Horror Genre & Sub Genre

Horror genre & sub genre from rpatel35

What is a marketing campaign and why is it needed?

The film making industry is very expensive and a competitive market, therefore many films will need a sustainable amount of box office revenue in order to cover the cost of production. The marketing campaign plays an important role as it informs the target audience of an upcoming film's purpose which should encourage them to go and see the film once it has been released. If a marketing campaign is successful, which therefore means people are paying to see the film, it will mean that the distributors (these are companies who distribute the film around the country through loaning it to many different cinema's.) will have the best chance of the film making a huge return on investment as awareness about the film is being made along with interest from many people at the same time. This in the long run will guarantee huge profits for investors and stakeholders which ultimately makes a successful marketing campaign.

• ·         Film making is expensive
• ·         The cost of covering production, investors and next release is high
• ·         Marketing campaigns entice the audience
• ·         Companies who own the film are called distributors and distribute them around the globe
• ·         Marketing is all about enticing and intriguing the expected audience, distributors do this to make profit

Global releasing

·         Trailer can be cut or edited to suit different countries

·         Trailer can be shorter or leave out specific bits

·         Films are being to release films on the same day around the world to prevent any piracy.

Purpose and the importance of a trailer

Producing and making a film is an expensive business. When films are released in cinemas there is only a short period of time that it will be shown in the box office. So therefore the film industry will need to promote the movie and increase the awareness of it to make it a successful movie. Trailers are ‘an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema’. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening, but as changed to the beginning of a film screening. Trailers consist of a series selected shots from the film being advertised. The purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the selected film, these usually consist from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. A trailer has to achieve that in the duration of less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the maximum length allowed. The importance of the trailer is to provide a different atmosphere with the sound, effects and moving images combined. It allows the audience to see what the film is offering more so than what posters give or other forms of advertisement provide. It allows the audience to engage with the film and also it makes it far more appealing to the pupil.

Successfully campaigning and promoting a film can be achieved through using a variety of media platforms such as posters, newspapers, billboards etc. Some media platforms are more powerful than others in order to interact and gain an audience's interest. For example, posters are important in order capture an audience's interest immediately and is a good use of push media which means that the audience have no choice but to consume the media being advertised and promoted, and if this is a successful film poster for example, will attract them to watch the film.

Successfully campaigning and promoting a film can be achieved through using a variety of media platforms such as posters, newspapers, billboards etc. Some media platforms are more powerful than others in order to interact and gain an audience's interest. For example, posters are important in order capture an audience's interest immediately and is a good use of push media which means that the audience have no choice but to consume the media being advertised and promoted, and if this is a successful film poster for example, will attract them to watch the film. Also social media platforms is a powerful tool to create a successful campaign. Social media like facebook or twitter can increase the awareness and popularity of a film within days. By the speed of social media in today’s world and the amount of people using it. Also a key element is that it’s free so film companies wouldn’t have to pay anything to get the trailer viral.

Introduction to my project

For my A2 Media Studies course I will be creating a promotional package for a new film which is going to be within the horror genre. I must successfully compose together; a teaser trailer, a film magazine front cover which features the film, and a film poster. We have been placed into groups to create the trailer, but individually have to create the poster, the magazine front cover and edit the trailer.

In order to successfully complete my task I will be using new media technology and a variety of media platforms in order to appeal to my target audience. Gathering this data will be carried out through using primary and secondary data. This will help the group choose carry out the sub genre which is the ideal preference for the audience. Group meeting and brainstorming ideas of other major contributing factor like location of for the trailer, props and organisation of other group members. Further analysis will be carried out to help provided ideas of how to compose a successful trailer. I will look at 5 different trailers 2 from a horror genre and 3 from the sub genre of our groups choice.

I have decided to choose to create my promotional package in the horror genre for many reasons. I myself enjoy watching horrors movies and admire the fact that many of the film industries and institutions use a small budgets to work with and try to release a good promotional package for an upcoming film and the film proves to be a very successful one. Films such as paranormal activity and blare witch project has become iconic movies in the horror genre and also known for its simplicity. I feel that the genre of horror can provide the combination of a simple and less practical to make and the effectiveness it can portray when put together and edited. Another reason as to why I have chosen the horror genre is due to the fact that the codes and conventions are very similar. By deciding to do a horror promotional package, appealing to my target audience is crucial therefore by choosing a horror genre this should not be a problem as the many horror films today have identical audiences as they all contain the codes and conventions associated with the horror genre such as blood,violence,thrill and suspense etc. 

The majority of their research and data gathered is through secondary data. This is data which has already been collected and analysed for another purpose. This means that because many of the horror films today have identical target audiences, most of the research such as what attracts them to watch their particular horror movie rather than others has already been collected. This will not only save money for an institution, but for myself it will save a lot of time as I will not have to waste money and resources on collecting data. This is just one of my reasons for choosing horror as the genre which I will release my promotional package for my upcoming film.

I believe that I will achieve this by conducting market research and analysing both data collected from primary and secondary research which will then allow me to successfully meet the consumers needs. In addition, I believe that by applying a few media theories such as the hypodermic needle theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs, this will also allow me to appeal to a wider target audience which ultimately creates a successful media promotional package as I will be satisfying the audiences’ needs and demands from a horror promotional package.