Here is a slideshow of all the different posters I have looked at.
Below is an analysis of each poster, scroll down to read the analysis of each poster along with the picture.
The reason that I am looking into ancillary products so early is to get a good base knowledge of how ancillary products are made and what content is on them etc.
I won't be starting my ancillary products until I am happy that my teaser trailer is nearly or completely finished, but what's the harm in getting an upper hand on the research, eh'?
I have mainly looked at posters associated with the teaser trailers I have also looked at.
Cloverfield
At first glance it just seems like the statue of liberty looking onto New York City. However after a little bit of looking you can see that the statues' head has been ripped clean off. This creates the obvious questions of 'why?' and 'what did it?'. In the background the city seems to be on fire to the right, indicating something may be attacking them, but as an ancillary product, this could have been released years before the film was brought out, so no one would really know what was attacking them. With some very detailed looking (and it is still quite hard to see), in the clouds at the top right of the poster you can see the vague picture of some sort of monsters head. (Highlighted in the picture below, which will enlarge when clicked).
This then hints at the fact that a monster (or more than one monster) is attacking New York. This image in the sky is not too obvious though. After seeing the film myself I can now say that this is because the whole film is about subtle hints at things. For instance at the end of the film the main characters are filming the sea, and very subtly something falls out of the sky into the sea, but no one sees it. It is even quite hard for the audience to see it too, but the whole film, like I said, is about subtle happenings that join the whole story-line together, and also joins the film to this poster.
Cloverfield veers off from stereotypical posters as it doesn't show any main characters of any sort, only the statue of liberty and a vague image of a monster. Cloverfield released three posters prior to the films release, each showing only one main image and the release date, this one also including the film title. By not releasing too much information about the film on the ancillary posters it keeps the mystery within the film until the film itself is released. This mystery ties in greatly with the narrative of the film.
This poster has the title and no main characters as such, but does show the main 'enemy' of the film. The caption at the bottom is the jargon for this poster. It also states what the USP (unique selling point) of the film is. This poster is from the 2004 remake of the original 1978 release by George A. Romeros, so widescreen was quite a popular thing back then, so it would have made more people see the film for this reason, similar to how popular 3D technology is at the moment.
Saw III
The part of this poster that stands out the most is the teeth to the right of the film title. There are three teeth, obviously indicating that this is the third film. The title of the film on the right is written in a way to make the 'W' look like 'III', again indicating that it is the third film. The saw at the top that the teeth are hanging from links in with the title of the film as a sort of icon. The caption underneath the title that is aligned slightly to the right says "This halloween, he's pulling out all the stops.", stating a few things: halloween is known as the scariest time of the year and is also indicating the release date of the film. People who know the Saw series will know who the main person of these films is - known as 'Jigsaw'. So the name would not need to be written on the poster, which is why it only says 'he'. "pulling out all the stops" links with the pulling out of a victims teeth seen just above the caption and used as the focal point of the poster. That sentence also means one is trying their hardest, so 'Jigsaw' in this film is obviously working at his best, and fans of this film series will know that this means more gore and more death, being the films USP.
This poster has the title of the film visible and some sort of jargon but no characters of any kind, only their teeth. However in this film there is only one main character, but he is the antagonist and most posters show the protagonist.
So this poster follows quite a lot of the conventions, if not all of them, and is a very typical poster. The caption "September 10 experience a new dimension of evil" gives a specific release date as opposed to something like 'summer' or a similar label. The rest of the caption is used for a few different things. Firstly the 'new dimension' part hints at the 3D aspect of the film (3rd dimension). It also advertises the film saying that it perceives evil in a much different way, therefore stating that it is better than its predecessors. Lastly it shows that it is a horror film, even for people who have not seen Resident Evil films before and don't know what they are about. The picture has been edited to come over the top of the title, over the 'E' and part of the 'R'. This is a common technique in magazines too, as found in my coursework for AS level when working with magazines. This has been done in this case to push that this is a 3D film into the audience.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
The focal point of this poster is the main character, similar to the other Resident Evil poster. This one also has quite a large part of the poster filled with the mast head, but not quite as much as the other poster. This time it is also completely vertical as opposed to being slanted like the other poster. The 'Resident Evil' part is spaced away from the 'Afterlife' bit, and is also slightly bigger. This is to separate out the title of the series from the individual films name (the series is 'Resident Evil', the film is 'Afterlife').
This poster has the main character, showing their intimidating attributes, the mast head displaying the title of the film and a main picture in the background, in this case the eye. However there is no technical jargon on this poster, which makes it quite plain and simple.
The reason that I am looking into ancillary products so early is to get a good base knowledge of how ancillary products are made and what content is on them etc.
I won't be starting my ancillary products until I am happy that my teaser trailer is nearly or completely finished, but what's the harm in getting an upper hand on the research, eh'?
I have mainly looked at posters associated with the teaser trailers I have also looked at.
Typical conventions
Ancillary products like posters generally include the film name, release date, jargon of some sort and main characters expressing their character. At the end of each analysis I will add whether each poster sticks to or subverts away from the typical conventions of posters.
Cloverfield
At first glance it just seems like the statue of liberty looking onto New York City. However after a little bit of looking you can see that the statues' head has been ripped clean off. This creates the obvious questions of 'why?' and 'what did it?'. In the background the city seems to be on fire to the right, indicating something may be attacking them, but as an ancillary product, this could have been released years before the film was brought out, so no one would really know what was attacking them. With some very detailed looking (and it is still quite hard to see), in the clouds at the top right of the poster you can see the vague picture of some sort of monsters head. (Highlighted in the picture below, which will enlarge when clicked).
Cloverfield veers off from stereotypical posters as it doesn't show any main characters of any sort, only the statue of liberty and a vague image of a monster. Cloverfield released three posters prior to the films release, each showing only one main image and the release date, this one also including the film title. By not releasing too much information about the film on the ancillary posters it keeps the mystery within the film until the film itself is released. This mystery ties in greatly with the narrative of the film.
Dawn of the Dead
This is a very simple poster, with no real image - just one created specifically for this purpose. Unlike 'Cloverfield' the title of this film gives quite a lot of information to the audience about what it is about. The background of the poster is orange with the image of what looks like the sun. This indicates sunset and the beginning of the night, which is where most horror films, especially hybrid genres like zombie films, are set as it is the most frightening time of the earth's cycle. The characters shown as the main image resemble the monsters of this film and the main point of this film. The caption "scary as hell!" at the bottom of the poster is used for two main things: telling the audience that the film will be scary, advertising it to the target audience, and also the 'hell' bit is used for another reason. Zombies are supposed to be reanimated corpses of the dead that are said to have been 'rejected from hell'. So by having the hell part on the poster also hints at the fact that there will be zombies in this film.This poster has the title and no main characters as such, but does show the main 'enemy' of the film. The caption at the bottom is the jargon for this poster. It also states what the USP (unique selling point) of the film is. This poster is from the 2004 remake of the original 1978 release by George A. Romeros, so widescreen was quite a popular thing back then, so it would have made more people see the film for this reason, similar to how popular 3D technology is at the moment.
Saw III
The part of this poster that stands out the most is the teeth to the right of the film title. There are three teeth, obviously indicating that this is the third film. The title of the film on the right is written in a way to make the 'W' look like 'III', again indicating that it is the third film. The saw at the top that the teeth are hanging from links in with the title of the film as a sort of icon. The caption underneath the title that is aligned slightly to the right says "This halloween, he's pulling out all the stops.", stating a few things: halloween is known as the scariest time of the year and is also indicating the release date of the film. People who know the Saw series will know who the main person of these films is - known as 'Jigsaw'. So the name would not need to be written on the poster, which is why it only says 'he'. "pulling out all the stops" links with the pulling out of a victims teeth seen just above the caption and used as the focal point of the poster. That sentence also means one is trying their hardest, so 'Jigsaw' in this film is obviously working at his best, and fans of this film series will know that this means more gore and more death, being the films USP.
This poster has the title of the film visible and some sort of jargon but no characters of any kind, only their teeth. However in this film there is only one main character, but he is the antagonist and most posters show the protagonist.
Resident Evil: Afterlife
This poster shows the star personas name at the top of the poster, along with their picture as the focal point. The name then takes up about half of the poster along with a caption and release date at the bottom. On this poster the '3D' is written in red, making it stand out as a USP of the film. It is also written in this way on the trailer and the box cover.So this poster follows quite a lot of the conventions, if not all of them, and is a very typical poster. The caption "September 10 experience a new dimension of evil" gives a specific release date as opposed to something like 'summer' or a similar label. The rest of the caption is used for a few different things. Firstly the 'new dimension' part hints at the 3D aspect of the film (3rd dimension). It also advertises the film saying that it perceives evil in a much different way, therefore stating that it is better than its predecessors. Lastly it shows that it is a horror film, even for people who have not seen Resident Evil films before and don't know what they are about. The picture has been edited to come over the top of the title, over the 'E' and part of the 'R'. This is a common technique in magazines too, as found in my coursework for AS level when working with magazines. This has been done in this case to push that this is a 3D film into the audience.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
The focal point of this poster is the main character, similar to the other Resident Evil poster. This one also has quite a large part of the poster filled with the mast head, but not quite as much as the other poster. This time it is also completely vertical as opposed to being slanted like the other poster. The 'Resident Evil' part is spaced away from the 'Afterlife' bit, and is also slightly bigger. This is to separate out the title of the series from the individual films name (the series is 'Resident Evil', the film is 'Afterlife').
This poster has the main character, showing their intimidating attributes, the mast head displaying the title of the film and a main picture in the background, in this case the eye. However there is no technical jargon on this poster, which makes it quite plain and simple.
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