How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The teaser trailer i have produced works very closely with the movie poster i have also produced in advertising the the movie 'isolation'. The teaser trailer has the main aim of grabbing the audiences attention and 'teasing' them in to wanting to find out more. It has to include enough excitement and intrigue to make it stand out from the rest of the crowd but should not give away to much of the storyline, so the audience will want to see the film and find out more.

The poster i have created is very similar in style to the teaser trailer, as it uses much of the same fonts used in the trailer. The tagline used on the poster is also used in the trailer, to make it seem more of a running theme throughout the feature and also to help create a sense of continuity. The one main image used in the poster is also a still taken directly from the trailer, again helping to maintain the feeling of continuity. The image is also darkened and the brightness and tone lowered, creating a theme of darkness, a theme used in the trailer. The image may also connote a sense of mystery ,as it is quite enigmatic, meaning that this would perhaps get the audience interested in the movie and get them talking about it, meaning that the movie would then perhaps become successful due to word of mouth ,creating a buzz around the movie, the thing that happened to indie films such as 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Little Miss Sunshine'.

The movie magazine front cover is a less effective marketing tool for the production companies than the movie poster and trailer for several reasons. Although it allows a film the gain publicity among a broader audience, it is on the terms of the magazine editors and not the advertising arm of the relevant production company, meaning all that publicity that the movie gains could be negative publicity. The movie is also not dedicated solely to just one movie like the trailer and the poster are, meaning that the movie will be in competition with other movies from the same genre to try and capture the biggest audience and try and re-coup as much in the the box-office. Again, a still from the trailer is used to promote continuity with the film.

Both of these advertising techniques typify the use of above the line advertising. Above the line advertising is used by the mass media to spread their products as far as possible through the likes TV, Internet and radio. this style of advertising is conventional in its style of communication, meaning that the contact with the audience is often impersonal. This is opposite to below the line advertising, were the advertising is used on a more personal level, often through the use of a personalised e-mail or 'junk' mail.

Overall, the two ancillary tasks seem to combine well with the main product, as the re-using of still images from the teaser trailer allow the feeling of continuity to be established, along with memorable images that will linger long in the memory of the audience. The ancillary tasks also contain the key conventions of a movie poster and magazine cover, allowing them to keep with feeling of professionalism that surrounds the finished main product. They also use marketing strategies established to advertise to a large undefinable target group.