LO3: Be able to plan original print-based advertisements to be used within an advertising campaign

Target Audience

Mind Map of Ideas

Budget

The budget for creating this poster is made up of the cost of the equipment needed as well as the cost of the programmes used to put the poster together, and so my total budget is £500.

Equipment - I already own the equipment needed for the photoshoot

Software - £20 per month, £60 for all 3 months

Promotion -  My budget for promotion is £300, this covers the cost of promoting the film on billboards, TV and social media over the course of two weeks. I will be making 20 large print posters(A1), buying them in this amount means that they will cost £9 each. I shall also be printing 40 A3 posters which will cost £2.80 each.

A large amount of social media advertising can be done freely, however, I will be spending £50 on features that allow me to sponsor posts such as the 'boost' feature on Facebook

Recce Sheet

House Style

Our short film is a psychological thriller/horror because of this our target audience is between 16 and 25. Posters for other films within this genre, such as this year's 'Get Out' by Jordan Peele rarely feature much colour. Black connotes darkness, fear and the unknown - three important elements to our short film. 

I will also be using Red as it connotes danger. Though our short film is not in the style of found footage, I feel that it is a great representation of teenagers, connotes danger and is also a stylistic choice that creates more spectacle and will entice the target audience. Because of this I shall also be using a variety of blues and greens. 

Sketches

LO2: Planning an advertisement campaign that includes print-based advertising

Aims and Objectives

In advertising, a company aims to create awareness of their company and the products and services they provide. For my particular advertisement campaign, I will be aiming to create awareness of the short film 'False Awakening'; for the most part film companies are commercial companies, this means they exist to make a profit. To do this I will be creating a variety print based media products such as posters, billboards, magazine covers/ in-issue ads, leaflets etc. These products need to be eye catching, in order to make the target audience see them and be encouraged to go and watch the film.

I will also be producing a logo for the film and it's advertising. This is important because it reinforces branding and becomes more recognisable to it's target audience. For 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', for example, the Star Wars logo was used throughout it's advertising campaign because of how recognisable it is to the audience as a brand. A recognisable, eye-catching logo is a simple way to establish a brand and draw an audience in.

Target Audience

'False Awakening' is a light horror/ thriller, because of this my advertising shall be aimed towards a predominantly male audience aged 16-25. As this is a low budget independent  short film, this film is going to be aimed towards fans of other horror short films. My audience would be in the social grades C1/C2/D, this is due to the low budget of the film. Because of the low budget of the film, it will be available on free video streaming websites such as YouTube and Vimeo - these are websites that anyone can access for free, revenue is instead made through advertisements. At the same time however, the audience will still need access to the internet as 92% of this country's population does, therefore whilst the target audience does not need a significant amount of disposable income they do need enough to access the internet.

Campaign message 

The message for my advertisement campaign is that the product ('False Awakening') is a good short film that people should go and see. This will be done through the representation of the film in my print-based advertisements. For example, the house style running throughout this campaign  will be very dark to connote the dark themes within the film. To do this I will be looking at other thriller film posters. I will be using an informative mode of address in this advertising campaign, because my advertisements are there to inform the audience about this film.

Relevant legal/ Ethical issues 

The film 'False Awakening' is copyrighted to the creators of that short film, of which I am one. Copyright is a right given to the creators of an original work's use and distribution. Because I am a creator of 'False Awakening' I do not need to seek copyright permissions to advertise this film. However, copyright may need to be sought for use of particular fonts in my advertising campaign.

The Advertising Standards Authority

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) are an independent regulator of advertising in the UK. They work to ensure that advertising across all forms of media is truthful and inoffensive. It is important that I do not breach their regulations as they have the ability to remove or amend any advertisements that do. 

It is important that the violence featured in my short film is not featured in my print-advertisements in order to prevent causing offence to anyone. It is also important that it is clear to the audience that I am advertising a film in line with the ASA's regulations on misleading advertising. To adhere to this I will look at the conventions of existing film posters within the genre.

Regulatory Bodies

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) are responsible for rating and/or approving anything for TV and film in the UK. Once 'False Awakening' has been rated, it is important that this rating is shown on the poster so that the audience is aware of who the film is targeted at and if it is suitable for them or their child. As 'False Awakening' is targeted towards 16-25 year olds, it is important that the connotations of the film poster show that, in order to not mislead the audience.

Campaign Schedule

M2 Audio Visual

When creating my print-based advertisement, it is important that it also resembles the audio-visual advertisement for 'False Awakening' in some way. The most obvious being that the actors from the short film will be included in both forms of advertisement. The audio-visual advertisement will take various scenes out of the film so that the audience can understand what the film is about. Obviously, this can not be done with print based media. But the audience should be encourage to watch the film's trailer and check out any social media pages related to the film.

LO1: Tutor Feedback

LO1 - Understand how print-based advertisements are used within existing advertising campaigns

Deadpool Ad Campaign

Aims and Objectives

Print-based advertisements are placed in a variety of different media. The print-based advertisements I will be analysing are for the film 'Deadpool'. The aim of these advertisements is to make people want to go and see the film. It's also done to make people aware of the character, I think. Other MARVEL characters such as Spiderman and Iron Man are easily recognisable and have been a part of pop culture for years so it's important for them to make Deadpool recognisable too. 

Target Audience

The target audience for this film I think would be between the ages of 15-25, this is because the posters clearly have some very adult films. Hinting at violence with pictures of guns and swords, it also hints at the film's other adult content with shots of Deadpool's crotch and the Strapline "Bad Ass. Smart Ass. Great Ass." This is supported by the trailers which would mostly have to be shown post-watershed due to their graphic content and inappropriate language.

I think this audience would fit in to the BC1C2 social grades. This is due to the variety of formats it was released in. These included its original 2D format, Digital 3D, IMAX and 4DX in the UK - the latter two of which have extremely high production costs. And so the target audience would need to be in these social grades in order to afford to see those formats. However, people in the C2 category are still likely to spend money on seeing the film in it's regular format or in Digital 3D.

Representation

The common house style used throughout this campaign is the colour red. Whilst this is mostly due to the fact that the titular character's suit is red but it also has connotations of the violence and sex included in this film. Another key element to all of these advertisements is their comedic element to of course denote that this film is also a comedy. This even goes to the extent of including Deadpool's Hello Kitty bag as a piece of iconography within some of the films advertisements (left).

Though the film is not a romance it was released on Valentine's day which was incorporated in to some of the film's advertising such as the billboard below and this TV spot. This is another way to garner interest around the film because it goes against what the audience would expect to see in an advertisement for the film.

Campaign Message

The message in this advertising campaign is that Deadpool is a comedy/superhero film. This comedy is illustrated in various different ways, some of the print-based advertisements have a more sarcastic adult tone - such as the "Wait 'til you get a load of me" poster (above) ; others have a more child-friendly approach such as the "Justice has a new face" (above). Throughout this campaign, however, the violent themes within the film are illustrated in various ways. The colour red is used in almost all forms of advertising and most of the advertising features guns or other weapons.

Relevant Legal Issues

Copyright is the legal right given to the creator of an original piece of work. Copyright and fair usage laws then limit other peoples usage of that work. In the case of Deadpool, it's advertising is mostly owned by 20th Century Fox thought the character itself is owned by MARVEL Comics (which is in turn owned by Walt Disney Entertainment), because of this the two companies have to work in synergy to produce the film.

The ASA state that a printed product cannot be misleading - "Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so." This is a problem that Deadpool's marketing team could have possibly encountered when creating their Romance themed posters, however the ASA does also state "It will rule on the basis of the likely effect on consumers, not the marketer's intentions."And this is most likely how the marketing team were able to get away with this form of advertising.

Regulatory bodies

The Advertising Standards Authority are a regulatory body for all forms of advertising within the UK. Their job is to ensure that the public are do not find any kind of advertising harmful or offensive in any way. Because of this, it is the ASA who decide what is appropriate for pre-watershed and what may not be suitable for children. As well as this, the ASA also ensue that all forms of advertising are honest and reliable as previously mentioned.

The ASA were first created in 1961 by the Committee of Advertising Practises (CAP) as a way of enforcing the British Code of Advertising Practise. This code is a set of rules that all advertisers must adhere to in order to be available to the public.

Method

Print-Based Advertisements

Marketing campaigns take advantage of print-based advertisements because of it's varied format. This means they can often use the same advertisement across a variety of media and still reach a wider audience. For example, the same advertisement used in an issue of The Metro Newspaper might also appear in Empire magazine. As shown left, Deadpool was featured on the front of Empire magazine (as well as various other film and pop culture magazines). The blood splatters on this cover obviously give connotations of violence and the magazine even advertises Deadpool as "The new sweary smart-ass superhero", which has connotations of the humour within the film and clearly states the use of strong language.

One of the main posters used throughout this campaign (shown at the top of the page) is a simplistic, slightly promiscuous image of the protagonist holding a gun against his crotch. As there is a lack of text on the poster there is no real use of leading, but heavy kerning is used for the film's slogan 'Wait 'til you get a load of me' so that it is easily readable. The main image and text is all justified to the centre so that the viewers eye is drawn to it immediately. Compared to other posters used in the campaign this uses a lot more black and lacks in white space. Black has connotations of death and mystery, and this is perhaps why it was used in this specific poster. The gun is very central and also has connotations of violence, so again it is clear that this film is targeted at adults. 

Audio-Visual Advertisements

The trailer is made in a similar vein to the print-based advertisements in that it again uses the adult humour and violence to appeal to it's target audience. Red also features a lot in the trailer, including the film's logo and titles - again this is due the colour's connotations of danger and violence as well as linking to the iconography that is Deadpool's red suit.

M1

The second green band trailer for Deadpool begins with a very relaxed, comedic scene of the protagonist moving around in a taxi before the tone and pace of the trailer changes to fit that of a more typical action movie. In all of the film's audio-visual advertisements the titular character uses the Fourth-Wall breaks he is known for to further promote the film. For example, at the end of this trailer Deadpool advises the audience to "Check out the red band trailer", this is done not only for comedic effect but also to show that this film is targeted to an older audience. The trailer attracts its audience through its fast pace, special effects and comedic overtones.