create an effective promotional campaign for 'Triquetra'.