The Message: Linking Texts

There are many ways in which the Message trailer is linked to the magazine cover and poster.

Firstly all three feature Charli (as Alex Davidson) and she is the sole character in the magazine and poster, although the poses are different.

All three feature the title, and the poster and the trailer use similar font for it, which was done to show that the film being marketed is the same, and to keep consistency through marketing tools. The font is also reminiscent of a type-writer which is often associated with thrillers and conspiracies, due to their use before computers were publicly available. The magazine would have a house style and so would not use the same logo, however, but the title font on it is still similar to that on the trailer/poster. The remaining text on the trailer is used to describe Charli's character, as the words a 'brilliant mind' appear on both, as character posters normally have a description or short quote about the character, and quote demonstrates how her character is seen or portrayed in the film, and is not seen differently to different people. The effectiveness would not be as great if the same character was described in different ways, as this may confuse the audience. The date and film studio appear in both the trailer and on the poster, while the date of the magazine is earlier in the year. This is however very common, and films will normally have a cover a few months before release, either new information or the big reveal. It also means that the promotional trailer and poster would be released at the same time, as release dates may change, or the information may not be known. However, it may also be that this one element is simple to edit, and is also something which is key, as different dates would confuse an audience, lower it's effectiveness and therefore how many people would watch the film. The background colour's on the magazine cover and the poster are the same, which provides another link, as well as emphasising the tone (light hearted or comedies would have lighter backgrounds. Thrillers tend to be dark). This was mainly done to show the tone, but also because of recognisability, as certain colours may be associated with films (AVATAR and blue, The Expendable's and yellow for instance), and so using a grey colour that wasn't metallic would likely stick in the mind of the target audience (for instance grey was also used for marketing 'Taken' another thriller)

While all three share common links, they can all be viewed as individual products, rather than just Photoshopping a still from the trailer, new specially shot images are used.
From the feedback I have gained on all three products, I would say that the combination is effective.