Paranormal Activity Marketing Campaign

One of the biggest reasons behind a films success is its marketing campaign. If a film is hoping to become a worldwide success, it must have an effective marketing campaign that builds a buzz/hype around it to target potential viewers. I have chosen to analyse the marketing campaign behind the Paranormal Activity film as i believe this is one of the best examples of a successful marketing campaign, and it is also of the same genre as my film - horror.

It was a very low budget film made for just $15,000 so it was massively important for the creators to advertise it as good as they could. As you can guess from the title, it tells the story of a haunted house featuring a number of different paranormal incidents that would leave viewers shocked.

The movie was given a limited release with a number of midnight screenings in small towns across America. The company then turned their attention to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to create a buzz about the film. They encouraged the lucky people who had got the chance to see the film during its limited release to write about it with short reviews and with the majority of them being positive and recommending others to see it, this lead to a larger limited release, mainly focusing on college towns as this was where the majority of their target audience of teenagers would be.When Paramount had become aware of the success of the film in these few towns, they knew they had to get the film out on a larger scale. The website for the film which was promoted all over the internet on the likes of Twitter and its trailer allowed for users to demand the film to be screened in their town with the click of a button. This is very effective as it involves users by giving them the power and making them feel like they are a part of the film and its distribution. Paramount said that if it gained 1 million demands, they would release it nationally. Which it did.

Social networking sites such as Twitter allowed for the film to generate even more publicity and awareness as it was featured in the worldwide trending topics for weeks on end meaning that any of the millions of users on Twitter where aware of its presence. With the trailer for the film, they wanted to create something different - to stand out from the crowd. Rather than having a number of clips and scenes from the film edited nicely in a montage that had the potential to spoil it for viewers, they only included a small number of clips from it whilst showing the reaction of a live viewing audience. By focusing on the reactions of the live audience, this would entice viewers to want to see the film themselves and flood cinemas instantly to gain the same experience. Watch the trailer below:

A poster promoting the film was also put up on billboards and walls across the world. It features a very eerie looking photo from the film that attracts viewers attention as well as a quote saying that it is one of the scariest movies of all time. This was sure to appeal to horror movie fans or people who enjoy being frightened in general as this is exactly what they will want. It features a rhetorical question as well as the message "don't see it alone" in order to involve viewers and make them feel apart of the film. It also directs viewers to the films website where they can demand for it to be screened in their area.

Overall, I feel that the marketing campaign for Paranormal Activity was very successful in advertising the film effectively and generating a huge buzz to entice people to go and see it. The campaign itself is the main reason behind why it gained a significant box office taking of over $193,355,800 from just $15,000.

Synergy in marketing

When companies join together in order to come up with a product that involves advantages for all parties included, this is known as synergy. Synergy plays a big part in the marketing campaign of a film as several different products are created in order to stand a better chance of gaining the film more publicity and attracting potential viewers. These products can include relatable items to the film that promote and advertise it such as magazine and poster covers, video games and even merchandise.

One of the best examples of synergy being used in a films marketing campaign was with The Dark Knight Rises. A number synergy techniques were used to enhance the film both before and after its release with products such as a video game, posters, magazine covers and a number of trailers being released. Each targeted a different section of the media - video game lovers, film fanatics and magazine readers. These were very effective in gaining the film tons of publicity from different media types which suggests that they were the main reason behind the films success.

The first sign of marketing by the film was when the official website was released over a year before the films actual release date. The site streamed an encrypted audio file in which users could decrypt it by using the hashtag "#TheFireRises" on Twitter. Each time this was done, the creators Warner Bros would remove a pixel from the webpage before the first official image of the villain Bane was revealed. A number of different trailers were released on YouTube which each received millions of views and spread rapidly. Different posters and magazine covers were also released having included either the hero Batman or the villain Bane on the front. This way, viewers could choose which side they were on - good or bad. This also built a lot of hype for the film and got people talking - again gaining a lot of publicity for the film. Synergy had been maintained throughout these products as the tagline "The Legend Ends" was included on each one. This was done so that viewers would remember the phrase in the hope that it would entice them to go and see the film. Another way in which features of the products were similar and synergy had been maintained was with the general layout of the likes of magazine covers, posters and images. They each had a very dark and similar look about them in order to add effect and show that it is of the action genre and can be quite dark/moody at times.

The Arkham City video game was another way in which the film was marketed as this would have gotten people talking about Batman in general and with a new film just around the corner, they are bound to go and see it if they enjoyed playing a game relating to it. Synergy had continued to be maintained throughout the marketing campaign as Warner Bros signed a deal with Formula One team Lotus F1 to have the films logos appear on several cars driven in the British Grand Prix. This would have been watched by millions of people around the world and with the Batman logo being displayed not only on this, but every other product, it would have made people want to go and see the film.

Overall, i believe that synergy in the marketing campaign for the film had been maintained effectively and was certainly the main reason behind the films worldwide success.

Dark Skies Poster Analysis

Above is the analysis that I have done for the Dark Skies movie that was released at the start of 2013. Overall, I believe that it is a very effective movie poster and achieves its aim of advertising the film very successfully.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Poster Analysis

Above is the poster analysis that I have done for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I believe that this is a very effective poster for the film and it does the films marketing campaign justice. What I found most effective about the poster, apart from the powerful main image that brings the poster to life is the colour scheme used. The colours compliment each other and make it easy to read the text and view the main image of the man holding the chainsaw which is what every poster looks to do, but doesn't do quite as effectively. I like how the main image covers the entire poster with the clouds and sky varying in colour. I will be looking to produce my movie poster of a similar quality to this as I believe it looks very professional and effective in advertising the film.

Total Film Magazine Front Cover Analysis

For my second movie magazine front cover analysis, I wanted to choose a different company than Empire in order to see how similar or different they are so that I can pick up any ideas when it comes to creating my own. I chose another huge film magazine company - Total Film and came across the cover that they produced for their "ultimate Batman issue" promoting the new film The Dark Knight Rises. My favourite feature on this cover is the colour scheme as I feel it compliments the film and layout effectively. Not only does the gradient colour of black and blue look very professional on its own, it also links in with the film as a lot of the scenes in Batman take place during night where the sky is black/blue. I will certainly be using this cover as inspiration in order to gain ideas when creating my own movie magazine front cover.