What is a Promotional

package?By Fatima Abdi Mohamed

Film Genres

Romance

Comedy

Horror

Action

Sci-FiForbidden Love

Weddings

Tragedies Intimate

ScenesNormally Happy EndingSet in a

well known locationClumsy StuntsCorny

JokesRandom Awkward Situations Hilarious

MomentsQuirky Locations

One hilariously funny actor

Creatures, Ghosts and DevilsBlood, Gore and GutsUnknow

n Identity

Tense Atmosphere Scary Chase Scenes Dark,

Scary Locations

Guns and Explosives

Dangerous Plot

There is always a hero or a heroin

Violence

Physical Feats

Long car chase scenes

AliensFuturistic machinery Super

Heroes

Space

InvasionsSpaceships

What is a promotional packaged?

• A promotional package is a collection of media products and contents that is created to attract the target audience attention towards the product being promoted i.e. Movies. There are varies factors that are involved in a promotional package so that what ever is being promoted could reach a wider range of audience and so that the audience could see the product that is being promoted easily with no problems, examples of these would be film posters, trailers and magazine reviews.

• The purpose of a promotional package is to help films get recognitions before they are shown in cinemas so that people are excited to watch the film, it also help the distribution of the film when they are sold as DVDs.

Types of film promotionA promotional package consists of:• Cinematic Trailers• TV Trailers• Film Posters• Premiers• Social Networking• Reviews of film in Magazines, blogs and film posters• Merchandises• Interviews from casts of the movie, sometimes having Live Q&A to

promote the film

Posters• Posters are essential to promotional package, without posters then a lot of people

would not know information about the movie that is being promoted. Film posters are mostly situated on billboards and on bus and give brief, important information's about the movie which draws the audience in. When posters are released they can either be a teaser or a main film poster, normally teaser posters are released first. Main film posters provide information's that the audiences need like the release date for the film and who the actors in the film are.

• The audience could mostly guess the genre of the film from the film poster i.e. if it has a scary masks and blood then it’s a horror/thriller film, if it has exploding cars with a villain walking away then it’s a action film etc. These film posters draws in the audiences attention to that moment in the poster making them curious to find out what happens next and that’s why film posters are important in promotional packages.

Trailers• The purpose of film trailers are to give small incites of the move to the audience

without exposing the majority of the film or its storyline, so that they are interested enough to go watch the film in the cinema. Film trailers are very important in a promotional package because it is what gives the audience the story about the movie, small snippets of action that occurs within the film, however it doesn’t give too much away so that it doesn’t ruin the film for the audience, but still allow the audience to get an idea about the film and what it will be about.

• There are teaser trailers and main trailers. The teaser trailers are normally short, up to 30/60 seconds and they don’t give a lot of information out just small exciting bits that excites the audience for the main trailer. The main trailers gives more information of the storyline and the release date for the film. Film trailers and film posters both have the same purpose, they are just a different way of promoting a film. Some people would watch film trailers instead of poster and it goes the other way as well.

Magazine• Magazine reviews of films are important for promotional package

because the audience could read what people who have watched the movie had to say and they would have an incite of what happens in the film and if it any good. The most known film review magazine is called Empire, it has reviews, latest movie releases, blogs and many more. This allows audience who don’t watch trailers or look at film posters to get information of the film and decide if they want to watch it.

• The overall purpose of a magazine film review is to recommend the film to people on whether its worth spending time and money on the film.

Ride Along - Film PosterThere is a film classification and many credits at the bottom of this film poster which the teaser poster does not have. You can tell that this is the main film poster because it has the release date on it, when the film is screening in cinema.

This film poster does not have the release date on it, instead it has ‘coming soon’ on it, this means that this film poster is a teaser poster because its not giving away basic information like the main film poster does.

Both film posters have the same tagline and actors name on it, this gives the audience a slight idea on who the actors are and what the film is about.

Ride Along – Film Trailer

This is the main trailer and its 2 minutes and 34 seconds long. It gives a

greater idea of the film is about and how the characters are. We can see

Ben (Kevin Hart) is a funny actor who can make the audience laugh. From the

trailer, the audience can tell that the genre of the film is a comedy.

This is a teaser trailer, its duration is 1 minute and 44 seconds. It gives the audience

a little sneaky peak of what the movie is about but not as much as the main trailer. You only get snippets of clip and image,

which makes the audience want to wait for the main trailer. Ben’s characteristics could

not be understood from the teaser trailer but the audience could still see that he is a funny

actor.

Ride Along – Magazine Review

There is a huge image of the actors from the film with their names on side. There isn’t much text around the magazine front cover, all the attention is on the image of the actors. The actors probably gave an interview that is featured inside the magazine. There also might be a feature in the magazine of peoples review of the film and if they would recommend it.

On the front cover of this magazine (JET) its also talking about how good the film Ride Along is doing in the Box Office. In their own words, Ride Along actors are ‘Box-Office Killers’. This is an extract from the interview in the magazine, “From 48 Hours to Lethal Weapon to Bad Boys, I wanted Ride Along to have the same kind of feel as those movies,” Cube said, responding to what moviegoers can expect from the film. “I took a gamble when I quit my job, which meant putting my all into stand-up comedy,” said Hart, who has established himself as a bankable leading man.

Dear John – Film PosterThe main film poster has credits at the bottom and more information about the film. The audience can automatically guess the genre from the film poster because there is a man hugging a girl. It also has the release date at the bottom which is common on a main film poster

The teaser poster is practically empty, it doesn't give much away. It also does not credit the people who helped create the film, instead it just has the two main actors names on the top. The picture that is used is the same picture as the main poster. The tagline gives the audience a brief idea of the film.

Dear John – Film TrailerThis trailer is 2 minutes and 27 seconds long. When the audience watch it they get the basic information on the film is going to be about and what genre it is. In this case it’s genre is romance/chick-flick. The audience can see that this film is about a man and a women falling in love and then the man goes to war. The trailer at the ending, ends on a sigma so that the audience will be curious enough to watch the film in the cinema.

The promotion for this film did not include a teaser trailer, this could be because of the budget of the promotional package or the fact that they have 5 different trailers of the film.

Dear John – Magazine Review

The film has a review on a Spanish magazine with a feature that covers 4 page. This shows that it is loved and people are fascinated by the move. The magazine review was published on a well known Spanish magazine named Capricho. However, there is

also a review on the website where the audience could have a brief idea of what is in the film and if its any good. In this review it gives the film 3 stars which is good.

The Purge –Film PosterThe teaser film poster does not have the same picture as the main film poster, instead it has a symbol which could symbolise what ever the film is about and a quote from the film. This shows the audience that the film is going to involve chaos and that people will actually need the ‘emergency services’. It does give the release date but that about the only useful information it has.

The main film poster has a picture of someone wearing a mask and it looks more sinister then the teaser poster. The mask clues in the audience what genre the film is going to be about. At the bottom of the poster, there is release dates and credits, which shows recognition to the people who were involved in making the film.

The Purge – Film TrailerThere is only a main trailer for this film. In the trailer the audience could guess the genre straight away from all the masks and the tension that is caused by the backtrack and fast clips that are being shown. The trailer shows how for 12 hours people can commit any crime they want and would not be charged for it because it is legal. This changes the mood of the film to thriller/mystery. The Purge is a social science fiction horror film which shows how the aristocrats control the government and this their way of controlling the problems with population control. The trailer is only 2 minutes and 24 seconds, this means that the information that is given out is limited and if people want to find out more then they have to watch the film. The trailer ends on a sigma which entices the audience to watch the film and find out the real ending.

The Purge – Magazine ReviewThe film The Purge did not have a magazine review, however it did have an online review on the website Empire (one of the most known film review magazine). The website also gave a rating of the film, which was 3 stars. This means that film was good but could be better. This could be because the promotional package did not have enough money in the budget or that they didn’t bother featuring in magazine because a lot of people are already familiarised with the film.