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

The movie poster works very well with the main product (the teaser trailer). The poster is very dark and black much like the lighting in the teaser. This is due to horror being conventionally set at night time and black being a colour associated with horror. The main image on the poster is of the killers mask. Only half of the face is seen and the brightness of the picture has been adjusted on Photoshop. This keeps the killer as mysterious as only half the face can be seen. The lighting on the mast is very important with some parts being shadowed. This makes the killer seem dark and dangerous. I chose to use a picture of the killer as the main image for the poster for a few reasons. Firstly it is scary – something that is needed so that the audience can work out that it is a horror film. Also the killer is often the most promoted part of horror films and this allows for sequals even if the other characters are killed off. Overall I think this image is very effective and represents the teaser trailer well as a horror text. The title of the film is white against a black background. This makes it stand out so that the audience will easily see the title. It is also in very large writing to be seen. The font style and smudged/worn away effect also gives it an edgy horror look with the bottom of the “p” looking much like a knife.

A tagline of “a knife goes deeper” is used which links to the intertitles from the teaser. “Knife” being used on the poster leaves no room to mistake the genre as weaponry props are a key convention in horror. The films stars are written across the top. The two actors credited first and second are billed at the top along with the actor in the special ‘and’ credit.

This allows the audience to know who is in the film and if they were actually famous people they would attract their fan base to the film. This text is written in red which connotes blood, danger and anger. Red in one of the most associated colours with horror. A release date is also given to tell the audience when it will be in cinemas. The billing block at the bottom of the poster lists all of the important cast and crew of the film. This is mainly there for contractual reasons however it does give information such as the production company, writer and director. Links to a movie website is also given to create an online marketing campaign. Overall I think that the poster works very well and the image could be very recognisable. This would be displayed in cinema foyers, bus stops and other places. The film must have a good poster as there are only approximately 250,000 billboards at the roadside, so if the company is going to fight for one of there spots and spend a lot of money, they need to have a good poster representative of the film. The image from the poster could also later be used as a DVD/Blu-ray cover saving money of having to make another one. The age rating for our film was 18. This has positives and negatives. It prevents people under that age from watching the film legally. It may also make people pass on the film as they predict it will be too gory. On the other hand a lower rating may make the older audience feel that the gore would be too ‘watered-down’. We decided to go with the 18 rating as we wanted to appeal to the main watchers of horror which are teenagers to people in their twenties. The 18 rating would allow people in their twenties to feel that they are watching a mature film. Teenagers under the age would want to find a way to get into see the film, as they would want to feel more grown up and feel cool for being able to see it.

The movie magazine cover that I have created would be publicity for the film. A cover of a magazine would not be directly in the control of the distributor however they would encourage promotion of the films stars. While the film poster is directly advertising the film the magazine is promotion the stars trying to create buzz about the film. If a star becomes well known they will have a build in fan base that will go to see the film. Promoting the star on a magazine makes them recognisable keeping them in the limelight so that they and there connection to the film will be well known. For my magazine cover I felt that the most marketable actor would be Skin Deep’s “final girl”. Fern Anderson also received top billing in the film as seen on the movie poster. This character will have the most screen time in the film therefore making her the most recognisable actor of Skin Deep. The killer is not a good idea to be marketed in this instance as the actor wears a mask the whole teaser trailer and would not be recognisable. This would also break the mystery of the killer as when watching the trailer they would know what is under the mask as they would have recently read the magazine cover that will come out around before the films release. The main image of the movie magazine cover is of the star of the film. This works well with the teaser as this actor has the most screen time and close-up establishing her as the protagonist of the film. The girl is in a typical magazine pose with a photoshoot background. These do not tie in with the horror genre as this is only a promotion of the star and not a representation of the film itself. The empire masthead has been tuned black from the usual red to work better with the main image. This helps to keep the simple colour scheme however gives it a darker edge hinting at the fact that she stars in a horror film. This is also very thinly lined red to once again link to the fact that she stars in a horror genre film. This line is very thin and does not distract from the colour scheme. It would likely not be noticed by many readers.

The main text on the poster reads “Fern Anderson” in capital letter to promote the star as the magazines main attraction. Underneath it reads “interview with the star of Skin Deep”. This promotes the film and is why a distributor would be so happy to receive magazine publicity. It also says “the must have issue” to make people want to buy the magazine. Cover lines read “EXCLUSIVE blockbuster sneak peaks, must read interviews and set visits”. These are used by magazines to get people to but the magazine. At the bottom of the magazine there is a film strip with a few other skin deep cast members pictured. This is very good for the film as it shows that the article inside the magazine will talk a lot about the film. Overall this sort of promotion would work well with the teaser trailer as it would get the audience familiar with the stars. At a time when people only have seen the teaser then the star is most recognisable from the film as she received the most screen time in the teaser trailer. Less time was spent of producing this ancillary text as a magazine cover is not something the distributor could control and it does not directly represent the film or tie in with the teaser trailer.

The distributor would not be able to control what is featured on a film magazine. So what is listed above is an analysis of why I created the text the way I did. As the distributor who created the teaser, my role would be very different. The distributor would hold screening of the film to advance audience and critics. This would create word-of-mouth. These critics would write about the film in their publications or other Medias. This would gain publicity for the film. If an upcoming film becomes well known then a film magazine – such as the one I created – would be interested in making them their cover story. This is one of the many ways that a distributor could encourage publicity. Once it is gained it would be very useful. My magazine cover promotes Skin Deep star Fern Anderson. Promoting the lead actress would be very helpful to the distributor as it would get people knowing who is in the film, and weather they want to see it for them.


With a poster and teaser released, the marketing campaign should be in full swing. The internet can be used to provide an official website, promote the film and for discussion forums. All of these create the buzz that the distributor would need to be able to land a major magazine cover. A film première should be held. This expensive ‘red carpet event’ should be glamorous and star filled. The films stars should attend and ensure that they are photographed heavily conduct interviews and sign autographs. The star would need to be photographed to gain publicity. If the star starts to receive notability then a film magazine cover could be offered to them.

All of these techniques would be employed by the distributor to try and land the sort of cover that I have created. The magazine feature would then lead to further promotion and interest in the film.

To improve the integration of these and to enforce the central marketing message I would do the following: Although the magazine would not be controlled by the distributor, I would ensure that the actress talks about the film a lot during the interview. I would ensure that such interview takes place to coincide with the film’s release. To improve the poster I would add some blood splatters as blood is a key visual signifier of the horror genre. This would have to coincide with the teaser trailers release to ensure that they are familiar with the killer.