Alien Promotional Campaign Research

To understand what the aim of our coursework is, a lot of research and analysis has to be conducted in order to understand how to construct our horror trailers. I will be deconstructing the promotional package for the horror film, Alien (1979).

A marketing campaign is a method used to promote a product through different medias i.e television, radio, print and online platforms. In terms of film, a marketing campaign helps to garner more attention for film. Many things may encourage a person to go see a film, in terms of marketing, a teaser to the film can be released as well as interactive activities that allow audiences exclusive access to content that is restricted until post release of a film.

The marketing campaign I chose to research is Ridley Scott's film Alien (1979). Alien was a film that captured a lot of attention for its story, characters and horror style. It used various platforms like releasing trailers, TV spots, radio adverts, toys and arcade games. The target market for the audience was adults because horror films were exclusively for adults, particularly men. If a child were to ever watch it, they would be intensively frightened and shocked from the content they are exposed to. However movies trailers, including Alien would have been shown on TV during the daytime or the nighttime because the internet was not available in 1979 and so films were advertised on the television.

It could also target children, particularly boys as the film spawned a video game and a 18 inch toy of the film monster, the Xenomorph. Thus boys would be allowed and exposed to the Alien film and it generates more profit for the company.

Alien Poster:

The poster is fully black with the exception of a egg and a v shaped crack at the bottom of the egg, oozing green matter. The floor has a lattice shape of what presents bones. The egg is brightly lit green and this colour is often associated to evil and aliens, the green reinforces the idea that there is something strange happening. The black and green contrast really well as black is connoted to isolation, darkness and evil. The black and green together present an image of fear and terror. 'Alien' is bold Arial and spaced out to maximise the space and catch the viewers attention. The tagline is "In space no one can hear you scream" this shows an immense fear and it presents a new image of space to the audience. The use of scream suggests that there will be things haunting you and the fact that no one can hear you, really builds on the terror and isolation that the viewers may witness when watching the film. The egg is a symbol of birth and it tells the audience that something is coming, a terror is born.

Alien Trailers and TV Spots:

The trailer is very important because it allows the audience a small preview into what the film is about as well as convincing audiences to go and watch the film. Trailers are mini teasers for a film and cause an interest in audiences in order to piece together everything they see. Trailers are possibly done during production yet more likely post-production as it helps with the construction process and makes it easier for editors and advertisers to collate a trailer and distribute it around.

The Alien trailer is very unique because there is no dialogue or any other sounds. The sounds are very unsettling and slowly build up to a crescendo before completely shutting off. This is conventional in most movie trailers. The climax of the sound is a clash of loud sounds which are slightly muted and you constantly hear a high pitched alarm sound alongside a deep sound that resonated with the beating of a heart. These sounds instil a fear in the reader and it keeps them hooked on to discover more on what is going on in the trailer. The same goes for the TV spot but the TV spot has a high pitched whisper which immediately causes fear in the viewer as well as intrigue as to what the film is about.

The trailer definitely follows the conventions in a sophisticated way that they are almost difficult to identify however they also break a few of the conventions in order to engage with the audience and introduce them to something niche:

• Trailers usually have a 3 Act structure yet this film does not have that structure, instead it clumps a lot of tense moments together whilst it begins with a constant reverse shot of an egg and land and this is very effective as it causes the viewer to feel intrigued and cautious to which they would go watch the trailer to understand the purpose of the trailer structure

• The trailers uses close up yet wide shots to capture the sense of isolation and fear that is to be experienced when watching the film and this allows the audience to understand the context of the film without showing anything and it is a clever technique in conveying information whilst still giving the viewer something to be interested by

• There are few fades to black but most of the trailer consists of jump cuts in order to establish the control of fear and this is very conventional of a horror movie as it once again shows that the trailer does not reveal much and keeps the viewer shrouded within mystery

• The events are in a mixed up order and do not reveal much which is interesting and it does not reveal the 'alien' thus keeping the audience wrapped within the mystery of who or what the alien is. Once again this is very conventional because the audience are unaware of the events that occur and not placing the scenes in order forces the viewer to go watch the film to piece together the meaning of the trailer

• The beginning clip shows a fade in of the title of the film on the skyline of the film only for it to disappear and appear at the end after the music cuts off with: "In space, no one can hear you scream." This generates a feeling of intense fear and isolation as it signifies to the audience the horrors that may occur in outer space which is slightly conventional because it draws the viewer in with a line and it grows a sense of fear within the audience that is slightly satisfying

• The egg symbolises birth and with the words 'alien' fading in at the moment the egg is cracking, it suggests to the audience that an Alien is born or more likely arrived on the scene. Harsh lighting and dark lights are used to conceal and remind audiences that space is a wide dark place which is cold and lonely

Alien Atari game:

Alien 18 inch Action Figure:

Alien Toy Movie Viewer:

After researching I found that the target audience is being engaged through the TV mostly as there was no YouTube or internet in the 1970s and so every person would have got their information on the radio or on the television. The film is presenting itself as a sci-fi horror for it takes place in space yet it does not explicitly tell you what the threat is. The threat is alien and without knowing what it looks like, stirs an emotion of paranoia and fear in order to really capture the audiences attention. The unique selling point of the film is the tagline and the mystery of the alien. The tagline instigates interest and fear and the fact that no one is exposed to the aliens identity, people would want to watch the film in order to understand the appearance of the alien and why it is such a big threat. There has been viral marketing after the release of Alien for it inspired a giant franchise of seven films, many comics and video games.