Question 2

Question 2

• 1.
  How effective isthe combination of your main product and ancillary texts? By Sharon Uyinmwen The two ancillary texts I created were the Film review and poster. Before creating these I knew that in order for them to compliment my film well they had to work in unity with one another in order to put the film out there in the best way possible. I had to keep in mind the target audience I wanted to appeal to, and keep a consistent housing style between the posters, film and review. In addition I had to take into consideration the representations of my characters, and create the posters in a way that it would show the representations rather than contradict them. The film, poster and review working hand in hand are important as the poster creates audience engagement and gets the audience asking questions. Once the audience have become engaged they start looking to sources such as film reviews to start to reveal the answers to some of their questions and depending on the reception from the review, will then lead to them gaining the experience for themselves by watching this film. So I kept these points in mind when I created my ancillary texts. With the creation of my poster I carried out research on films of the same genre and how their posters were presented. I noticed a consistency of composition simplicity from poster to poster, and how even though the ideas were very simple they still got the general idea of what the film was trying to convey without giving the whole plot away. I also looked at colours and font styles and noticed reoccurring, red, yellow, and black and white. These are colours which matched with the world of our film. I also noticed a focus on key characters and how incorporating this could attract a certain target audience. So, when I created my poster I made sure that Frank and Charlie, the two main protagonists were main focus of my film posters, by doing this target audience engage with my characters if they feel they relate to them in some way. I used bold colours like black, white and red as these are the main colours used in my film. In order to develop audience engagement I made my taglines vague whilst relating them back to the film. One example of this is ‘When the blind lead the blind they are bound to bump in to some trouble’. The use if the words ‘bound to bump into some trouble’ will get the audience wondering what kind of trouble the twosome will eventually be involved with and at the same time it didn’t give the plot away. Also, the use of the words ‘The blind lead the blind’ not only does it hint to a scene from the film but also adds as a representation to the characters as it highlights how stupid they are and throughout the whole film this stupidity becomes apparent. The poster is a marketing technique that appeals to a fan base not only through paper based techniques such as billboards and posters but also virally over the internet and through word of mouth. So with this in mind my poster had to have a unique selling point that audiences would remember to want to share with others. This is particularly seen with my poster number 3. My tagline was based a familiar saying which I then adapted to the world of my film. ‘ Cookies 20p, Donation to the blind 50p an ounce of intelligence...Priceless. The use of this tagline is not only familiar to audiences, but, it also gets the audience asking questions. This will eventually lead to them wanting to know more about the film. The genre of the film was another element that needed to be shown through the poster. I made the comedy and light heartedness of my film shine through by using funny pictures with natural bright lighting in all my posters. The image in poster 3 was taken inside the hotel as the pair was bursting through the doors. This was a good image to use as it showed the characters facial expressions clearly which created a solid representation that
• 2.
  audiences could pickup. During the creation of the poster I tried my best to keep the lighting natural and bright so audiences would become aware it is not a horror based or dark and gloomy film. Poster number 1 & 2 incorporates the prop of the car which is the main plot point in the film. In order to not give too much away, I adjusted the layout so the car would not be the main focus in the frame. I eventually lowered the car in the frame. I used the certificate symbol (12) in poster 2 to reach out my main target audience so when the audience look at the poster they can have more of an idea of whether or not it will appeal to them. The film review is created to highlight the positives or negatives of a film in order for audiences to decide if a film is worth watching or not, it also talks about previous films the director and cast members have been a part of in order to spark interest in readers. Positive reviews entice people to want to go and watch the film which inevitably increases the revenue for the institution, and they tend to be written by neutral sources so the reader knows they are getting an honest opinion rather than a bias opinion. This is what I found out whilst analysing and researching various different film reviews and magazines. I preferred the style of Total magazine the most, as I felt our film could fit well in a review like Total. It also takes time to venture into different genres of film and publishes reviews of independent low budget films similar to ours. My film review that I created is aimed to encourage people to watch our film. I highlighted the genre numerous times when I said ‘If you like comedies and actions films, you will love Switch as it has the perfect balance of the two’, this will also speak out to a wider target audience as people who like action comedies will feel that the film will appeal to them. Also because the initial age group is 12 and above the film review can speak out to the older side of the audience as they are more likely to read film reviews. The writing style of the review is a written in persuasive language to help sell the film in the best way possible, and briefly talks about the synopsis of the film, it then goes into certain filming techniques used. Those who know about the production of films will understand these aspects and will be intrigued by the thought of the film using them. I have used an image that highlights the comedy aspect of the film, a picture of Frank as he blew the flour in Big Pete’s face. The caption I added ‘Frank in the mist of one of his bright ideas, literally’ also highlights humour and puts forward a representation of Franks character. The light heartedness of the film is shown throughout the poster and the review and works as a package with the film. To conclude my film, review and posters all highlight key features of the film to work as ‘’Total’’ package.