What is a Postcard Advertisement?
A postcard advertisement is form of marketing of short films at film festivals. One would hand out postcard size adverts similar to a film poster, these postcards are handed out to a variety of potentially influential people in order to spread awareness of your new short film.
A postcard advertisement would be handed out alongside several others, so the aim of these is to stand out amongst the others thus, it must be eye catching, this can be done in a series of ways including: colors, image and title/text. Other than providing the viewers slight insight into what your short film is about it should also provide them with appropriate contact information/website/QR code so that they are able find out more about the short film easily, as opposed to having to search it up. This can be done by having contact information on the back of the postcard, or the postcard can be accompanied by a business card however, this method could be less effective as people can easily mix up cards, or misplace them amongst all other adverts they recieve.
Postcard advertisements are a very important means of self advertisement that is necessary for directors of short films, it allows them to establish connection as they also act as a business card, furthermore they postcard may be the first time somebody sees your short film and you would like to leave a good first impression of your film.
A postcard advertisement would be handed out alongside several others, so the aim of these is to stand out amongst the others thus, it must be eye catching, this can be done in a series of ways including: colors, image and title/text. Other than providing the viewers slight insight into what your short film is about it should also provide them with appropriate contact information/website/QR code so that they are able find out more about the short film easily, as opposed to having to search it up. This can be done by having contact information on the back of the postcard, or the postcard can be accompanied by a business card however, this method could be less effective as people can easily mix up cards, or misplace them amongst all other adverts they recieve.
Postcard advertisements are a very important means of self advertisement that is necessary for directors of short films, it allows them to establish connection as they also act as a business card, furthermore they postcard may be the first time somebody sees your short film and you would like to leave a good first impression of your film.
Analysis of a Postcard Advert
This postcard advert is very simple in terms of composition but is able to reflect a lot of messages quite clearly. To begin with, the two subjects facing away from each other yet lit in the same fashion. They are also separated by a darkness that they fade into. This helps reflect the relationship between the two who seem to be isolated in their own worlds yet still maintain some kind of bond although it may not be as clear as it may seem. The two subjects gaze's are also downcast into the darkness which could suggest a dark tone about the short short film. The face that the woman is gazing over her shoulder while facing away could suggest that she wants to appear more vulnerable to the man as she wishes for him to go after her whilst the man facing 3/4 and standing in a strong yet natural position which could be reflective of a potentially smooth or assertive nature.
The postcard ad layout is very simple and consists of; the director, the title, and 3 awards. All text on the ad is in white which allows it to stand out very clearly against the otherwise black postcard. One criticism of the postcard is that the director comes before the title. I found in other postcards and believe that it is more applicable to have the primary focus be on the film itself rather than the director. Furthermore, in regards to sentence structure it makes more sense for it to say: "Us. Them. Me. a film by Quincy Woo" similarly to the postcard advert I used in my annotations for the codes and conventions. However this may have been done in order to reflect an unconventional nature of this short film. |