Magazines & Audience Appeal

While a trailer is arguably the form of advertisement that has the most influence on how an audience might perceive a film, other forms of media such as posters, online promotion and print media (magazines, newspapers) are equally important in marketing campaigns in order to maximise the potential reach. Moreover, different advertising techniques and platforms are essential if a film wants to target as many people within a certain demographic as possible. For example, while an audience member may not pay attention to trailers or watch a lot of broadcast media, they may be an avid reader and prefer to read magazines or newspapers, which means that print media would be the best form of marketing to target them- but another may only watch trailers online, and so on, making positioning very important. Additionally, practicality is a must. For instance, if a film wanted to target the age group of adults in their 30s and decided to broadcast a trailer in the middle of the day- while it may reach the typical stay-at-home-mum during lunchtime hours, it wouldn't reach the ordinary working person and therefore wouldn't be maximizing their profit. Similarly, targeting students during school hours wouldn't be beneficial for obvious reasons, and in terms of posters, billboards may not get much attention from those driving past them.

Trailers are used to show the best moments in a film, making use of stunning visuals, the most memorable snippets of dialogue and any high-profile stars they may have, to catch the audience's interest- however, in magazines, there is the opportunity to be a lot more elaborate in terms of the production process and give the audience a deeper insight into the director's 'vision' and how the stars feel about the parts they play. Those in the audience who have more than a casual interest in the world of film would enjoy reading articles such as these; articles that not only review a film or urge them to pay to see it in cinema, but give them an 'exclusive' look into what really went into the film, through interviews or through a few stills or images of the film crew at work. Below are some examples of double page spreads, along with how they might appeal to their audiences.
 

The double page spread on the left is from Sight & Sound magazine and features The Revenant on two double page spreads. Although this print form of advertising obviously can't show clips like a trailer can, it still has the advantage of showing the best visuals through stills. The one shown on the left has the main protagonist staring up at an ominous pile of bones, with the headline being "Call of the Wild". The image makes some use of negative space, with the large empty space in the top right which instantly draws the eye to the main protagonist and the dark, gloomy sky looming above him.

The next spread includes more images and an extensive article about how the film was made and various struggles during production, as told by the director, in an interview of some form but with commentary from the writer of the piece. This would attract an audience who are interested in the creative process of the director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, as well as fans of Leonardo DiCaprio who plays the starring role. Although the article can't make use of sound or video, the images chosen take advantage of star appeal and showcase the most exciting moments in the film, while the article's contents explain the plot further and entice the audience to see it for themselves. Red font is used to grab the reader's attention in pull-out quotes (which are usually the most sophisticated, persuasive expressions in the article and sum up the writer's opinion: for instance, "'The Revenant' is a compelling study in obsession, an absorbing and complex look at the shifting dynamics between the hunter and hunted played out on a sweeping scale") and contrast with the desaturated blue tones of the images.  

These two double page spreads, the first featuring Batman V Superman and the second featuring 10 Cloverfield Lane are reviews which give an insight into what new films are like and whether they are worth seeing. They include a 'predicted interest curve' alongside the main article and a 'see this if you liked...' section, as well as pull-out quotes that serve to summarise the writer's general opinion. Neither of these spreads feature more than one image from the film and instead seem to use one official still that encapsulates the plot and its characters (The characters Batman and Superman going head to head being self-explanatory from the title, while 10 Cloverfield Lane's image shows its characters in the primary location, in an underground shelter). In conclusion, magazines can be very beneficial in terms of audience appeal because they can cater to multiple interests in that while some members may prefer or pay attention to a different format of advertisement, having such a broad marketing campaign ensures a wider potential reach. However, I believe that the creators of such campaigns need to be careful not to saturate or over-advertise the film because audiences can become tired or even resentful of seeing the advertisements everywhere and on every media platform, meaning they may be less likely to see the film purely because they are so bored of seeing it promoted, as it becomes less impactful.