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

Each product aims to advertise the film. However, the ancillary tasks, which are the poster and the magazine, are designed in order to help the trailer of the film gain recognition and therefore, based on the dominoes effect if the trailer gain recognition the movie will inevitably gain a larger audience. A brand identity has to be established so that the audience would be able to recognise the same product promoted in all three tasks. This was created through:

The typography of the title is the same in the poster and the trailer. It’s sharp edges reinforce idea of a knife, thus emphasizing the slasher genre. In order to convey a little narrative through the typography we also managed to make the ‘o’ in ‘action’ look like a focus point.  Furthermore, the reason why the typography is different on the front cover of the magazine, is to evoke the idea that the production company has no control over the company that owns the magazine, thus they are free to use whatever typography they kind suitable.  However, the way in which the title is positioned within the cover of the magazine, is reminiscing of an arched knife, or even a machete.

The colour scheme of the poster

(black and red) is reoccurring  in the magazine, in order to make the magazine associate with the poster and therefore the film.  Nevertheless, the magazine, also promotes the trailer due to the fact that the location of the background which appears to be a litter dark alley,  is found within the trailer when Sophie is being chased by Michael.  Therefore by using this location in the trailer and the magazine I managed to give my audience a sense of the narrative.

Although those three products have a significant amount of importance I cannot only rely on  them for the promotion of ‘Knife. Camera. Action.’  A low budget independent film, can never be as heavily promoted as a blockbuster. This is why it should also rely on viral marketing and word of mouth to create a buzz about the film. This does not mean that the film will automatically become more popular, it only means that it might get more recognition. Viral marketing through social networks is cheap and very effective if it used correctly.  Due to audience fragmentation I would have to advertise the trailer through all kinds of media platforms, to reach as much audience as I can.  ‘The Blair Witch’ project gain much awareness due to their website in which they made the story look like it was in fact a real story. Similarly I could create a website page for my film, making it seem like a real story.  Furthermore, a twitter account and a Facebook page would need to be set up to continuously promote the film .

Films promoting British social realism, such as ‘Knife Camera Action’ tend to focus on the current issues of our society which are then represented through a range of ideologies.  Unlike, for example a Spielberg film, British social realism films tend not to have a pre-existing audience, due to the usage of unknown actors and producers. This is why these films need more than one company to be interested and willing to fund it, since the producing company cannot obtain a big enough budget on its own. Thus, as we lack access to vertical and horizontal integration it will be difficult to distribute the the film, hence another is independent distributor is needed as a link. When the ticket sales being to drop the film must be onto a DVD without hesitation so that it will remain in people’s mind, helping me achieve a greater revenue with the  help of the DVD sales.

Overall, I believe that this film has a chance of being a success if I strategically combine my three ancillary products which show clear brand identity, with viral marketing and an independent distributor.

All in all, I think that if I were to combine my three ancillary products -with evident brand identity seen across- viral marketing and the use of an independent distributor I may be able to turn this film into a success by covering all angles.