What is a film campaign?
A film campaign is used to create a brand/name for a film. The film is
promoted and advertised through several different platforms. The sole
purpose of a film campaign is to make the film a success and to get
audiences and critics talking about the film. Campaign’s tend to use a
similar style; including font, colours and photos, this then creates a
image that audiences recognise and immediately associate with the
film that is being promoted and advertised.
WHAT DOES A FILM CAMPAIGN CONSIST OF?
Magazine coversInterviews
Teaser posters
Full theatrical posters
Teaser trailers
Viral marketing
Full-theatrical trailer
Social Networking
Merchandise
Television adverts
FILM SUMMARY
Inception is a science fiction thriller film, directed and written
by Christopher Nolan. Inception was released July 8, 2010. It
grossed over $800 million worldwide and $68 million in DVD
and Blu-ray sales, the film also won several awards including
41st Highest grossing film of all time. The cast consisted of film
stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Joseph
Gordon-Levitt. Inception is a typical thriller film as it involves
enigmas, action and violence, all forms and conventions of the
thriller genre.
TEASER POSTER
A main feature within a film campaign are the films teaser posters. Teaser posters are used to introduce the film to audiences without revealing too much , teaser posters reveal a snippet of the film, giving audiences an idea of what to expect.
This poster shows audiences that the film is going to be a thriller, it is shown to be set in a city, the main character established is also dressed in a mart suit connoting authority and power. The man established is also holding a gun, this connotes violence and action to the audience. The colours that are used are dark, a lot of blue, grey and black.
This is a teaser poster as it only revels one of the films characters as well as only telling the audience that the film will be released in summer 2010 rather that a specific date. Like a typical teaser poster the poster only consists of a title, tag line and most importantly the main image.
The first teaser poster is the first part of the campaign, it begins to build awareness about the film yet still has audiences waiting for final dates and information about the film to be revealed.
CHARACTER POSTERS
These are posters that were published before the full-
theatrical poster however just after the teaser poster. Each
poster is of a different character within the film, these
posters establish characters and their character traits to the
audience.
The posters confirm that Inception is a going to be a thriller
film as the majority of the character posters are of the
characters holding guns. Guns are typical iconography
within a thriller film and they also connote danger, death,
violence and action, which are all typical thriller genre
themes.
Each of these posters follow the same structure and layout.
They are all the same colour and effect, also the same as
the first teaser poster.
The only difference between these posters and the teaser
poster is that these posters reveal the release date, July 16.
This shows the campaign progressing and slowly revealing
more to the audiences about the film.
FULL THEATRICL POSTER
This is the full theatrical poster, it is released after all of the other
posters, after the teaser trailer but before the release of the film.
This Inception poster reveals the release date, all of the films
starring actors, a main image that reveals more about the film,
an effective tagline and production companies involved in the
making of the film.
This poster officially confirms the sub-genre as it shown to be in
a disorientated setting, connoting a science fiction twist.
However although it is the full-theatrical poster it still leaves the
audience asking questions about what the film will be like.
This interests audiences as they would have previously seen
posters that have been promoting the film however they had not
revealed much.
This poster follows the colour scheme that the previous posters
had followed. This is creating a brand for the film making it
recognisable.
TEASER POSTER
ADVERTISING
Portrait posters tend to be
made when advertising the
film to a wider viewing
audience, portrait posters
usually appear on billboards
as well as on the side of buses. This is another part
of campaigning the film and raising awareness of the
upcoming film.
Both posters are teaser posters as they reveal
minimum about the film, for example they state
coming soon rather that an exact date. Both posters
look similar as well as looking similar to all of the
other posters involved in the campaign. This begins
to make the film a brand as the posters will become
instantly recognisable, due to the tagline, main
images and colour theme.
MAGAZINE COVERS
Empire magazine is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, it
publishes film reviews and features.
Magazine covers a crucial when promoting a film and creating a
brand name for the film. Magazine covers promote the film to a
wider audience, this cover establishes the films main charcter
and shows audiences what genre the film is going to fit into. The
main image shows Leonardo DiCaprio, a well known actor which
will initially attract audiences, dressed in a very smart suit
connoting he will have authority or power. He is also holding a
gun showing audiences again, like the posters, that the film will
involve violence and action. The cover mentions the director,
Christopher Nolan, he is an acclaimed writer and director, this
further attract audiences, especially film fans, as they will already
be aware of The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and
Batman Begins. All of the films that Christopher Nolan is
recognised for are thriller genre films, this therefore further
connotes that Inception will be a thriller film.
As Empire is Britain’s biggest selling film magazine, audiences
will know that Inception is going to be a hit film and therefore will
take interest in either reading about the film or going to watch it.
Total Film is Britain’s second biggest selling film magazine,
Inception’s film campaign now began to promote the film to larger and
larger audiences especially by featuring on the cover of Britain's most
popular film magazines.
Total Film done a one off cover where they changed their usual layout
and colours to colours that the Inception campaign had been using to
create a brand and make the film recognisable. This shows
audiences that Inception is going to be a hit film as it is worth re-
styling the whole magazine cover to promote the film and build on its
campaign.
This cover reveals to audiences that film is not only going to be a
thriller, it also connotes the science fiction twist, by using a birds eye
view picture of a city and the buildings, to look like a hard drive. This
cover again shows Leonardo Dicaprio which will attract audiences,
this main image closely resembles every other image used within the
campaign. Again the same colour scheme is used on this cover as
previously used on the posters and Empire magazine.
TEASER TRAILER
Teaser trailers are released to tease audiences, and their purpose
is to excite and interest audiences yet they reveal the bare
minimum, yet enough to intrigue audiences into wanting to watch
the film and find out more. The Inception teaser trailer was
released August, 26th 2009, nearly a year before the films release.
This teaser trailer consists of all the form and conventions of a
typical teaser trailer. The trailer is only 0:59 seconds which is only a
small amount of time to sum up a entire film. The trailer begins with
a company production ident, this hints to the audience what the
quality of the film will. The trailer also follows the three part
structure which starts with establishing characters or a character,
the second part is the peak which tends to contain some of the
films best parts, usually the most action packed parts, then the
trailer ends on an enigma, this leaves the audience still asking
questions and wanting to know more. It is a typical teaser trailer as
it does not reveal a release date, it only says coming soon.
This further builds the film campaign as audiences now have an
idea of what the film will entail, the teaser trailer begins to piece
together all the teaser posters., making sense of them and the
colour scheme chosen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hstBN0Qkqhc
OFFICIAL TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM
Official/Full theatrical trailers are released months before the
film. The official trailer for Inception was released in March
2010 . This trailer reveals a lot more to the audience about
what the film will entail, without revealing the entire film as
that would result in people not pursuing to watching the film.
This trailer still follows the same colour scheme, continuing to
promote the film as a brand. This trailer also has shots and
captions that appeared in the teaser trailer. Full theatrical
trailers also follow the three part structure, however the first
part establishes more that one character and their traits, the
second part of the structure involves more action with slower
editing that the teaser trailer, lastly the third part of the
structure will end on a resolution rather than multiple
enigmas.
Once the official trailer is released the film campaign starts to
reach the end, as the film is soon to be released.
INTERVIEWS
Interviews are used when campaigning and promoting a film as audiences
get to hear directly from the cast and how they felt producing the film, they
also give an insight into what the film will entail from their own perspective.
Christopher Nolan was also interviewed for the Inception campaign as he
spoke to the audience about he’s ideas behind the final product meaning
audiences have an understanding of the film before they go to watch it.