How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?
This page is dedicated to the second question of the evaluation stage. Here, we will be presenting our promotional media products (Movie trailer, poster, magazine) across a variation of different media platforms to show how they work together effectively to represent a brand identity through elements such as continuity and synergy. We will be paying close attention to how we can use synergy, cross media convergence and continuity in order to promote our brand identity for all three of our media texts. Cross Media Convergence and Synergy are mostly used by institutions and can be accessed and produced for cellphones (smart phones,), tablets, computers, television, game consoles and others through the use of games, apps, clothing and other forms of synergy. It is important for an institution to create a strong brand identity in order to ensure that their products are recognisable. Brand identity can easily be maintained through the use of color schemes, iconic characters and props, title typography and so on. Below are two examples of brand identity and how they've used cross media convergence and synergy to promote their products.
Examples
Examples of synergy and ideas of media convergence
For the purpose of obtaining promotional material, media conglomerates use subsidiaries to present their media product across a variety of different platforms. This is done to ensure that their chosen audience can consume the film in a variety of different methods which can range from the film itself to stationary. When answering this question we will be paying close attention to the use of synergy, continuity and representing of a brand identity, allowing us to then look deeper into the world of cross media convergence. Below is an example of different ways an audience can consume a film:
Success of other real media texts
The Final Destination franchise is a prime example of a movie franchise that uses both Cross Media Convergence and Synergy to its advantage. Final Destination consists of five movies which were all released within an eleven year time period from March, 2000 to August 2011. All the movies had a regular three year gap between each individual film release. Between the years of 2000 and 2011 the Final Destination franchise accumulated a grand total of $665,080,636 at the box office.
POSTERS:
All the final destination posters use a main image which portrays scenic events from the movie such as final destination 3 which uses the roller coaster scene as the main poster image creating a direct relationship between the movie an the poster. The images usually include the main characters from that movie and all of them have shown the five main characters except for the newest addition to the film franchise which is The Final Destination which uses only one image of a shattered characters face. There is a clear use of a color scheme enforcing the idea of continuity. The color scheme used across all the film posters is a dark teal giving it an eerie look. Although a sense of continuity is achieved the poster for Final Destination 3 rejects this idea as it used the color red as its dominant color rather than following the color scheme used in the other posters. Additionally the success of their continuity is diminished by the frequent change in the typeface of the posters where the first Final destination has a different typeface that is not as stylised and recognisable as the typography used for all the later movies.
All the final destination posters use a main image which portrays scenic events from the movie such as final destination 3 which uses the roller coaster scene as the main poster image creating a direct relationship between the movie an the poster. The images usually include the main characters from that movie and all of them have shown the five main characters except for the newest addition to the film franchise which is The Final Destination which uses only one image of a shattered characters face. There is a clear use of a color scheme enforcing the idea of continuity. The color scheme used across all the film posters is a dark teal giving it an eerie look. Although a sense of continuity is achieved the poster for Final Destination 3 rejects this idea as it used the color red as its dominant color rather than following the color scheme used in the other posters. Additionally the success of their continuity is diminished by the frequent change in the typeface of the posters where the first Final destination has a different typeface that is not as stylised and recognisable as the typography used for all the later movies.
Final Destination 1
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Final Destination 2
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Final Destination 5
Final Destination 3
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The Final Destination 4
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TRAILERS:
The trailers all hold the same element of showing brief moments where the equilibrium is present followed by the remainder of the trailer being the more climatic events (disequilibrium). All the trailers use the same color scheme of blue and black when showing the different captions showing an element of continuity across them. As well as this there is a recurring use of screams in all the trailers where there is one character that screams in the same way.
The trailers all hold the same element of showing brief moments where the equilibrium is present followed by the remainder of the trailer being the more climatic events (disequilibrium). All the trailers use the same color scheme of blue and black when showing the different captions showing an element of continuity across them. As well as this there is a recurring use of screams in all the trailers where there is one character that screams in the same way.
BILLBOARD:
The billboard is very simplistic and adopts the color scheme and typography of the franchise very well allowing us to immediately know that that billboard advert belongs to the Final Destination franchise. Additionally the imagery used on the billboard is very similar to that used on the poster for the same movie, which in this case is a skull, but unlike in the poster the billboard image is intact and does not have the shattered glass effect.
GAME COVER:
The game cover does not create a sense of continuity as it does not use any recognisable elements from the franchise except the use of the colors black and blue which are significant to the franchise and significant to creating continuity between the Final Destination products.
The billboard is very simplistic and adopts the color scheme and typography of the franchise very well allowing us to immediately know that that billboard advert belongs to the Final Destination franchise. Additionally the imagery used on the billboard is very similar to that used on the poster for the same movie, which in this case is a skull, but unlike in the poster the billboard image is intact and does not have the shattered glass effect.
GAME COVER:
The game cover does not create a sense of continuity as it does not use any recognisable elements from the franchise except the use of the colors black and blue which are significant to the franchise and significant to creating continuity between the Final Destination products.
The walking dead is an excellent example of successful branding racking up a total of $11 million per episode viewed. Although the walking dead franchise does not consist of a movie it is well known for its great use of both cross media convergence and synergy. The walking dead franchise embodies two TV series consisting of 6 seasons and 3 official video games, one of which is to be released later on in 2016. Both the episodes and games can be easily accessed through gaming platforms (PS4, PS3, XBOX etc), smartphones, TV's and tablets (iPhones, Tablets etc).
The walking dead series follows the character of Rick Grimes, the protagonist, who aims to overcome a post-apocalyptic world that is being overtaken by zombies.
The walking dead series follows the character of Rick Grimes, the protagonist, who aims to overcome a post-apocalyptic world that is being overtaken by zombies.
POSTERS:
All of the Walking Dead posters include the use of a main image which often involves the protagonist Rick Grimes. The images all have similar color schemes which use a green colored filter and a HDR filter helping it to achieve the post apocalyptic look. There is one poster which does not follow the color scheme and that's the poster for the second half of the Walking Dead Season 4 which adopts an entirely new typeface and uses a filter that makes the image appear to have blue tones rather than the iconic decayed color look.
TYPOGRAPHY:
As stated above the typography used in the Walking Dead posters also changes on the poster for season 4 of the series. From season 1 to season 3 the typography remains to be the stylistic bold lettering which have a texture overlay within the writing and can also be found on the AMC website presenting a sense of continuity. Although there are prominent elements of continuity across these posters the season 4 posters typeface differentiates from the rest adopting a bright red colored, slim stencil looking typography rather than the usual more block font. This change rejects the idea of continuity allowing us to question whether the series being advertised through that poster has any connection to the overall Walking Dead franchise.
COLOR:
Across all the series posters, all of The Walking Dead's posters have similar color hues which represent the idea of the undead zombies that are present in the series. The selection of colors is from a color wheel containing an array of different colors that connote decay such as washed out greens, grays and yellows.
All of the Walking Dead posters include the use of a main image which often involves the protagonist Rick Grimes. The images all have similar color schemes which use a green colored filter and a HDR filter helping it to achieve the post apocalyptic look. There is one poster which does not follow the color scheme and that's the poster for the second half of the Walking Dead Season 4 which adopts an entirely new typeface and uses a filter that makes the image appear to have blue tones rather than the iconic decayed color look.
TYPOGRAPHY:
As stated above the typography used in the Walking Dead posters also changes on the poster for season 4 of the series. From season 1 to season 3 the typography remains to be the stylistic bold lettering which have a texture overlay within the writing and can also be found on the AMC website presenting a sense of continuity. Although there are prominent elements of continuity across these posters the season 4 posters typeface differentiates from the rest adopting a bright red colored, slim stencil looking typography rather than the usual more block font. This change rejects the idea of continuity allowing us to question whether the series being advertised through that poster has any connection to the overall Walking Dead franchise.
COLOR:
Across all the series posters, all of The Walking Dead's posters have similar color hues which represent the idea of the undead zombies that are present in the series. The selection of colors is from a color wheel containing an array of different colors that connote decay such as washed out greens, grays and yellows.
Trailers
Trailers to used to promote the series
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The Walking Dead Character Posters
These are a few of the character posters made, this is a smart way of advertising the film as it allows the audience to be drawn in by having the characters that they like and want to survive on the posters further causing them to want to watch the series. All the posters show continuity as they have the same fonts and filters used giving it that rough zombie look due to the graininess of the images and the green and gray tints. Although this sense of continuity maybe present in certain elements, none of the posters have the title of the series it is trying to promote showing how strong of a franchise The Walking Dead is.
The Comics
Above are the covers of The Walking Dead comic books. They are drawn in a different style to the game and have a different typography allowing the products to appear as though they are part of another franchise although that is false.
The Game Series
The Walking Dead paired up with Telltale Games to produce three different games promoting the franchise. Two of the games have already been released called The Walking Dead: Season One and The Walking Dead: Season Two. Both of these games are soon to be followed by a third game called The Walking Dead: Michonne. Much like many games, The Walking Dead games are in a story mode format which allows the storyline of the games to be altered based on the actions and choices that the player makes. Below are some of the game covers for different gaming platforms.
Merchandise
To further expand their franchise they even created clothing to promote their products. Along with this they also have figurines of the more dominant characters, cosplay outfits, stationary, character t-shirts and much more. These products are all from their online store which also continues the idea of continuity as the products all continue iconic assets such as main characters, the antagonists and the survival kits, all of which are part of the Walking Dead franchise.
Merchandise Website
Below is the website where the makers of the Walking Dead promote their media products by selling other forms of merchandise, often known as synergy. The things sold on the website range from chibi looking figurines to survival kits and t-shirts. The website clearing adds to their brand identity as it contains the same typography that is used across all their products which is the stylistic bold block lettering with the grain effect. Additionally the website also uses a color scheme which is similar to that which is evident on their posters and trailers as it uses the array of colors that shout decay and apocalypse due to the dullness of the blues and dim green hues used.
The Walking Dead Battle For Survival Ride
The Walking Dead Battle For Survival is a ride intended to be made by the makers of the Walking Dead. The theme park ride is supposed to be a five part game experience which include recreated locations from the actual series. It is a great way to expand their franchise as it allows their fans and viewers to experience what life would be like in the post-apocolalyptic world portrayed in the series and games.
Title Typography
The Resident Evil franchise uses a futuristic looking typography for most of their products. Due to the fact that the franchise is made up of both movies and the game series the typography between the two differs as the film typography adopts that futuristic metallic look reflecting certain concepts from the movie whilst the game typography is more bold and brightly colored separating the two from each other. Due to this factor a gap is created between its continuity due to the difference which makes the audience question where they are representing the same brand. Regardless of this in the trailer the typography used is identical to that of the movie series making it automatically recognisable due to the movies already large popularity. The typography appears on all their media texts but in differing texts which promotes the text at the same time as creating a halt in the continuity.
For our products we used the same typography across all our three texts as we believed that by doing this we would be able to make our brand identity much more prominent as it is recognisable on all of them. A sense of continuity is present as the same texture overlay was used to on the text and it has the same crack effect and color scheme showing an evident relation between them all. Although they all have those assets in common the typography in the trailer appears to be much more washed out and dim rather than being a brightly pigmented red color we did this as it was subject to changed in order to further suit the trailer background that is there which is a textured dark gray canvas with splatters.
Color Scheme
BLOOD
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STERILE
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TRAPPED
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Our Color SchemeOur chose color scheme was made up of three dominant colors: red, white and black.
Red We chose to use the color red as it is often affiliated with negative connotations such as danger, violence and anger. As well as this red also represents the color of blood which recurrently appears all three of our media products, creating a greater link between our products and our sub-genre which is gore, otherwise known as splatter. |
White
The color white was also a color of great significance as it creates a sense of a muted and sterile environment, almost like a clinic and as our character lures his victims in through their shared interests in wanting to be perfect through surgical manipulations to the body we could say the color white was used in a very smart way.
Black
Black is the most dominant color used across all three products. We chose t use the color black as it is the color that radiates pessimism and negativity which helps to reflect the idea that what our antagonist, Ed Morte, is doing is not creating any justice. The color black was also used as it creates a sense of being trapped and the concept of fearing the unknown becomes more prominent through its use, which is often the aim of the horror genre.
The color white was also a color of great significance as it creates a sense of a muted and sterile environment, almost like a clinic and as our character lures his victims in through their shared interests in wanting to be perfect through surgical manipulations to the body we could say the color white was used in a very smart way.
Black
Black is the most dominant color used across all three products. We chose t use the color black as it is the color that radiates pessimism and negativity which helps to reflect the idea that what our antagonist, Ed Morte, is doing is not creating any justice. The color black was also used as it creates a sense of being trapped and the concept of fearing the unknown becomes more prominent through its use, which is often the aim of the horror genre.
Color Used On Our Website
The color scheme discussed above does not only appear in our three products but also appears across our entire website which we planned to be this way in order to create continuity between all of our products making it a more recognisable franchise.
The color scheme discussed above does not only appear in our three products but also appears across our entire website which we planned to be this way in order to create continuity between all of our products making it a more recognisable franchise.
As you can see, above all of our media products incorporate the colors red, black and white. For this reason we believe that we have been successful at creating a sense of continuity further strengthening our brand identity. Our products will see easy to recognise due to the fact that we have chosen to use a recurring color scheme. Not only does the color scheme appear in our poster, trailer, magazine and website, it also is used on our company logo.
Protagonist
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Saw 8 (Re-release) |
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The trailer immediately goes straight to the disequilibrium, showing the multiple protagonists in disoriented and panicked states. The characters present all appear once or two across the saw franchise movies but do not all appear on the promotional material at the same time. Due to the nature of the film and the fact that the film is of the splatter genre there are more than one main protagonist. In the trailer both the female and male characters are portrayed as victims, through this we are able to infer that the stereotypical concept of the damsel in distress still stands but also creates a subverted stereotype as usually in horror movies the male rather than posing as the victim the male characters are stereotypically the heroes.
Our Protagonist
Our protagonist only makes an appearance on one of media products, our trailer, in which she is depicted as the stereotypical damsel in distress. We achieved this through our characters use of non verbal communication, mainly focusing on her facial expressions and body language. In our trailer our protagonist was put in situations in which can easily become recognisable scenes for the movie such as the running scene in which she runs aways from the antagonist. Through that scene we are able to show our antagonist as a vulnerable individual as due to the way she is running it shows that she in a panic attempting to run away from Ed Morte (Antagonist). The close up shot of our protagonist was used to show the pain the character is feeling as it add more to the emotions reflected onto our audience which is something that most horror movies aim to achieve – a direct connection between the emotions of the character and the audience.
Antagonist
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Annabel |
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In the trailer of Annabel the trailer immediately dives into the disequilibrium which is shown when the couple hear an unusual sound. The setting shown to the audience is already dim and allows them to make out that a negative event is potentially going to take place. Annabel is an inanimate object when looked realistically but in this film the doll takes a live roll of the antagonist challenging the stereotype of the male always being viewed as the antagonist also it also creates a subverted stereotype as usually the female characters are portrayed as the weaker individuals and the male the more superior. Annabel has become an iconic face for the entire film franchise appearing in both the trailer, website and the various film posters created to promote the franchise. This shows continuity and the success of the franchise
Our Antagonist
Our antagonist, Ed Morte, adopts many of the common characteristics of antagonists from the splatter/gore horror genre a he pursuits his victims in order to commit an act of violence towards them and also to dominate them in various ways. We create the stereotype of the male having the upper through creating his character as his character dominants all the female characters which could also allow us to complete whether or not he fits within the theory of the male gaze, this is due to the fact that he views the gains pleasure from mutilating his victims. Our antagonist appears across all of our media texts but he does not appear on our company website, we have used him as our iconic figure as he is the person that appears most on all our products and he is also our main character.
Team Logo
The Chronicle Pictures team logo appears on every single media text we have created which includes our trailer, website, poster and magazine. We chose to put it on all of those in order to ensure that our brand identity is carried through not only by our products but also by our company logo which is supposed to be a visual representation of our production company's name.
Logo Design
For our alternative logo we decided to go from a rather minimalist style to one that i much more complex by making the logo 3D. We did this much like how the Universal Studios logo alters but reversed as their's is originally much more complex and then becomes more simplistic and 2D, also they removed all the colors that the original logo had which we decided not to do as the out come of our alternative logo would look really dull and uninteresting is we did put it on a monotoned color spectrum (whites, blacks and grays).
Synergy through other media platforms
Our Promotional Media Texts
These are all three of our final outcomes which are all in different formats (trailer, magazine and poster). Together they put forward a complete promotional package as they show obvious elements of continuity through different assets such as color schemes and typography choices as explored above in our analyses.
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Advertisements |
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Billboard Advertising
Above are two other adverts put up in one of London's attractions, West End. Here we put our Vanity banner on the massive electric billboard screens located in Piccadilly Circus as it is one of the pull factors for tourists and residents of London itself. We chose to put them up in Piccadilly as it would bring our franchise successful advertising that is even used by globally known brands such as Coca Cola. Much like many other successful banners we knew that our poster wouldn't be able to fit such screen dimensions for this reason we decided to alter the poster and turn it into a banner further promoting our media product. We kept certain elements the same such as the title typography and the antagonist being at the centre of attention in order to ensure that there is an element of continuity creating a greater sense of brand identity. We also placed our film poster in the food court near the Odeon Cinema and Vue in West End at the highest point in order to ensure that more attention is drawn to our product. We decided not to alter the poster as creating too many different advertising texts would result in too much of a variation making our franchise hard to identify and relate back to our original product.
Above are our three different banners that were put into the different locations. All three of the banners are direct variations from the original movie poster but do have some alternations as banner of other media products are often subject to change for the purpose of making them more visually appealing therefore luring in a greater audience. For the images we decided to focus on the most iconic parts of our antagonist which are his facial features, the creepy chelsea smile and his piercing and intense white eye allowing our product to be more memorable.
Cinema Advertising
Our poster and banners were placed on the outside of popular cinemas in London's West End. We chose to put them there as that is the area in which they often hold large movie premieres and have actor signings, this will lead to a greater audience as both cinemas have great reputations and they are both easily accessible by both tourists and London residents. The banner chosen was the main banner with our antagonist Ed Morte's eye as, as stated before his eye is one of the iconic things from our franchise. All the posters put up have not been further altered after being made into either a poster or a banner as having too many would make it hard to associate all the different designs to
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our franchise due to there being a large variation of promotional products that is why we decided to limit it to four easily recognisable promotional products: Film Poster and three film banners.
London Underground Advertising
We decided to distribute our product in a location in which we knew we would have a large audience. In this case the London Underground is our chosen location and is a perfect place to place our film poster to promote it. Not only will our poster be seen by many but due to the fact that we have placed so many of our film posters in different areas in the underground it can create passive consumption of our product later resulting in people wanting to watch out product due to them subliminally consuming our product as the visuals of our poster will unintentionally get stuck in their minds.
Vanity: The Game
Above is a video we created to show the stages in the production of the game for our film Vanity. Here continuity is created as we kept the typography used in our original trailer and other promotional media texts but decided to make it pixelated to suit the concept of this been a promotional video for the game. We decided to explore the ways in which we could do produce this short video and how ensure that it looked like a part of our franchise. As a result we decided to maintain the same color scheme in all our products and decided to also place the Chronicle Picture logo to ensure that people definitely a part of our franchise.
Here is the photo reference used to recreate the character of Ed Morte using the software Black Desert Character Creator. It required constant need to refer to the original picture of our actor in order to achieve a successful outcome. Whilst using the software we could only create the initial model and could not add then gory smile that the actual character had, in order to do that we had to use photoshop in order to edit the smile into the mouth giving him the classic Ed Morte look!
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Character Design Outcome |
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Exclusive Vanity: The Game Controller
This is the exclusive remote control available on Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and Wii U for a limited time. It reflects the idea of continuity enhancing our brand identity as the design has adopted our color scheme and also carries our products name using the typography specific to our film product. We chose to make a game controller in order for to go as a promotional game package for the Vanity franchise also because it would sell due to the fact that playing consoles is a very popular activity to carry out at this day and age.
Minecraft: Vanity ED-ition
We chose to use Minecraft as it is a pixel game which is widely played by both adults and teenagers meaning we can gain a greater audience by producing a game specifically for the Minecraft loving community. Although it is a platform that produces games for a wide range of people we decided to make them produce our 18 rated movie into a game as not many games of this nature are made for adults. Here we used Minecraft to create our antagonist and used a Minecraft font to show relation between the game and our media product.
HMV
Home Viewing Platforms
Netflix
We decided to put our product on Tv platforms as watching films through Tv's is a very popular and common concept in our society. we had to change the cover art by removing certain elements such as everything (awards and credits) and just left the film title and the main image with the starring actors. Above is a Hmv advert, we chose to use hmv as it we known for selling film based products and music related products. The film cover art has been stripped of everything except for the title typography, tagline and image as it is common practice for the film cover art to consist of less things, as if there is too much typography is takes away from the final look and may cause the outcome to appear overcrowded.
Over the past few years Netflix has gained great recognition and wide audience, as they have content that appeals to a wide age range of people. For this reason Netflix separates their content in two sections being, the normal main page and one for kids that consists of only child friendly content. Netflix will allow viewers to watch our film product under the horror category snd due to their intelligent system they allow real audience reviews enabling us to have honest audience feedback and through this honest feedback more viewers will be lured to our movie if the ratings and reviews are of the positive nature. We had to slightly alter our poster to turn it into the film cover art as none of the other film poster consisted of elements such as the credits of the movie.
Drinks
We have chosen to use the popular bubble tea shop Cuppacha as a means of advertising our product. This is a popular drink store that is located in many areas of attractions such as Leicester Square and Angel. Here our design has been altered almost completely changing the the original poster idea. We removed all the text from the original poster file and kept the image to create a direct link to our product enforcing the fact that it is part of our franchise. |
Cuppacha Vanity Movie Cup
To the left is an image of the original cup from Cuppacha without any alterations, we then got the cup altered by using photoshop to create the background image which is identical to that used on the website to ensure that it is promoting the same product. On the right the altered cup design is much more dark and clearly promotes our product as we have put our product name using the typography used on all our other products. The altered cup is supposed to be sold to customers as part of a promotional package for our product Vanity.