How Effective is the Combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

E V A L U A T I O N Q U E S T I O N 2:

A N C I L L A R Y T A S K S

The purpose of the ancillary tasks is to compliment and promote the film. It is important that the poster and magazine appeals to the same audience as my film caters for (the target audience), At the same time I

wanted these publications to look professional. Together the combination of the ancillary tasks and my

final film should showcase a successful project.

T A R G E T A U I D E N C E

I wanted my poster and magazine to appeal to my target audience for several reasons:

• I want to attract people that will actually enjoy my film

• I want to attract people with similar interests and appreciations as me

• I want the film to be showcased to a selective and appreciative audience (cult audience)

• I wanted to create an “indie” and “arthouse” poster and magazine design as these are the genres I enjoy

designing for the most

T A R G E T A U I D E N C E

I identified my target audience as, “Intellectual, 18-35, Film lovers” a lot earlier on in the planning and

research process, I came across this definition for my target audience after researching into the

demographics of publications and platforms that fit into the genre of film that I wanted to create.

These publications still remain relevant to the genre of film I have created so I took a lot of inspiration from

Indie magazines such as Little White Lies and Oh Comedy magazine.

R E S E A R C H & A N A L Y S I S

When researching and analyzing other texts, I made sure that I chose magazines that would cater for my target audience, that I appreciated and that would probably review my genre of film.

Below is a screenshot of two magazines and my analysis. I chose to analysis Little White Lies as I really appreciated the design, layout

and overall look of the magazine reviews. I chose to analysis Empire magazine as it caters for film lovers, one of the criteria's for

my target audience.

R E S E A R C H & A N A L Y S I S

When analyzing these film reviews I found a few genre specific conventions that I would definitely like to use in my magazine:

• MODE OF ADDRESS: a lot of the reviews I enjoyed had a very technical mode of address, they address the audience as a

fellow film – maker, and discuss their interpretations fairly and in a sophisticated manner

• DESIGN: a lot of the reviews I enjoyed had a very unique design, some used illustration, others used quirky and clashing

colour schemes, turning the review into a piece of art rather than a piece of art. I noticed that these qualities of design were

seen in the independent, print magazines, for example Little White Lies is only printed once a month as is drawn or printed

by hand each time. I decided that I wanted to create something similar to this, rather than a review from a tabloid which gets

thrown away.

R E S E A R C H & A N A L Y S I SI adopted a similar technique when I researched and analyzed a collection of

posters. I selected a series of posters, advertising films that I enjoy and that fit under my genre (and probably have a similar target audience).

I chose to analyze the film poster for “Nowhere Boy” as it is very similar to mine; although it is a feature film, it follows a lot of art-house conventions and is also based on the story of adolescents (it’s actually a biopic of John Lennon). It was directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, she was originally a photographer and I

love her style of cinematography and composition. From watching interviews of her, I knew she would have a say in the final poster which is why I decided to

analyze it.

R E S E A R C H & A N A L Y S I SAfter searching through some posters, I came across a sub-genre of poster

design, “alternative poster design”. These posters are not made by the production company, but rather independent designers who give there own

take and interpretation of the film through their design.

I really appreciated these designs for several reasons:

• They are iconic and memorable• They are minimalist and simple

• The contrast in colours is very enticing• The designs are all very clever

After this specific research I decided to try some of these techniques and attempt to design my poster

as an “alternative, illustration poster design”

C O M P L I M E N T I N G M Y F I L M I really wanted my poster and magazine to reflect the look and feel of my film successfully. I took a few screenshots of my film, specially capturing the look

and feel that I wanted the ancillary tasks to represent:

I realized that a lot of these sceenshots share the same colour scheme, which is when I made my chosen colour scheme on Photoshop.

This is the colour scheme I created, I was aware of which tones correctly

compliment each other after studying various other magazines, magazines

normally stick to a specific colour scheme for every publication, (For example

“Hello!” magazine is associated with red.) A lot of green, beige and yellow are

naturally emphasized in many of my shots, to create an effective combination of my ancillary texts in relation to the film I will incorporate these colours into the poster

and magazine review.

C O M P L I M E N T I N G M Y F I L M

R E F L E C T I N G M Y F I L M

It is important to incorporate the same ideas and colours that are seen in the film, into the poster

because the poster is normally made by the same production team, therefore they must compliment

each other and they most have joining themes flowing between them. I discovered this after reviewing many different film posters and noticing the connection in

mis-en-scene between the poster and film. This is probably to further induce advertising and brand

cooperation (For example when you think of Spiderman you think of red and blue). I decided to use

the same font, colour scheme and genre of design (indie) of the film, in my film poster.

F O N TFor the film poster, I wanted to use the exact same font as in my

film, following the conventions of mainstream cinema. I conducted a lot of research when creating the right font for my film.

I did not want to use the same font for the magazine, after researching, I realized that logos and fonts belonging to the production company were not used in film reviews.

Often the magazine has their own title at the top, or incorporates the film’s title in their own font. I chose an arty font for the title to reflect the genre of my made up magazine.

C O N V E N T I O N SIn order to look professional and be effective, the poster and

magazine have to follow some conventions, these conventions are standard and are seen in all types of posters and magazines,

even indie or art house publications. POSTER

• A large title and tagline• Laurel leaf awards/ Reviews

• Billing Block• Logo and branding

• Production company logoI made sure that I followed all of these conventions, resulting in a

very effective poster.

C O N V E N T I O N SIMAGE

I wanted the image to reflect my film well, resulting in an effective combination of publications and to compliment my film.

I found several similarities in images that are successful used in film posters:• The image includes the protagonist and any other main characters

• The image hints at the genre of the film, sometimes using iconography (e.g. Gun = action/crime or thriller)

• The image is composed and framed very effectively, making it work with the clutter of text and logos

• The image is often taken straight from the film itself• The mis-en-scene and cinematography style can be detected from the

image• The image is simple and not too busy

• The image chosen highlights one of the very best moments, scenes or shots in the film.

E F F E C T I V E D E S I G N

I created all those designs, following the conventions; each one has it’s own unique flare and a few of them took direct

inspiration from posters of my favourite films. In the end when making a decision and choosing which draft I wanted to

complete to go on to be a successful final poster, I had to think about the combination of the poster and the film and how they

will compliment each other. The design that I eventually selected really represents the look/feel that I want my film to

represent, hopefully the people that are intrigued by this poster will also proceed to enjoy my film. This poster design also

follows all the necessary conventions, and the image is the most effective, (the main focus in the first two posters is not even of the main character in the film). The poster does not look too

cluttered and the design is very artistic and follows the conventions of an “indie” film poster.

A U D I E N C E F E E D B A C K

I did not just rely on my own judgment to make this decision; I conducted an audience feedback questionnaire, allowing my Instagram followers to vote for their favourite poster. This is a fantastic approach as the sole purpose of a poster is to attract

the target audience, by gathering their opinion, I hope to create a poster that is not only very nice-looking, but also very

successful and effective in representing and promoting my film.

I M A G E

This is my chosen image that I used in my poster, I chose it because it is framed perfectly for a poster, with both characters well positioned, either

side of the frame. It also captures the two main characters and a key scene (and one of my favourites) in the film. The cinematography and colours in this

image reflect those shown without the film effectively.

E F F E C T I V E M A G A Z I N EI have taken a different, and perhaps “unconventional” approach to my magazine

design. I have decided to design it as if I was producing for a separate company as this is the most realistic approach. I have written the article as a separate character (I thought reviewing my own film in first person would be highly ineffective), this

allowed me to give an honest review impartially rating the highs and lows and giving a valid impression of the film. This makes the review a lot more interesting, have a lot more character, and be a lot more readable! I have also used an illustration as the

main image. This does not mirror the design of my poster but it is a style of image that I have seen in several indie magazines (specially film reviews), I found these types of images very eye-catching and impressive when I have seen them in other magazines.

C O M B I N A T I O N

C O M B I N A T I O N

It is fair to say that the font, colour scheme and design do not match up identically, however I think that this is a far better

combination of the products. The colours and the design between the poster and the magazine compliment each other

nicely, without seeming like a variation of branding or advertising. The combination is effective as they both follow

conventions of indie publications and they both follow a similar style, they are just slightly different, to show the difference in

purpose between the texts. The poster is designed as an advertisement and reflects the film identically. The magazine is supposed to be an impartial review, and compliments the film

and the poster well.