Evalution Question 2: How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Task?
- 1. Evaluation Question 2: How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Task? By Margaret Ansu
- 2. Assignment Brief • For Unit G324 we had to create a 5 minute short film which may be live action or animated or a combination of both. Then after completing the film we were to create a poster and a film magazine review page featuring the film.
- 3. How my poster follows the forms of the drama genre The poster uses a single image of “Lucy” the main female character. The close up of her face allows those who view the poster to examine the emotions is expressing. Her facial expressions conveys the emotion of neutral sadness, by this I mean it’s clear she is not happy but her sadness seems to be of long term suggesting she’s enduring some form of long term hardship. This follows the conventions of a drama film as it doesn’t convey happiness and humour but an emotion that is of a serious nature. Also with close up image being the only image used for the poster, there’s nothing to take the focus away from the character’s face leaving most of the films back story to the imagination of the individual only with the help from the tag-line “not everything is what it seems…” adding a sinister edge to the angelic looking image. Simple and realistic theme of poster upholds the seriousness and realism that’s expected of a drama film. The colour scheme only consist of white and yellow; white to portray innocence and yellow to convey preciousness as innocence is precious. The poster was inspired by the poster of precious as the theme’s of the two films are very similar.
- 4. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster: Comparison between a successful film’s poster and my film poster This is the film poster of the film “Precious” an independent film that blew up and came to the big screen in 2009. As the film it’s self had a lot of influence as to how we carried out our film I decided to use it’s poster as inspiration for my own film poster. I also decided to use this poster as a template, as the film was a very successful drama film. The poster then must have played some part in promoting the film so well.
- 5. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster: Analysis of Precious Film Poster I liked how the poster had used quotes from reviews and acclaimed individuals, in the film world to act as a form of accreditation towards the film, so it helped convince people that the film was worth watching. I decided to use this approach for my own film poster. The title “Precious”, was made to stand out in a unique way . The typeface was simplistic and linear unlike those used within many film posters,. However, unlike the rest o the font on the poster the colour of the title was orange. The use of orange alone made the title stand out. Again I took this aspect aboard and tried to apply to my own work. Lastly, I liked how the main focus of the poster was the face of a girl, as it suggested that the girl was a major character or component of the film. It also gave an idea as to what the title “Precious” stood for suggesting the two were linked and it was probably her name. Moreover, with sole focus of the poster being on the girl, the seriousness and feel of the film’s genre was presented to the audience. Also it portrays the seriousness of the film via her facial expression.
- 6. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster: How I used the highlighted areas in my own film poster I decided to replicate the use of accreditation in my own poster. I however did not use quotes but instead awards that the film had won, which were not spread across the poster as the accreditations for precious was positioned on the poster. I instead placed the accreditations in a orderly fashion. As you can see I did use the idea of a single character focus. Reason being I thought it really did when done properly, conveyed the basis and ideologies of the film as well as the emotions that were reoccurring themes within the film I then also decided to include the idea that the title of film was to stand out from the rest of the poster as it was the only text in yellow. I did not however, follow the aspects through, as I thought that the release that was also an important component of a film poster as it informs passers by of the release date of the film. Also I the typeface I used for the title was not linear.
- 7. Text Used in Poster Nyala Regular Bold: was used for the release date, tag line and film website. The font wasn’t of a usual choice for a drama film poster however it was unique and I wanted to put my own spin on a typical drama film. The font also had a certain eye catching edge to it. Another reason why I chose this font is because it didn’t draw attention away from the main title which is the most important component of a film poster. Steel Tongs: was a formatted billing font, meaning that it was pre-coded to allow me to enter certain pre-set words and phrases such as “Directed by” in the style that would usually be used on an actual film poster’s billing. It was simple to use once understanding the coding. It also stands out but not enough to black attention away from the title. KG Tangled Up In You: a bold font that looked rough. I thought it’ll be great for this poster as it wasn’t too bold and blocked for a drama film poster nut it was just enough to stand out more than everything else when paired with the colour choice of yellowish orange. The texture of the font also reinforced the nature of the film’s title of being shady.
- 8. The Film Review For my film review I wanted to achieve a simple and clean look that kind of followed the same simplicity that was achieved in the film poster. It wasn’t easy and many trials did take place however it was eventually achieved to a standard that was good enough to present. To keep with simplicity I opted to used the basic but effective colour scheme of black and blue. Blue usually triggers the brain to experience emotions of relaxation hence why it’s used in so many social networking sites. Therefore I took that idea on board along with black as the colour black is standard simple and easy to read.
- 9. I included a summary box within film reviews to give the reader a quick summary of the film’s plot. The box is used within many film review articles. Another thing I adhered to was the use of a star rating system to state how good the film was. Footer containing page number, magazine issue, magazine name and website follows the conventions of a magazine.
- 10. Fonts Used for Review The text I used in the film review may have been a different type face from the one I used in the poster but it still follows the simplistic theme that I tried to achieve in the poster. Like the poster the title of the film was the largest text used in the review . The font I used for Century Gothic Bold a Sans Serif typeface. I chose to use the type face as Sans Serif type fonts are used within magazines and articles. For the articles main body, the typeface was different from the rest as I wanted it to stand out but in a way that was subtle way so I used a different font instead of making it bold. Unlike the stand out quotes, which I’d decided to make bold and blue in the steps of following the conventions of film articles. Another reason why I chose the font is because it was easy to read which is an important factor for text within article.
- 11. Images Used within Review Lucy’s costume choice contradicts the costume choice for the poster as in the poster she’s in a white shirt to portray innocence. However in the film review she is in a black top to suggest that somewhere within the film her innocence is taken. Dark black clothing portrays darkness and evil within an individual, so this choice for Mr Wicks would hopefully convey him to the readers as a dangerous and dodgy character. Also the body language of the character causes him to seems threatening and controlling specifically towards Lucy.
- 12. Images Used within Review In relation to the poster, the image used within the review portrays the film in a darker light and instead of focusing on the female character instead focuses on the male character. This then could suggest to readers and viewers that both characters carry importance within the narrative of the film.
- 13. Images Used within Review The image in the film review portrays the dynamics between the two characters; how Mr Wicks is shown in a darker light literally as the image had been edited around Mr Wicks to heighten shadows. Where in contrast Lucy’s seen in a lighter view. The image is great in promoting the film and unlike the poster it shows two characters but it gives an insight as to why Lucy on the poster seemed sad.
- 14. Using the Internet to Promote For my poster, even though when looking at actual examples it was common to see the use of a Twitter or Facebook page for the film also being promoted, I did not want to add it to my poster as I thought it took away from it’s simplicity. Therefore I only added a website address. For the film review I did not deem it to be appropriate to use social networking promotions within the review as it would’ve come across as unconventional and professional. I therefore stuck to what I had seen in examples of real highly regarded film magazines such as “EMPIRE” and just used yet another simple web address in the footer.
- 15. How the Poster and Film Review Contribute to My Film Posters are used by production companies as a marketing strategy to advertise their films to the masses. It does so by using imagery to summarise the plot of the film. By doing this when people see the poster and it is appealing they’re most likely to spread the news of the film being released by word of mouth. Therefore when creating my poster I kept this concept in mind and tried to use the best picture that depicted all of what the movie was in one image. On the other hand, film reviews are meant to give those who my be interested in seeing the a film an analytical perspective of the film as it gives them more of an insight to how well the film was executed. A review is also used to help people decide whether the film is something they’d enjoy watching it or not. However both film reviews and posters are great marketing strategies, as they both raise awareness of a film. By using both methods, you’re more likely to reach a wider population hence audience. I therefore believe , that these two products played a major role in promoting the film by giving those who are interested a greater idea of what the film is about, feeding their curiosity and leading them to the film so that their curiosity may cease.
- 16. Conclusion To conclude I think that both my ancillary task work well together as they complete each other. A one portrays the film in one way but the other presents the film in a another light that finishes what the other was trying to complete. Both follow the theme of simplicity, I do however believe that I could’ve done better to link the two products together but I am pleased with the final outcomes and think it’s great that they’re rather different.