Analysis of Marketing Campaign for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two - Posters

The marking campaign for the final instalment of the Harry Potter franchise, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two' includes many different variations of a single poster which includes different characters, both in groups like the two posters I have analysed above, and individually which I will post below. All of the posters use the practice of synergy through the fire like balls floating at the bottom of the poster, and the rocks and stones scattered throughout the poster. Synergy is used found on the posters, film trailers, and magazine front covers, which feature the main characters, by the dark colours used, and the serious looks on the characters faces.

The poster above is an example of the posters used during the marketing campaign which featured the characters individually, as opposed to in a group which I have analysed above. The practice of syngery is still in use on the individual poster of Harry Potter above through the fire-like balls floating around towards the bottom of the poster; the dark colours; and the serious look on Harry's face.

Actors List





We decided to use actors which we thought were suitable for the characters which we created for our film. Our actor list contains three people; all three of which being main characters within both the overall storyline of the film, and the film trailer iself too. Two of our characters are central protaganists within the plot (with one being a male and the other being a female) whilst the other character is a minor character who is heavily involved in the storyline, and has a role of scaring the two central protaganists.

Comparison of a historical and modern trailer

Historic Trailer - 'Dr Strangelove or: How I learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb':-



The trailer for the film above is an example of a trailer used for a historic film. It heavily features text on the screen for the viewers to read as opposed to the modern practice of a narrator, this was because at the time of the release of 'Dr Strangelove: and How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb', silent movies were still being released into the cinemas, along with the more 'contemporary' films which use audio. Another feature of historical trailers which was evident in the trailer posted above is the length of the trailer. The average length for a trailer now-a-days is 2 minutes, this trailer as well as others created in its time, were much longer, as their creators liked to use as much dailys as possible to expose the film's synopsis to the viewer. This practice is no longer in use as the creators of trailers prefer to leave a cliffhanger and let the viewer find the plot of the film out when the film is released at the release date.

Modern Trailer - 'Green Lantern':-

History of Film Trailers

The first trailer was shown in a U.S. movie theater in November 1913, when Nils Granlund, the advertising manager for the Marcus Loew theater chain, produced a short promotional film for the musical ‘The Pleasure Seekers’.

Above - The film poster for 'The Pleasure Seekers'

Granlund was also first to introduce trailer material for an upcoming motion picture, using a slide technique to promote an upcoming film featuring Charlie Chaplin at Loew's Seventh Avenue Theatre in Harlem in 1914.

Above - The original 1964 trailer for 'Dr Stranglove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

In the early 1960s, the face of motion picture trailers changed. Textless, montage trailers and quick-editing became popular, largely due to the arrival of the "new Hollywood" and techniques that were becoming increasingly popular in television. Among the trend setters were Stanley Kubrick with his montage trailers for Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Above - Threatrical trailer for 2011 film 'Green Lantern' - an example of present day film trailers

Today, longer, more elaborate trailers and commercial advertisements have replaced other forms of pre-feature entertainment and in major multiplex chains, about the first twenty minutes after the posted show time is devoted to trailers.

Research a Marketing Campaign (Signs)

As part of the planning process, it was vital that I looked at the marketing campaign for another film in the same genre as the film which our group were creating, to see how the marking campaign manage to keep synergy between the film trailer, poster, and film magazine front covers. For my research I decided I would look at the film, 'Signs' which is part of the horror/thriller genre. This is the genre which I hope our film 'The Darkness' will be under.

In another post in my blog I will write about the film trailer more throughly, and compare it with another film trailer from the a different genre to note which codes and conventions both films adhere to.

The marketing team for this movie have used several techniques to link the film poster to the trailer, the main features which I noticed being the clear advertisement of the main actors name on the billing block. In the trailer, the viewer is made aware that the main star in this film is Mel Gibson; the same method has been used on the film trailer through Mel Gibson's name being the only name to appear on the billing block. Another method in which the marketers have connected the two media products is through the use of the same font and slogan. The slogan 'It's happening!' is noted both in the trailer and on the film poster. This has been done to reinforce the slogan, and to allow the potential viewer to instantly connect the two media products, and the connect the name and slogan.