M2 - unit 20

 M2 - unit 20 marketing and promotion strategy for horror series

TV Trailer 

I have created a TV Trailer for my horror series that will be streamed on BBC3 and shared across social media platforms such as X, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. A trailer is an effective promotion for my horror genre since it builds tension and can hooked the audience from the trailers.

The trailer will be around 1 minute and 15-30 seconds, this is so the trailer isnt too long but i will be able to get the main points across, it will have a montage of tension building clips and have eerie piano music in the background, we will also have close up shots of evil nuns such as them running around the skitzophrenic friend (Lucas). This is because i aim to jump scare the audience, This is good as my audience tht do watch horror films will be hooked and are likley to watch the series after the trailer. 

The trailer introduces all the characters and will allow te audience to recognise them since they arent "famous" actors and i cant use celebrity endorsement, and also gets across the main themes of the trailer and messages such as the consequences of using drugs (whilst drugs may have short term pain relief it will cause futher harm later in life, i will also review the scenes when editing them to make sure they comply with the 15 age rating, i will also use the abandonded church as the main setting to show the eerieness and chilling atomsphere. I will have a deep voiced voiceover to add to the theme of horror and guide the audience to give some narrative, and also include a call to action like "watch now" to encourage the audience to watch the trailer or series on BBC3 and iPlayer, i will also include logos like instagram, snapchat and tik tok. 

I will edit the trailer on final cut pro and export it in 1920 x 1080 hd, which will comply with the requirements from BBC3, along with this BBC iPlayer and Netflix are the most used streaming platforms and this will boost the likleyness of my trailer and campaign doing well and reach my target audeince. Along with this the platforms i am using to promote the trailer will match the demographics of my target audience

Radio trailer

I will include sound effects in my radio trailer such as deep eerie piano which is commonly used for horror films and creates suspense, along with this i will use footsteps when lucas is walking to the church followed with a scream to give the audience the idea that something has happened to him. The main voice over will highlight the key points of my trailer such as the consequences of using drugs mentioned aove. And will bring awareness about schizophrenia and the use of drugs, along with mental health issues and encourage the audience to check on friends. 

The trailer will also refer sinister nuns and renforce the idea that drugs lead to dark consequences of using drugs, this allows the audience to visualise the horror elements of the series from the sound alone. My trailer will be aired on the radio, such as BBC Radio 3 and possibly Radio 1 and 2 aswell, this will be effective for my campaign as the main demographics of BBC3 is 15 to 29 year olds which aligns with my target audience. And data shows that radio is the 3rd most effective media platform to promote a campaign. 

Billboard advertising

Billboard will be helpful to expand the audience reach, since some of my audience may not watch BBC or listen to their radio, this means i can target a wide range of people as it will be in places such as main roads and near universities which will target 18-23 year olds which i think will be the main viewers of my series, it will be designs so it looks sinister and scary to grab ttention, such as a nun reaching over to look like its trying to grab something, and have my title "Look" in bold and constrasting text, it will also inclde social media logos to promote the adueince to go the social media pages and watch the trailer.

An example of a horror billboard is BBC's Dracula billboard which look different at day from night, at day it looks like a normal person but the audience can tell that its a horror themed billboard since most people know dracula, and at night fangs will apear which reveals the hidden duality, along with this i will include the release date and where to watch the trailer on the bullbard aswell. 

Social media

Social media will most likley be the most effective way for me to promote my campaign, this is because it doesnt cost anything (unless paid someone for graphics design, and will reach a wide audience, i will be using tiktok, instagram and youtube to promote, which will align with my target audience. On weekdays i will post at 4pm as this is when most people are online due to school and work being around 8-3, and on weekend i will aim to post around 10am to 5pm as this is when engagement will be the highest. I will use tiktok as it will have high engagement and will be able to target the younger side of my audience (15-18 year olds are the most used age groups on tiktok) and will most likley appeal more to them than the other audiences. Instagram is the most popular platform for my audience so i will have my most astetically pleasing post on there to make it appeal more to the audience and hopefully gain more viewers on the trailer. Twitter will be used as it will reach more of a male audience, and male audience are shown to enjoy/watch horror films more than women, as data as showed that men engage more with horrorcontent. And youtube will allow me to post my trailer and possible behind the scenes content to attract engagement. BBC3 has 1.4M followers on social media platforms and most commonly use celebrity endorsement, and engaging visuals, however since i dont have a big budget i for celebrity endorsement i will focus my trailer on story driven ,arketing and get across the point that using drugs has dark consequences, this means my viewers invested in the mystery of horror of the show. I similar maketing campaign to mine was Smile(2022), which had short, tension build clips wit low angles and close ups to aim to scare the audience and also had a similar target audeince of 18 - 25 year olds. 

TV trailer - I have created a tv trailer for my horror film that will be shown on BBC3 and also will be put on my social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok), a TV trailer will be effective for my genre as it can build tension which will attract attention to my series. My trailer will last around 1 minute 15 seconds but it will have credits etc so will round up to 1min 45s to a minute. The TV trailer includes a short montage of clips that build up tension (such as deep piano music building up, with scary clips like nuns running in a circle and black screen to a nun face and back to black with the aim of scaring my audience of ages 15- 31) and hints at what the series will be about, it shows all the characters so that the audience will recognise them in the series and sinister looking nuns with clips of the friend group defending Lucas from the nuns. It will show the use of drugs which I will need to review to see if the clips are usable for a 15 age rated audience. The trailer will also show the location (abandoned church) and get across the message to the audience that drugs may help at the moment but over time it will hurt you more and will discourage the younger audiences from using drugs such as weed to get rid of stress etc. This paired with a deep voice over and suspenseful clips building tension and a call to action of watching the series. It will include that the series will be aired on BBC3 and the trailer can be rewatched on their aswell, with my socials included at the end. I will make my trailer on Final Cut Pro and export the file as a 1980 x 1080 HD at 25 fps will be suitable for social media pages and television which BBC3 have told me to use. 

this graph shows the iPlayer and netflix are the most used streaming services, sincd my t v trailer will be posted and streamed live on BBC iPlayer and BBC3 it is likley that my campaign will be sucessful and reach my target audience. 

Radio trailer - my radio trailer will include special effects such as lighter noises, deep eerie piano music, and footsteps etc to add suspense to my radio trailer, the main voice over explains the key points such as Lucas having skitzophernia which my radio trailer raises awareness on mental issues and that you should always be kind to your friends as you don't know what they are going through, it will also mention about the sinister nuns and dark consequences of using drugs to highlight my point of discouraging younger audiences from using drugs and also allows the audience to build an image in their heads of what the series will look like. My radio trailer will be streamed on BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 to boost the views/reach of my trailer. BBC Radio 1 will be the most effective as their main demographics are 15-29 year olds, radio is the third most used media for my demographics of 15 - 31 year olds

I will also be advertising by using billboards, using billboards helps widen my audience as it includes everyone that drive past it (my billboard will be on a main road) so it will include all demographics. My billboard will have my social media pages on so people can view more online and I can build recognition. It will be a scary and sinister image in order to gain attention and catch the eye of my audience and make it recognisable by using an image such as a nun with the main title "Look" in big writing. If I design my billboard well in a way that will gain attention a pick a good location for my such as near a university or main city/road so that I can target my audience of 15-31 year olds, advertising outside a university will be good for age ranges of 18-23 which is a good demographic for my series. I will have the release dat and where to watch the trailer so that the trailer can be watched. 

I will also use social media to advert my series, the platforms I will be using are Tiktok, Instagram and twitter and YouTube. These platforms are suitable because they have similar demographics to my audience which helps me target them and directly post to my target audience. Th best times to post are 4pm on Mondays to Fridays and 10 am or 5pm on weekends as this is when most people use social media. Social media is suitable for me to promote because it has no cost and I can share the post with anyone around the world, widening m audience allows me to gain more views and therefore boost my social presence and build a recognisable brand//series. BBC3 also use social media a lot to promote, this is due to their target audience mainly use social media as their main source of media, this allows them to gain the most amount of viewers as possible. 

Since the ratio of men having a wider reach on adverts, i will use twitter to promote my social media posts, this is because more men enjoy horror films than women do, also since twitter has a good amount of users, i have promoted my advert to my target audience.

since instagram is the most popular social media platform with their demographics aligning with mine i used instagram to promote my trailer and it worked well.

These charts show that my platforms have a wide audience and my ads will reach above 20% of the people using my platforms will most likely see my advert, the percentages of male to females is fairly balanced however this doesn't matter to me as my series is targeted at both genders. 

BBC iPllayer post celebrity endorsement posts and also posters for series films that are popular on their platform, sinc i didnt have any famous actors due to my budget, i have made a poster and tv trailer that focus on build a story so the viewers get hooked and want to watch the full series. they also post other content for educational purposes. they have built a good social media presences and have 1.4m followers, due to the amount they post and the populatiry of their platform.

smile gained over 43 minutes long, since its a film trailer, it is two minutes long but follows a similar advert type to me, where they focus on the main events and havw short tension build clips with low angle shows ans over sholder shots with intense music in the background. they also have a similar tagret audience of 18-25 year olds.

P4

 P4 - scriptwriting

P3 - Unit 22

 P3 - Unit 22

Gannt Chart

P2 - Unit 22

 P2 - Unit 22

P1 - Unit 22

 P1 - unit 22

D2 - meeting requirements

 D2 - meeting requirements 

TV trailer

Technical:

Video and resolution – my trailer is in 1920 x 1080 p for the resolution, this means I have met the BBC requirements for the resolution, also in HD format. I have also exported the trailer as a H.264 mp4 which is a standard export settings for trailers.

Frame rate – the video is 25 fps which is normal for a tv or movie trailer in the UK as it is smooth enough for most audiences to enjoy

Audio – the aduo is at 48khz in 16 bit depth which is also what normal tv trailers are at, however I have included a wide range of different volumes, such as -5 db and some audio clips being +3 db

Aesthetic:

Aims and key messages – key themes of my trailer are horror, suspense and action along with getting across the message to my audience that while drugs may be good at some point, the consequences will catch up to you. I aimed to include a jump scare which I have done by using a black screen to a picture of a nun when the audio cuts and suddenly comes back again, which may scare my audience. Along with the title look and the release date along with iPlayer logos the audience will know where to watch the series and trailer.

Color scheme – my trailer uses a dark colour palette with the only brighter colour being red in my poster at the start, I have done this so the audience can gather that it is a horror film straight away, espically with the colour of the nuns eyes being yellow which shows the supernatural side. On my trailer I have also added loads of visual effects such as each clip being darkened as I wasn’t able to film in the light.

Tagline or slogan – I haven’t included a tagline in my poster at the start, however in my trailer I have 2 taglines, “a group of friends face the dark consequences of using drugs”, which tells my audience a bit more about the trailer and they can tell why the disruption has happened, this also makes them want to watch the series, because it’s a mystery of what actually happens to the friend group. Along with the title of “Look” it makes the audience on edge about what is on the screen and enforces the idea of lucas being skitzophrenic and he shouts “Look”

 

How have I met the brief?

Target audience – my actors are aged around 18-19 years old, and my target audience is 15 – 21 years old meaning the actors will appeal more to my audience than older actors. Along with this, te theme of my tv series also appeals well to my target audience, since I included aspects of action horror and comedy, these themes all appeal the most compared to others to my target audience. I have also included minimal swearing, violence and drug use without going off topic, so that I can fit within Ofcom and bbfc rules and regulations for a 15 rating.

Budget - I have also fit well within my budget as I have used my own actors (friends) and haven’t used any private location or expensive props as I made my own nun makes by printing out the face and sticking it to a cardboard piece. Along with this I used my phone to film the scenes as my phone can be recorded in 4k at 60fps, which meets the requirements of BBC3, meaning I didn’t have to buy any camera or camera equipment. Aswell as this I did my own editing and used presets made on final cut pro for my visual effects, aswell as using copyright free images and sound effects I was able to reduce my costs and keep within my budget.

Did it do its job properly?

I believe my trailer as done its job properly as it gets across the theme of horror, and has a good key message of not using drugs so my series could be seen as ethical and may promote my audience who do drugs to stop and see the consequences, whilst these consequences in my trailer may not be accurate to the real world, it may still discourages those from doing drugs. I have included montages of clips so I can build tension, and clear voice overs, along with text on screen to build the narrative. Along with my call to action and the bbc3 and iplayer logo, my audience knows where to watch the series, and trailer so it will draw my audience to BBC3, which means I have done my job properly.

Does it match my tv trailer plan?

Whilst I haven’t fully followed my plan for my tv trailer, I have been able to get across the key point of it, such as the consequences of using drugs. I did plan to film in the locations I used however I had to change a lot of the scenes due to them being hard to film, and I did fall behind my schedule. I also planned to include different ethnicities however I also struggled, I couldn’t find all the actors I wanted and could’ve included mor female actors. Overall, I have followed the narrative of my trailer plan and only had to change of few of the scenes, so yes my trailer does match my plan however it is not exactly the same. 

Radio trailer 

technical:

Audio - for my radio trailer i also exported as 48khz at 16 bit depth, which is correct for BBC3 file format in the client brief, i have also played around with the volume/ db of the audio clips. I have used sourced background music that is copyright free and have also included a door creaking and a scream to jump scare the audience.

File format - my radio trailer was made on final cut pro and i exported it as a WAV file at 48khz which is suitable for radio us eon BBC and it is also exported as H.264 mp4 format, meaning i can also post the radio trailer on youtube as it does have visuals (my poster)

Aesthetic:

aims and key messages - my radio trailer uses eerie and deep piano music in the background, this also hints towards the theme of the trailer and series, its suspensful and also builds tension without having any visuals. The aims of my radio trailer was to attract my audience to watch the TV trailer and also be encouraged to watch the proper series when released (16 th of may which is said in my trailer). Te script of the trailer also gets across the key points of my series again (consequences of using drugs), and the voice over clearly builds a story for the audience to be on edge. Through the use of sound effects and background music my audience will be able to gain the theme of the trailer instantly and if they enjoy those kind of films, they are likley to save the date and watch it when released.

fonts - my radio trailer also uses my poster, in which uses the deadfall fonts in a large size to gain quick attention of the audience as "look" may intrigue them and encourage them to look at the tv trailer, the deadfall fonts is a horror fonts was it is curvy and i have also added blood drips below

meeting the brief 

target audience - since my radio trailer says "Look the new storytelling but suspensful horror series that brings you to the edge of reality" i have appealed to my target audience, the sentence "brings you to the edge of reality" tell the audience that the series and trailer will be action packed and "horror" proves its a horror series as the main genre. Along with this it says " a young group of friends" since my target audience is a younger demographics, this will appeal to them as its more relatable to the younger audience if the actors are younger. 

low budget - i have ensured a low budget as i have used my phone to film the audio clips, which are audio clips of my friends as the actors meaning it didnt cost much, i have also sourced copyright free images so i dont have to pay to use the images in my poster and the audio clips also. 

did it do its job properly?

i believe that i have met the job properly, this is because my radio trailer has a wide range of sound effects, which overall builds tension along with the deep voice over explaining the narrative. I have managed to get the main point across of the consequences of using drugs and not trusting your friends, which may appeal to some of my target audience as youths are exposed to drugs and some may want to watch what happens to the friend group in my series

. i also was able to give the audience an idea of the theme by using voice overs and sound effects along with the copyright free music. 

does it match my plan?

I have followed most my script so i have met my plan well, i was able to get one of my actors to be a voice over on my radio trailer and it worked well as he put on a deeper voice. it also matches the time of the script, as 1 page of script is a minute of speaking which my trailer follows. I also managed to source the right music and sound effects for my series as the script and these worked well in the final product.

Poster

technical

size and resolution - i have used a A3 format on affinity designer, which is 2480 x 3508 pixels which is commonly used for digital posters. Its also suitable for the BBC requirements and ensures its high quality and can put put in public places like roadways (billboard)

software - i have used affinty designer for my poster, which i have used in previous projects for my media project and am also familiar with photoshop and these softwares are similar, i used it to create all my social media posts and was able to make a horror themed poster, with a dark background and high constrast main images like my title to make it stand out.

Aesthetics:

Layout & fonts - my poster follows standard codes and conventions of a horror themed poster for a tv trailer, this is because i have included a dark coloured background with the main image being righter and the font being the most colourful which makes it stand out and allows it to be recognisable, which is in the middle - bottom so the nun and moon can be seen fully. 

Color scheme - i have mainly used a dark colour pallette as my theme is horror and horror posters often have high constrasting colors, which i have included by having my background as black with a moon (as nun are often out in the dark) and have used a high constrasting colour for te title being white and red so it can be read by all of my audience. Along with the eyes of the nun being yellow which is seen as supernatural (another normal code and convention) 

How have i met the brief

since i have made my own poster with my own images that are copyright free along with the free font, i was able to reduce costs to fit within my budget as i used a software provided by school and free images. Along with this, i am able to appeal to my audience as i have followed the normal codes and conventions of a horror poster. The audience also know where to watch the series or trailer as i have included a logo of the BBC3 and i have included the release date and actor names which are put in red and white text to make it stand out to the audience (even though my actors arent famous their names may be recognisable). My poster also doesnt include any hints to violence however does hint towards drug use which is allowed if it isnt showed alot.

Did it do its job properly 

I believe my poster did do its job properly, i was able to create a horror and sinister looking poster through layering images and text. I have made a hig contrast poster, with the nun and the title being the main images, the nuns shows that the trailer and series will have supernatural elements which may appeal to my target audience. The release dates included allows the audience to build hype for the poster and makes them excited for when the first season is released. I have also included a hand with a joint in the background which is barely visable but does hint towards the fact that the actors do use drugs. i have also included the names of my actors so they can gain attention and may be more effective for my second season for the series.

does it match my poster plan?

My poster does match my plan for the poster, i have included all the images shown on my drawing and i have improved from my plan by changing the image brightness and other option, along with placing these in the right places i have been able to create a similar if not better poster than planned. It gets across the point of supernatural and gives off a horror vibe which i wanted and planned for. 

Social media

Technical:

Aspect ratio - my profile picture is my poster but zoomed in and it also on a smaller resolution than A3 and is instead A4 converted and put as my profile picture. Along with this, i made my posts for instagram and tiktok a aspect ratio of 9:16 which is normal for a portrait picture on social media posts. and for twitter i used 2:1 which is a standard aspect ratio for twitter posts for landscape.

Aesthetics:

Profile and posts:

i have kept my profile picture the same for all platforms (my poster in a 1:1 ratio) so i have consistency and i am also able to build a brand image, which may lead to more hype for my series and trailer. my instagram post was the exact same as my poster(i have talked about aesthetics above), this is because i believed it would work well as i could put a small post description to give the audience a bit more context about the series and may want to watch the trailer. In my tiktok post, i tried to make my post more colourful and supernatural, i ave done this by using a black background, and aving purple lighting which is supernatural, along with the lighter colour of the nun infront of the lighting with yellow eyes being the brightest part of the post, this shows its supernatural and has a theme of horror, since tiktok is hard to gain followers and likes i tried to focus more on my twitter post where my older audiences would be. In which i have included more details about the post, for example i have a black background and the main image in the title look with the main actor as the star persona, i also have anoter actors which is the skitzophrenic to the right of blake. this is so they can recognise the actors when watch the trailer which explains more about the characters. I have also included the nun photo on the left to include the supernatural element, i also changed the colour of the actors to make them more greyed out to fit with the high constrast (dark background and brighter images up front). in all posts i have included a engaging comment on the post, this is so i can try to get some of the viewers to comment and have interactions in the comment section so when the series is releaed they will think back to the social media posts. I have added my actors name instead of picture of them, this is because my actors arent famous/well known actors so putting them in my poster wont be effective unless they were well known to the public. Adding their names allows me to build their awareness and makes there name recognisable once the audience have watched the tv trailer and other parts of my campaign. 

How have i met the breif

by using thse platform to post my social media content, i was able to meet the breif because main demographics of all platforms are 15 - 21 year olds which perfectly aligns with my target audience, the content is also engaging and has the iplayer and bbc3 logos so the audience knows where to watch the series and also has similar codes and ocnventions to BBC posts. Since i have included these things in my posts i have been able to meet the client brief and have made social media posts to appeal to my target audience.

has it done its job properly?

i believe my instagram post and twitter posts did better than my tiktok, this is because my instagram post clearly set the location, the horror and supernatural aspect, along with the hand with a joint being on the top right the audience is able to gather what will happen in the trailer and series. my twitter post also did well, probably because it was different and unique compared to my other posts, and instead of having extra images of bbc3 and iplayers logo i have instead mentioned them in the comment of the post, so the post was more simplistic but the audience still knows where to watch everything. The tiktok post may not have done aswell due to the poor images used and how they were used, however i did gain alot of audience engagement as the comment section clearly did well, the post couldve been improved by adding more images and detail, however since it is a supernatural post it still tells the audience that its a horror film which appeal to the audience, and may make them follow me on other socials or watch the tv trailer.

did it match my social media visual diagram?

i believe all posts perfectly met my plan, i aimed to have each poster hinting towards the theme of horror, this is so i can gain the audicne that enjoys horror films, who are more likley to be interested and enjoy horrors. Through including the photo of a nun in every post, it offers something unique to other films and series and once the audience has watched or listened to my trailer it may give them a better idea of the series. The plan for my social media posts was to encourage the viewers to watch the tv trailer so they are more likley to enjoy the look of the series meaning they are more likley to watch it and i can ring customers to bbc3. In the diagram i also included the title of my series on all posts, however in my tiktok post i havent included the title, this is because the profile picture appears large than other platforms on tiktok, and the title look on my profile picture is large enough for the audience to read and recognise. 

D1 - U20

 Unit 20 - D1

 Legal and ethical constraints 

Asset table 

consent forms 

risk assesment