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

The distributor's job is to make a distribution plan for the film in order to get it to it's target audience and to ensure it is successful. They will use various platforms to advertise, market and promote the film:

• Tv Ads
• Cinema Ads
• Website Ads
• Posters
• Billboards
• Online- official website

The distributor has to focus on the audience and find a detailed analysis, which includes the age group and gender, lifestyle, media consumption, social networks.

Audience profiling must be carried out so that the distributor knows more about it's target audience. They can find out how the audience normally receive information about films and what form of media is most commonly used. This will then let the distributor know where and how to launch the film in order to get it successfully to it's audience.


Audience's taste can change and vary dramatically so it is so important to research the film's target audience in order to see how to promote and market it.

'The distributor for the film must also compete against their rival distributors but not only that, compete against the audience's interests in leisure activities in and out of home.' - as said earlier in my blog.

When launching a film, it is essential to advertise the film. We made a teaser trailer as a group and I then individually made a film poster. The poster is created so that it captures the attention of it's audience letting them know about the film. 


The poster must:

• Include the title of the film.
• Have a tag line to entice the audience and to wet their appetite.
• My poster will have to appear in the right places in order to sell the movie to the target audience.
• Be bold/exciting/intriguing and stand out from other film posters.
• Contain images or something related to the film that is being advertised
• Contain actors names, which are normally situated at the top of the poster. This is not essential although it is normally present when this adds to the production values of the film - if the stars are famous, they will then attract the audience. 
• Date of launch- to tell the audience when the film will be out and to excite them to go and watch it as soon as it comes out.
• The theme/genre of the film being advertised so that passers by who are interested in that type of film will be immediately interested. The genre needs to be stated and is achieved by connotations or conventions being used within the advertisement.
• Include credits of who were involved in the creation of the film.
• Age Certificate of film.

My film poster includes these essential things such as:

• The actors in the film: Dale Buckley and Emily Hughes.
• The image that is on the poster is taken from the film trailer and so shows exactly what the film involves.
• A tag line of 'Sometimes, the ones you trust are the ones you fear.' This entices the audience as they want to find out what exactly this means and how it is incorporated into the film. It works with the trailer as the story line shows 'the mentor' be-friendy his student and looking after her. However she soon finds out that he is not one to trust but he is one to fear as he tortures her. Torture is shown in the trailer when she is tied to the chair and so this links in with the tag line used on the poster.
• The title 'The Mentor' which is essential so that the target audience know what film to look out for when it comes out in the cinema. The title that I have used on the poster uses the same font and colour as the title in the film trailer which holds the film's advertisement together and gives strong marketing.
• Overall genre of the theme: Horror. This is shown clearly with the black background, the red text and the image on the poster.
• The Billing Block which contains credits of who made the film which states the names of the four people in our group: myself, Lewis Lavery, Kayleigh Speirs and Dale Buckley.
• Age Certificate of film which on ours in 18. We were originally going to put the age as 15 but due the content in the film (the blood and gore) we had to push the age up.
• No specific date but 'Coming Soon' which leaves the audience in suspence as to when the film is actually going to come out in cinemas. Our trailer also says 'Coming Soon' at the end.

All of these essential parts that are included within the poster, are included also in our film trailer and this shows how they both work together as part of a promotional package.

Screen shots from our film trailer and my poster showing how they work together as a promotional package.  

Promoting the film- My Magazine

To help publicise the film further, I created my own film magazine called 'Absolute Film'.

I wanted to create my own film magazine, which would look like a professional magazine.
My inspiration came from Total Film magazine:

I included:

• bold writing that would stand out on the shelf stand in newsagents and grab the attention of readers.
• A colour theme of red, black and grey which I feel makes the magazine look professional, giving a house style. Again, the colour red stands out and also links with our horror film, 'The Mentor'.
• A main image in the centre of the magazine which is the actor 'Dale Buckley' who stars in 'The Mentor'. I used a white backdrop and lighting to take the picture. The subject gives eye contact to the camera and it's readers which again grabs their attention.
• Text that states the magazine contains an 'amazing interview with the man himself' which helps to add excitement about the film and it's 'famous' actor.

Also, I feel the fact that the actor and the title of the film are placed on the magazine so strongly makes the hype of the film even more exciting and makes the audience believe this is a top film that is going to be out.

I believe that all three of my products: the trailer, poster and magazine look professional. The fact that they are all of the same standard and hold some of the same content, helps to deliver a strong promotional and marketing package.

I believe my trailer, poster and magazine hang together to make a coherent marketing/publicity strategy for my film.