D1: Discuss the legal and ethical constraints within the planned campaign

D1: Discuss the legal and ethical constraints within the planned campaign (*Synoptic assessment from Unit 1 Media products and audiences)
Assessment Criteria for D1:

 YOU are required to discuss the legal and ethical issues applicable to your planned advertising campaign. 

What do I have to do? (This is an individual task!)

Produce a word processed report (at least 750 words) where you list the legal and ethical issues that you think will be applicable your planned campaign.

Legal and Ethical issues are about ensuring that a product being created does not cause any offence by containing harmful messages implicit or explicit towards a certain group of people, representing them with respect, dignity and sensitivity. This could possibly be suggested from my Thriller film promotional material as the imagery being used in a religious setting with churches and crosses featuring in my posters. This implication could possibly be considered harmful to the Christian community and could be inferred I'm attempting to label Christians as murderous and cult-like. 

In resolving this issue, I mainly utilised gravestones in some poster designs and edited them to look like the graves are stained with blood, this implies it has been tainted with by something unholy and not representative of true christianity or it's beliefs. This ensures that any concerned viewers cannot claim the legal act of Slander, as the promotional products and film itself make no false accusations or implications of any kind, keeping in mind when creating the product that anyone who could potentially feel this way doesn't because of the handling of the representation.

The films plot and editing will be created with this idea in mind as to avoid anything that could be claimed as legal slander. Portraying the subject anatagonists in the film as being against actual practiced christian values yet still religious. This means that for a practicing christian viewer, they do not feel slandered or mis-represented.

Another possible cause for issues would be the use of blood in the posters and billboards. All final designs feature bloodstains on the background gravestones as well as deep red text for the title. It's very possible that parents could take issue with this design being shown in public due to its graphic deptictions, worrying in case children see it. I believe I resolved this issue by using as much subtly as possible in the graphic details. I show only the blood and the gravestones, meaning adults and more mature people will see the poster and be able to link the two mentally and understand the films genre and what to expect, while children will likely be left oblivious and overlook it without a second thought, easing the concerns of parents worried about their children seeing violence on a film poster.

These changes did slightly put constraints on my original ideas, as I had envisioned a poster design featuring a masked, cloaked figure holding an axe, with the figure itself concealed in darkness and shadow. I believe this would've given a sense of ominous fear to the viewer via introducing the antagonist of the film so the audience can both become familiar enough with the characters presence to still be threatened, while also keeping mysterious and leaving the audience asking more questions. Therefore not using the idea left a few constraints on my vision for the final designs.

I believe I resolved this constraint by simply further emphasising the intended affect of my other designs. For example, when using images of gravestones and adapting them to poster designs, I made the picture entirely black and white, and only added colour from the red bloodstains and red text. This contrast of colourless background to deep red text is used to catch the eye of anyone walking past and spotting the poster while in public, alongside the threatening tagline "Pray for their mercy." The target audience of people looking for an ominous, unsettling thriller is instantly reached by this design and how the message is instantly communicated.