INCEPTION

FILM CAMPAIGN

What is a film campaign?

A film campaign is used to create a brand/name for a film. The film is

promoted and advertised through several different platforms. The sole

purpose of a film campaign is to make the film a success and to get

audiences and critics talking about the film. Campaign’s tend to use a

similar style; including font, colours and photos, this then creates a

image that audiences recognise and immediately associate with the

film that is being promoted and advertised.

WHAT DOES A FILM CAMPAIGN CONSIST OF?

Magazine coversInterviews

Teaser posters

Full theatrical posters

Teaser trailers

Viral marketing

Full-theatrical trailer

Social Networking

Merchandise

Television adverts

FILM SUMMARY

Inception is a science fiction thriller film, directed and written

by Christopher Nolan. Inception was released July 8, 2010. It

grossed over $800 million worldwide and $68 million in DVD

and Blu-ray sales, the film also won several awards including

41st Highest grossing film of all time. The cast consisted of film

stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Joseph

Gordon-Levitt. Inception is a typical thriller film as it involves

enigmas, action and violence, all forms and conventions of the

thriller genre.

TEASER POSTER

A main feature within a film campaign are the films teaser posters. Teaser posters are used to introduce the film to audiences without revealing too much , teaser posters reveal a snippet of the film, giving audiences an idea of what to expect.

This poster shows audiences that the film is going to be a thriller, it is shown to be set in a city, the main character established is also dressed in a mart suit connoting authority and power. The man established is also holding a gun, this connotes violence and action to the audience. The colours that are used are dark, a lot of blue, grey and black.

This is a teaser poster as it only revels one of the films characters as well as only telling the audience that the film will be released in summer 2010 rather that a specific date. Like a typical teaser poster the poster only consists of a title, tag line and most importantly the main image.

The first teaser poster is the first part of the campaign, it begins to build awareness about the film yet still has audiences waiting for final dates and information about the film to be revealed.

CHARACTER POSTERS

These are posters that were published before the full-

theatrical poster however just after the teaser poster. Each

poster is of a different character within the film, these

posters establish characters and their character traits to the

audience.

The posters confirm that Inception is a going to be a thriller

film as the majority of the character posters are of the

characters holding guns. Guns are typical iconography

within a thriller film and they also connote danger, death,

violence and action, which are all typical thriller genre

themes.

Each of these posters follow the same structure and layout.

They are all the same colour and effect, also the same as

the first teaser poster.

The only difference between these posters and the teaser

poster is that these posters reveal the release date, July 16.

This shows the campaign progressing and slowly revealing

more to the audiences about the film.

FULL THEATRICL POSTER

This is the full theatrical poster, it is released after all of the other

posters, after the teaser trailer but before the release of the film.

This Inception poster reveals the release date, all of the films

starring actors, a main image that reveals more about the film,

an effective tagline and production companies involved in the

making of the film.

This poster officially confirms the sub-genre as it shown to be in

a disorientated setting, connoting a science fiction twist.

However although it is the full-theatrical poster it still leaves the

audience asking questions about what the film will be like.

This interests audiences as they would have previously seen

posters that have been promoting the film however they had not

revealed much.

This poster follows the colour scheme that the previous posters

had followed. This is creating a brand for the film making it

recognisable.

TEASER POSTER

ADVERTISING

Portrait posters tend to be

made when advertising the

film to a wider viewing

audience, portrait posters

usually appear on billboards

as well as on the side of buses. This is another part

of campaigning the film and raising awareness of the

upcoming film.

Both posters are teaser posters as they reveal

minimum about the film, for example they state

coming soon rather that an exact date. Both posters

look similar as well as looking similar to all of the

other posters involved in the campaign. This begins

to make the film a brand as the posters will become

instantly recognisable, due to the tagline, main

images and colour theme.

MAGAZINE COVERS

Empire magazine is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, it

publishes film reviews and features.

Magazine covers a crucial when promoting a film and creating a

brand name for the film. Magazine covers promote the film to a

wider audience, this cover establishes the films main charcter

and shows audiences what genre the film is going to fit into. The

main image shows Leonardo DiCaprio, a well known actor which

will initially attract audiences, dressed in a very smart suit

connoting he will have authority or power. He is also holding a

gun showing audiences again, like the posters, that the film will

involve violence and action. The cover mentions the director,

Christopher Nolan, he is an acclaimed writer and director, this

further attract audiences, especially film fans, as they will already

be aware of The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and

Batman Begins. All of the films that Christopher Nolan is

recognised for are thriller genre films, this therefore further

connotes that Inception will be a thriller film.

As Empire is Britain’s biggest selling film magazine, audiences

will know that Inception is going to be a hit film and therefore will

take interest in either reading about the film or going to watch it.

Total Film is Britain’s second biggest selling film magazine,

Inception’s film campaign now began to promote the film to larger and

larger audiences especially by featuring on the cover of Britain's most

popular film magazines.

Total Film done a one off cover where they changed their usual layout

and colours to colours that the Inception campaign had been using to

create a brand and make the film recognisable. This shows

audiences that Inception is going to be a hit film as it is worth re-

styling the whole magazine cover to promote the film and build on its

campaign.

This cover reveals to audiences that film is not only going to be a

thriller, it also connotes the science fiction twist, by using a birds eye

view picture of a city and the buildings, to look like a hard drive. This

cover again shows Leonardo Dicaprio which will attract audiences,

this main image closely resembles every other image used within the

campaign. Again the same colour scheme is used on this cover as

previously used on the posters and Empire magazine.

TEASER TRAILER

Teaser trailers are released to tease audiences, and their purpose

is to excite and interest audiences yet they reveal the bare

minimum, yet enough to intrigue audiences into wanting to watch

the film and find out more. The Inception teaser trailer was

released August, 26th 2009, nearly a year before the films release.

This teaser trailer consists of all the form and conventions of a

typical teaser trailer. The trailer is only 0:59 seconds which is only a

small amount of time to sum up a entire film. The trailer begins with

a company production ident, this hints to the audience what the

quality of the film will. The trailer also follows the three part

structure which starts with establishing characters or a character,

the second part is the peak which tends to contain some of the

films best parts, usually the most action packed parts, then the

trailer ends on an enigma, this leaves the audience still asking

questions and wanting to know more. It is a typical teaser trailer as

it does not reveal a release date, it only says coming soon.

This further builds the film campaign as audiences now have an

idea of what the film will entail, the teaser trailer begins to piece

together all the teaser posters., making sense of them and the

colour scheme chosen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hstBN0Qkqhc

OFFICIAL TRAILER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

Official/Full theatrical trailers are released months before the

film. The official trailer for Inception was released in March

2010 . This trailer reveals a lot more to the audience about

what the film will entail, without revealing the entire film as

that would result in people not pursuing to watching the film.

This trailer still follows the same colour scheme, continuing to

promote the film as a brand. This trailer also has shots and

captions that appeared in the teaser trailer. Full theatrical

trailers also follow the three part structure, however the first

part establishes more that one character and their traits, the

second part of the structure involves more action with slower

editing that the teaser trailer, lastly the third part of the

structure will end on a resolution rather than multiple

enigmas.

Once the official trailer is released the film campaign starts to

reach the end, as the film is soon to be released.

INTERVIEWS

Interviews are used when campaigning and promoting a film as audiences

get to hear directly from the cast and how they felt producing the film, they

also give an insight into what the film will entail from their own perspective.

Christopher Nolan was also interviewed for the Inception campaign as he

spoke to the audience about he’s ideas behind the final product meaning

audiences have an understanding of the film before they go to watch it.

MERCHANDISE