Men in Black 3 and Piranha 3DD Promotional Campaign Work
Men in Black 3 was released on the 11th May 2012 and Piranha 3DD was released on the 25th May 2012. Both of these films are sequels and already have a large fan base, this has to be borne in mind when starting a promotional campaign. Men in Black had trailers, posters, an official website and a magazine front cover to promote their film. Piranha 3DD had all these apart from a Magazine front cover which I can only assume is because there is not a big enough fan base or because it did not seem to have the potential to be a blockbuster in the same league.
Posters
Men in Black
The first poster release of Men in Black is of the two main characters’ faces made up of the MIB sign. They are very recognisable characters so it is clear what the film is. Also their faces are made up of the MIB sign, so if you don’t understand from the first look you will eventually get what the poster is trying to show if you are familiar with the franchise.
Other posters include ones of the three main characters in an outgoing triangle. There are two separate parts to the three character poster, one of the left side and one of the right. This gives the audience an impetus to spot the other half of the poster so they are looking out for these posters more. These posters give the audience more of a connection with the characters when they see the movie because they are already a recurring image, even in the situation where because this film is a sequel, the audience already has a familiarity with the characters. Using posters is also good for introducing new characters like they have done in these posters.
Another poster is made to look like a real billboard graffiti saying ‘The Men In Black are real’ this is to create a buzz about the film and get people interested because when they see the poster it will look like real graffiti. There is also a common device of getting the audience to play along with the idea that films inhabit a real world, an example of hyperdiegesis.
The final poster is of Will Smith in a one-wheeled futuristic motorbike speeding down a road, this poster conveys action and excitement which will make connections between those feelings and the film making the audience more interested. It also promises action and chase scenes.
None of these posters give info about the release date apart from the three characters poster; all of these posters have the standard information seen on posters apart from the two collage face teaser posters. The posters seem designed more to generate interest and talk rather than to act as a main point of information.
The first poster of the film Piranha 3DD is of hundreds of piranhas chasing a swimming girl. This poster gives us all the information about the film we need: more piranhas, more girls, and more death. Unlike the Men In Black first posters, no specific characters are established apart from the main villain which is a swarm of piranhas. This poster was probably produced at a very early stage of filming.
The next poster released is a close up of a woman's face. She is wearing sunglasses; one of the lenses is cracked and piranhas can be seen in the reflection of her sunglasses. The crack in her glasses sum up the whole horror aspect of the film in this poster. The reflection also implies a horror that is just out of your sight even though the audience is aware of it.
The third poster is of a woman in a bathing suit standing in the sea. In the water around her we can see lots of piranhas, giving us a clear sense of how badly this movie is going to turn out. This poster seems designed to appeal more to the male audience with its pun on double Ds and its focus on the woman in the bikini. There is also a tongue-in-cheek feel to this, which I am noticing can be a feature of the horror genre, where the audience often watches ironically.
The last poster is of a poster from the previous film in this series, but the tagline has been altered to ‘There’s still something in the water’. It has been made to look like the middle of the poster has ripped open to reveal more piranhas. By rebooting an old poster it creates an environment of repetition and safety which the audience likes when it come to genre and sequels, but also promises that this film will be even better than the previous one.
All of these posters contain lots of essential information (the billing block) that most people don’t read but which need to be there for institutional and legal reasons, but none of these posters contained a release date - there is an assumption that once the audience are aware of a film, they will continue to look out for it.
Trailer
Men In Black
The first scene is a recognisable one of Will Smith using the mind eraser device that has shown up in both sequels, and then it cuts to the action sequence we assume he is erasing from the people’s mind. This is intended for people who have seen the previous films and who will want to know that many of their favourite elements are still there. There are then a lot of actions clips followed by more details of the movie. This trailer gives a lot of information about the film story line; it’s clear that this is not a teaser trailer as it is far too long and shows too much of the story. This trailer was probably released closer to the release date of the film itself. The teaser trailer is faster paced and has a voice over going over the first couple of shots.
Piranha 3DD
The trailer starts off with a compilation of shots of sexy girls in swim suits getting wet, this is only here to capture the viewer’s attention quickly and we can tell it’s mostly aimed at a male audience. Then it goes on to introduce a lot of new characters and starts to build up suspense about what the story is by not giving away that the film is about piranhas straight away. As the trailer progresses we get a larger insight into what is actually happening. People that have seen the previous Piranha film will probably know what the film is straight away but not everybody has, so by not giving away too much straight away it keeps the new audience interested. The trailer then introduces characters that are recognisable from the previous film for the people who have seen it. Then the action scenes kick in and the pace of the trailer increases. Unlike the Men in Black trailer, this one has a voice over and starts off quite fast paced and then slows down. The teaser trailer for Piranha 3DD is fast paced like the Men in Black example and also has a voiceover. Also what I noticed is they use a lot of the same lines of dialogue in both trailers, this is also true for Men in Black 3 trailers as well. This shows how important sound is when creating a complicated narrative.
Website
Both films have official websites and these websites were very similar; both websites have features like videos, photos and info on the film and crew. The layout and colour are conventional with lots of blues and reds for Piranha 3DD and lots of black and greys for the Men in Black 3 website.
The Men in Black 3 website had a lot more content including games and downloads, these are there to engross the audience even more in the world of the Men in Black. Although the two are very simplistic and similar the Men in Black website is a lot more elaborate and better, probably reflecting the amount of money that is spent on this film because it is an almost guaranteed success.
Magazine
The Men in Black magazine front cover is not exclusive to this film; the cover is actually shared with Battleship and G.I.Joe. For Men in Black’s main image, Will Smith, the most recognisable actor in the Men in Black franchise, has been chosen standing in an action pose holding a futuristic most likely alien gun. This helps us make assumptions about the genre and narrative of the film straight away whether we are familiar with the other films or not. The release of the magazine cover is a couple of months before the release of the film into cinemas.
Piranha 3DD was not featured on the cover of a magazine. As I said before, I can only assume it’s because it is not a popular enough franchise or that there were much more interesting films being released near the release date of Piranha 3DD.
Overall, I can see how important promotional campaigns are to the success of a product. They are increasingly elaborate and complex and have become almost as much a part of the film experience as the film itself. They are no longer just about capturing the audiences' attention and letting them know the film is coming out - they also establish the overall feel or tone of the film and how the audience should see themselves if they are interested in watching it. The whole campaign creates a kind of in-joke or insider knowledge that makes the audience feel part of an exclusive group.
Overall, I can see how important promotional campaigns are to the success of a product. They are increasingly elaborate and complex and have become almost as much a part of the film experience as the film itself. They are no longer just about capturing the audiences' attention and letting them know the film is coming out - they also establish the overall feel or tone of the film and how the audience should see themselves if they are interested in watching it. The whole campaign creates a kind of in-joke or insider knowledge that makes the audience feel part of an exclusive group.
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