Evaluating the combination of my main product and ancillary texts

When I review the main product and the ancillary texts, the trailer, poster and magazine cover, I feel that as a team we have delivered on the brief. We have created a movie concept that appeals to teenagers and the art-house audience, and we have delivered a teaser trailer that successfully conveys this to those target audiences and that commands attention. The overall image is of a movie that will be scary but that has sufficient 'alternative' production values that it will attract an audience beyond the core 'horror' movie crowd.

The trailer was probably the hardest piece to put together, as the production process and techniques for filming, audio recording, mixing and editing were really new experiences for me. I know that we could do more with more time but all in all I am pleased with the end result. I wanted to ensure that the trailer would work online and simplicity seemed to be the key to this. 30 seconds is not a long time and we ended up with a 60 second trailer. You still can't get too much information over in that time so you have to focus on conveying an overall impression of the movie: the style, atmosphere and directorial feel. You also need to get the main marketing message over: a great new slasher horror movie with a difference called Attack of The Nerds is coming out on October 31st.

Putting the poster and magazine cover together was something I was more used to doing: working with Adobe Photoshop to work on the image and to lay out the 2 documents. I think that we have really delivered a professional result here. A really striking central image to draw the eye that, when combined with the title in the typeface we have chosen, successfully conveys the correct marketing message: this is a scary slasher horror movie with a difference. The image, with the wierd techie glasses, ties in to the Nerd in the title. I believe the poster would stand out and successfully draw attention and create interest and demand.

The magazine cover is a slightly different challenge. It needs to work as a magazine cover as well as successfully promote the movie. It has different content requirements from the poster and requires a different layout approach, as it needs to work close up and needs to inform about other contents of the magazine to attract the potential reader in the newsagent. Magazine publishers like to have images of people/faces looking out at the reader on their front cover, as these have been shown to increase 'pick-up'. That is why we changed our image in the poster to one of Lima's face looking out directly at the viewer. then, when we use the core image and title on the magazine cover it will work well to sell the magazine.

The research on Film and DVD magazines really helped us gain an understanding of how the best ones work and why. It also made us realise what we would have to include on the cover to make it appear to be a real cover and so it would demonstrate to the Filmworks production company how our marketing materials could be used in this way.

One of the understandings I gained during the whole process was how inter-linked the process of developing the different materials is. You need a narrative to work out what to include in the trailer, but also to give you a title for the movie. You need a title for the poster and also to help you create the right image for the poster. You need the image used to work on a magazine cover.

As we worked on one of the products we would constantly have to refer to the others, and frequently would have to go back to the others to edit them to make them all work together. Overall I feel we did a pretty good job of bringing them all together and that they deliver a suitable professional media package for Filmworks.

Of course the marketing campaign is more than just the 3 components we created - it is about how they are used and where they are deployed. There needs to be a synergy to the whole campaign so that it hangs together and each part works to maintain and grow the 'buzz' and interest. It helps to have a USP.

Our USP is 'classic slasher horror movie with surreal twist' and I think that we successfully put that message over. But we would want to ensure that the campaign as a whole was properly co-ordinated. The trailer should appear in cinemas before films that are likely to appeal to our target audience. The trailer should also be used as a web marketing tool - using viral techniques and special interest forums to generate word of mouth in advance of release. Possibly a TV advertising campaign could be developed, though the budget would be high for this.

The poster could be used in cinema foyers and on billboard poster sites (bus shelters, tube and rail stations, bus sides, etc.). It could also be used as a press advertisement in magazines and newspapers that are relevant to our target audience.

A strong component of any marketing campaign is PR. Making sure that Film magazines (and others) highlight the film is a key part of that. By designing a cover that shows how effective the cover could be is a great aid in this process. But ultimately good PR comes down to creating and providing materials and press releases that are attractive to the publishers and broadcasters so that they will want to help you to promote the film because they believe that the 'story' will be of interest to their readers. This will create the necessary buzz.

Of course, with stars like Jake Kirby in the movie that should be rather easier! But having a different kind of slasher movie also helps - having a techno weedy nerd as the killer provides a useful hook on which to hang articles. Having Jake Kirby play that weedy nerd just makes it all the more fascinating.

With the right timing and placement the campaign as a whole could generate real awareness and interest ahead of the launch.