How Paratexts Changed Over Time

It can be said that from the 1980s until now, there is been a great change in the manner in which films are processed by the film audience. What used to be a simple one-format escapism has now developed into whole worlds that audiences can delve into, with many different avenues to pursue. One of the most iconic films to have done this is the Harry Potter franchise. Spanning a generation, the franchise has settled into the hearts of the viewers and become a part of their history, rather than just a distanced picture on a screen. Through a development of new technologies and alternative advertising methods, such films have ingrained themselves into the viewing public’s heart and caused a connection that was, before, absent. In addition, the

Paratexts have become an integral part of the filmmaking process, automatically being developed with the intention of luring audiences to a particular motion picture. As defined by Jonathan Gray, paratexts are ‘ texts that…we consume on our way to consuming the “film itself”…texts that prepare us for other texts’ . Therefore, they can be seen as buffers, or bridges, whereby the audience can become introduced to the text, or film, before actually having the viewing experience. In terms of a blockbuster, everything from the motto of a film to the sub sequentially released videogames, can be known as paratexts and is often incredibly important to both the immediate success and the longevity a film may have. For example, with the lead up to Jaws , there was a gross amount of mass-advertising that included everything from marketing the original text, the novel, to the large newspaper spreads which

Film conglomerates own many different types of formats and companies, which they then use to advertise whatever film they have coming out in the near future. This leads to mass transmedia advertising whereby the conglomerates, such as Time Warner or Viacom, imprint onto the audiences through every venue they have available . From the 80s until now there has been a significant change to the process that film advertising undergoes when being promoted to the public. While there are still the traditionalist avenues such as movie posters, taglines and trailers, there are also interactive technologies and fan-made paratexts that are taken into consideration. For example is there is encouragement for audiences to become more involved with the process through ‘exclusive websites’ and ‘previews’ that are intended to make the audience feel more special and involved, and therefore be more likely to repeatedly view the film . However, as with most high concept films, the original text, or ‘the book’, is also an integral part of the marketing process. For example it is common for film franchises to have a root from a book franchise, more often than not ‘young adult novels’, and therefore there will be continuous advertisements in posters or in the books themselves that will draw the readers of the novels or the fans of the film to cross texts Seen as mutually