This is done through advertising campaigns and promotional campaigns, which get the film out into the public eye through all means of text production including; posters, Internet, television, radio, magazine advertisements, billboards and interviews in all text productions as well as many other forms of advertisement including viral campaigning on the Internet and advertising on social networking sights such as Facebook and Twitter.
There are two levels of advertisement and film release; platform release allows hype and buzz about the film to gradually build up over a period of time, gradually putting more and more posters up and being featured on more and more websites and in magazines. This also includes release of the film itself, where the film is released in a few cinemas first, to ensure that positive word and mouth is spread and a reputation is built up for the film, allowing it to be released in more screens and more cinemas across the country, initially starting in one city for example and then spreading nationally.
The other type of release is Wide Spread Release or Saturation Release; which is where the film and advertising campaign for the film are released at a fast paced rate and in a large number of cinemas across the country as opposed to a small selected few and then gradually building it up. This is done, as it doesn't allow time for bad reviews of the film to be emulated through the population and creates a hype about a film that appears to have come out of nowhere and is literally everywhere in terms of advertising. This release is generally very expensive, but the returns made from the amount of attention that the film receives through this type of advertising and releasing is usually also very high, creating a large profit.
From the previous film trailer research I carried out I have now began to look at the advertising campaign within film review magazines; such as 'Empire', 'Sight & Sound' and Total Film', to see how the films are represented on the front cover spreads and how the image and text coherence functions.I am also looking at how the images used on the cover sleeves fit in and relate to the images and sequence of events that are depicted in the motion picture trailer and the mood and feel that they create.
Firstly i have looked at the depiction of the film 'Inception' which i looked at during my trailer research. I looked at both 'Total Film' magazine and 'Empire' magazine to compare their individual approaches to the film and the images that they had decided to include on their covers. To the left is Total Films cover sleeve, and much like the trailer, this image uses the iconic image of the Leonardo DiCaprio as a way of establishing its audience firmly from first glance, as any one from his massive and already thriving fan base is likely to be attracted to the magazine, as he takes centre stage within the photograph, and dominates the image and therefore an audience is immediately established.
The next thing that the eye is then drawn to, is the word 'Inception', as opposed to the Total Film title of the magazine even though this has also been emphasised to stand out. This is due to layering and image placement. As DiCaprio is placed in front of the word film, indicating his significance and the fact he is more important, and then over layed onto the image of him, is the title of the film, making this text on the most forward/top layer, giving it most importance and significance, due to the fact its the film title.
The title of the magazine itself has been cleverly manipulated, to fit in with, and merge with the theme of the film itself, as from the trailer we see a sequence of events where the buildings fold on themselves and people defy gravity, and the word 'Film' has been established through the use of aerial imaging of buildings to link in with the theme and also create an abstract theme to the photograph as Leonardo it stood upright and the buildings are seen from above at a different angle. The use of colouring is also important. The blue background connotates the idea of coldness and loneliness, this is reinforced by DiCaprio's facial expressions as well as the dark clothing and harsh lighting that makes him appear very sinister.
The black suit that DiCaprio is wearing connotates the idea of power, control, importance and dominance, both male dominance and dominance created through status and knowledge. This draws emphasis and ensures that the viewer is aware that DiCaprio is the main character of the film. The use of black could also be used to connotate the idea of death when mixed with the dangerous reds and lonely blues of the photograph.
His facial expressions is sincere and almost sinister with the harsh lighting that is creating dark shadows on his face, illuminating the eyes and the folds in his skin. This again enhances the idea of power, but also indicates that there may be a more dark side to the film, keeping the enigma flowing. The use of red text, matched with the coldness of the blue and the mystery of the black, connotates the idea of primarily danger which seems likely, due to the serious look on DiCaprio's face, as well as emotions such as hurt, pain and anger, as red is a very angry and harsh colour. All these aspects contribute to the mood of the photograph and also reflect the feel of the film that is replicated in the film trailer.
To the right is the cover sleeve for the film review magazine 'Empire', looking at the same film, 'Inception'. Again this cover has used the same colour scheme of red, blue and black, with the red connotating the idea of anger, danger and pain, the black representing power, mystery and even death and the blue representing the cold and sinister feel that the trailer portrays the mood of the film as being like.
The image and text positioning, as well as layering of images and text, is in the identical format to that of Total Film magazine with the title being placed at the bottom, then the image of DiCaprio being placed in the centre and then the title 'Inception' directly in the foreground, to reiterate its importance and ensure that it is remembered.
The background image placed behind the titles and DiCaprio is, again of a city landscape and the text that is placed around DiCaprio is harshly angled inwards, to make DiCaprio stand out even more, and appear the largest object within the cover of the magazine. This emphasises DiCaprio's importance not only as a character within the film, but also as the use of a tag to the film, as with his name and image comes a large and firmly established and thriving fan base, that are anticipating his next role and its next release.
Harsh lighting within the photograph of DiCaprio has again been used to enhance the enigma and keep the tension surrounding the film as high as possible to create a sense of anticipation and suspense prior to its official release and to keep with the mood that was created in the film trailer that i previously looked at for research.
Here is the two cover sleeves that Empire magazine released for the film 'The Dark Night' Directed by Christopher Nolan, which is the
newest Batman film that was released in July 2008 by Warner Bros. The images alone are very powerful, and the positioning of both Batman and The Joker is mirrored between the two covers, with a change in the use of colouring for the text and outlining. Firstly i looked at the villain, the Joker's cover sleeve. The contrast between the stark white make up of the Jokers face and the extravagantly dark eyes, along with the black background and black text of both the film title and the magazine title, creates a real sense of drama and excitement, and overall a really sinister image that grabs the viewers attention straight away and makes it evident that film is going to have dark aspects within the storyline.The use of green outlining of the black magazine title 'Empire' and the green writing that is featured at the left side and the bottom also ties in with the theme of the Joker from 'The Dark Knight' as the character has a clown like style, and in the film itself has green hair. The red that surrounds his mouth and the black around his eyes are stereotypically what a clown at a children's part would wear, however the angling of the photograph, makes the Joker appear very threatening and very sinister and the use of black and spotlighting above makes his eyes almost impossible to see, again adding the mystery and making him appear even more sinister.
The red that would usually be used as a smile on a clowns face, has a much darker connotation in this case, due to the way it is put on in a very unskilled way. This makes the viewer think that this red paint is more likely to symbolize the blood of those that he has killed, and it is very evident from the colours used and the angling of the photograph itself that this is the villain of the film.
The Batman cover sleeve also has a dark feel to the image, replicating the positioning of both text and image exactly, with a simple change in image and colouring, however Batmans eyes stand out alot more against the black with the whites, connotating the idea that his heart is more truthful and pure. The use of Blue is an interesting choice, as blue connotates coldness and loneliness, however it is a more pure and truthful colour than green. This use of blue may also be done to show the emotional side of Batman, as well as his strength, as he lurks in the shadows and works alone in his victories, the shadow side of him also being represented through the use of black background merging with his black iconic costume. The skin around his mouth is enhanced and appears a lot more richer than a normal skin colour, this is emphasise the fact that he is a hero, but he is also only human, and this creates hype about whether or not Batman will be able to defeat the Joker.
There is a contradiction with the words The Dark Knight being written in pure brilliant white which stands out against the background and the darkness of Batman's suit itself and this is also reversed with the white of the Jokers face and the black writing of the words The Dark Knight. This is to show that all though batman is dressed in dark clothing, he is in fact the 'good guy' as white connotates the idea of truthfulness, pure and honesty, which is what Batman stands for. The use of black for the writing on the Jokers cover sleeve indicates his dark and sinister personality that seeks to destroy and harm others and this contradiction within both of the cover sleeves in terms of image and text colouring, represents and portrays the characters perfectly in such a small and subtle way.
To the right is the cover sleeve that Total Film featured during the release of 'Batman The Dark Knight'. This cover again, draws the main attention onto the Villain of the film, The Joker, who Batman is battling for control of the city with, throughout the film. This magazine cover has taken a very clever approach to this, as in the film, the Joker takes over the city, and so the magazine have replicated this, where the Joker has taken over the magazine, graffitiing and altering the magazines advertising for the film. This is done to show that the Joker is a real threat to Batman, and it encourages people who view to explore their own mind, in wondering what might happen within the film, in turn, creating more hype and interest and therefore increasing viewing audiences, resulting in larger profits.
The cover sleeve uses a colour scheme of predominantly black, with white writing, representing the text that has been 'supposedly' written by the editors, and the red text which is more informal and written in a hand writing style font, as if with a marker pen, is representing what is 'supposedly' written and changed by the Joker. The colouring itself here is very important and white connotates the idea of purity and safety, giving the impression that the magazine is caring and truthful, and the red text connotates the idea of danger, pain and suffering, which are main aspects that a villain within a film will seek to find and impose upon others.
The Joker appears to have changed the words from 'Rough Justic The Dark Knight wages war on terror' to 'Complete chaos! Joker wages war of terror' indicating that the Batman is weak and unable to stop the Joker, again maintaining the narrative of the story off screen, as well as keeping hype and enigma within the film flowing and encouraging people to get involved with the ongoing battle that appears to be taking place. The graffiti that has been drawn over the image of Batman himself, also draws attention away from Batman and onto the Joker, making Batman appear to blend into the background, un noticed.
This is also done through the use of a black background, and the use of a black suit that Batman wears, but this itself has two meanings. The use of black for both the image and the background could indicate that the Joker has made Batman less important and less powerful within the film, drawing attention onto The Joker instead. But it could also indicate that Batman is always waiting in the shadows to save the day, which gives the hope of a happy ending which is what the public want to see at the end of a film, generally.
Film Posters in general will have a lot less text than a magazine cover sleeve. This therefore means that the image is the most powerful aspect of the poster, grabbing attention and drawing direct focus onto the films name as well as establishing the mise en scene of the setting and area of the film and characters, and giving a name and face for the lead role. As our film is targeted primarily at youths of a similar age to Erin the lead character who is a young girl from an inner city area at school i looked at film posters of social realism and the thriller genre set in similar inner city areas to see how they established the setting and gave a general mood and theme for the film that will be maintained throughout.
Firstly i looked at the film poster from the social realist film 'This is England' which looks at the lives of a economically deprived group of friends from Northern England that was directed by Shane Meadows, who is renowned by Film 4 productions for creating films that look at specifically British culture and the issues that effect and influence the lives of every day people. This film poster has text similar to the text used in our own poster, where we used the font face 'Distorted and Scratchy' which really emphasises the gritty nature of social realist films. The text is placed in the largest area of the page and also uses the colours of the British Flag, reinforcing the dominant views and ideologies that are held within the film itself, with a strong sense of nationalism and pride being very strong within society at the time. The dress codes of the characters themselves conform to stereotypes of the time period of the 1970's where the economic recession created a large trend in individualism and self expression through captitalism. Many of these characters are dressed in the stereotypical nature of a group that evolved from the working classes called the 'skinheads' who had very strong traditional views about England and the rough lives they faced on an every day basis, already giving the viewer a number of ideologies that will be shown within the film, as well as highlighting through dress codes the issues and struggles faced by the working class at this time in Britain.
The film 'Kidulthood' along with its sequal 'Adulthood' are the most similar in narrative, genre and mood and atmosphere to that of our own film poster for 'Raze'. The images, layout and text arrangement and structure for these two film posters are similar in nature due to the fact that one follows on from the other, with it being a sequal. The lighting itself is harsh creating mood setting shadows across the faces of the characters, in particular in the 'Kidulthood' poster, highlighting the baseball bat and the agressive posture and attitude of the boy in the 'hoody'. A city setting for the narrative can also be established from both film posters from the dark scenery in the background of the image, with houses stretching on for miles.
The concrete wall also gives a very urbanised feel to the image, along with the yellow glow of the city in the 'Adulthood' poster, and the bright white lampost lighting of the 'Kidulthood' image that could also be associated with police interrogation, making the connection between high crime rates of the economically deprived inner city areas. Both backgrounds appear quite dark in nature, emphasising that this is not a happy and romantic film, but looks at real issues and turmoils faced by the youths of the modern Britain. The font itself is central to the image and bright white and bolded to draw attention directly to the name. This is because this is the key selling point of the film poster, as the purpose is to grab the audiences attention and estbalish in their mind the title of the film so that on their next visit to the cinema they are most likely to pick a film that is already embedded in their minds.
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