Cross media convergence
- 1. Cross media campaign Annika Laws-Walsh
- 2. Definition “Cross-media advertising is a strategy used by business owners to market a business using various types of media. Owners may use all of media types individually or combine several mediums to create a cohesive marketing campaign.”
- 3. Marketing in short film • In order to maximise the success of a short film it is important to devise a marketing strategy that will let you take the opportunities and enhance an individuals profile as a film maker. Film marketing is about persuading an audience that your film is worth seeing. • One of the most effective ways to market a short film is through film festivals, competitions and screenings. Another way is through a distributor as they can market the film to all short film buys across the world, making the name global. • The use of awards, reviews and quality achievements are used across a cross media campaign to give the film a good representation and encourage a wider audience to watch the film. • Compared to feature films, viral marketing is used to its advantage and can go far with being able to engage the audience for a long period of time. Viral marketing is a free marketing technique however, short films do not have often have that big of a viral marketing campaign as it generally is only able to feature its own website, promotional postcard and social media pages. This is due to the fact that short films are generally on a short budget and would typically attract a niche audience (not as global as feature films). Arguably, it could only be the case that short films only have a limited use of viral marketing as they want to target a younger audience.
- 4. Cross media campaign – The Conjuring • At New York Comic Con in 2012, the first teaser trailer for the film was released and interviews were taken with the cast, which can be viewed on YouTube. Even though, these interviews do not display continuity through font or images used throughout the trailer and poster, viral marketing was still effective with the use of YouTube, as videos can be shared onto other networking sites. YouTube can be effective for the institution to know whether they need to improve on their marketing techniques since YouTube allows videos to be uploaded for free and track the amount of views. • The cross media campaign was effective with the poster and trailer through the use of the title of the film. Both of these formats show continuity by using the same font and colour. Continuity is essential, as it allows the audience to recognise the film immediately just through the title. Although the title isn’t shown within the horror trailer until the very end, the sub titles have been use in the same font as well for continuity. The tag line used at the bottom of the poster “The Truth Will Consume You” is also used as a subtitle in the same font and colour during the trailer. This is a pure example of cross media campaign.
- 5. • The trailers were continued to be followed by Lorraine Warren and other paranormal investigators explaining some of the supernatural occurrences shown in the film. Although these do not use synergy between the same images and fonts, the use of marketing throughout the release of the film still manages to build suspense and create a more realistic story for the audience to interpret. This connects with the idea of the narrative being “based on a true story”. As part of the films promotion a number of trailers were released to keep the audience engaged and interested. • The links to genre that the distribution company has portrayed across to the audience has been very successful in standing out and immediately informing the audience on what type of film it is. The horror conventions are enhanced to make the promotional products look mysterious and terrifying. There is only one main image that dominates the whole poster. The poster includes an old women who is isolated in the middle of a room which already makes the poster look creep and connotes that people want to stay away from her which therefore illustrates that something is wrong with her. This is also emphasised as she is turning her head away from us, suggesting to the audience to believe that something is different about her face, which makes the poster look scary and mysterious. The poster challenges key conventions as the girl is not looking at the camera which is unusual for a promotional poster. • The background of this poster is very easy to recognise as a horror poster, it is intimidating for the audience to look at. This shows that it follows all codes and conventions of a horror poster, as it is very dark and shadowed off. The shadows in the poster contrasting with the few light bits in the image adding depth to the poster drawing the audiences eye in. • The production company also known as ”The Safran company”, are known for their success in other multiple films with varying genres like; Annabelle, Buried, The Choice”. This could be one of the main reasons why this film was so successful as the mass majority of the audience would’ve been aware of the creators and distributors from the other successful films.
- 6. Cross Media Convergence – Bag Man • It is noticeable that the short film “Bag Man” kept their theme with typography consistent. This is shown, as the title created is included on all products (posters and website) in the same font and colour. This gives the audience an easy understanding of which film is marketed, as they would’ve seen the image enough times for it to be easily recognised. The use of the same character informs the audience that he is the main character, and that the short film will most likely be based around his life. Even though, the main images that are used in each product are different it is still able to symbolise the genre of the short film, this being sci-fi drama. This is done through the use of low key lighting and stranded settings that always look like the boy is on his own. The images don’t show the main character looking directly at the camera, so the audience are curious and feel some emotion for him as we can only see his looking down or in the distance, emphasising that he is feeling sometime that no boy his age should have to feel. • The posters are very a like, they all include a tagline of all the actors, directors and creators who have contributed to this short film. In the same font, colour and text this also informs the audience that the product is a short film as it hasn’t been known through anything else, like the conjuring who's creators were known for other successful projects as well as showing that it is on a short budget.
- 7. • Another good continuity between the posters, online website and short film, is the use of director. All the campaigns I have analysed for the short film BAGMAN has used this technique highlighting the director at the end of the short film, the bottom of the poster and a page dedicated to the directors on their website. The directors of ‘BAGMAN’ have their own Twitter pages, where they would post during the production process as well as new for upcoming projects – as this short film was very successful and gave them a big opportunity of creating a feature film with a well known actor. This means the audience is getting information directly from the directors, therefore is seem to be more reliable to some. Information about the directors has been used across their different platforms which attracts the different audiences that consume these platforms, for example, a younger audience is more likely going to hear about the short film through online platforms whereas an older audience would see it through a poster. Even though there are different platforms being used, the same information is shared, which demonstrates Uses and Gratifications theory and this is a pure example of what a successful cross-media campaign wants to do.
- 8. Feature Film vs Short Film Similarities Differences Short films and feature film both create promotional material like posters for the audience to access and engaged with. They both use it to inform the audience as much as possible about what to expect and who is behind the creation of the product with a limitation amount of work actually included on the poster. A feature film has a lot that they could market with due to its long narrative, whereas, a short film will most likely only be able to market their short film with the most significant part of the whole narrative, to keep the audience engaged as much as possible. Both types of films, follow the codes and conventions of their genre to inform the audience immediately on the type of narrative they expect. Feature films have more opportunities to market their product than short films as they have a higher budget. Feature films can create a website like “Dark Knight” that engages the audience as much as possible making them do challenges to reveal another answer.