EQ#2How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In this answer, I’ll be discussing how effective is the combination of my short film and ancillary tasks which include Film Poster and Magazine

Review.

In order to make my Film Poster, I’ve taken inspirations from the posters of my reference films – Raincoat and Slumdog Millionaire.

This is the final draft of my film’s poster.

Purpose – Its purpose is to advertise the film but also show who the film is directed, produced, edited by and who is starring in it. Since my film poster follows typical codes and conventions of a drama genre film poster, its main purpose is fulfilled, that is that the audience can predict it is a drama genre film poster by just looking at it.

Colors – White, black and brown colors are used. The shirt of the protagonist stand out in black because of everything around him in white and brown except for the billing box and film title.

Key Image – The poster depicts a drama film. The man in the middle with a disappointed face proves this to us.

Background – In the background of the poster, we can see a construction site which gives us a hint that the film probably shows he struggle of the protagonist.

Text color – The text colors and Black and Dark brown. The black color text has been used to contrast from the mostly white background so that we can see what is written on the poster. Dark reddish brown color is used to highlight the film is by whom and it’s release date.

Text Font – The film name itself is in a large size font to make it stand out.

Layout – The layout of the poster gives the feel of Bollywood drama. Because only posters of Bollywood drama films highlighting social issues tend to be simple. Not many visuals are used in the poster , the main element in it is the protagonist’s image which depicts sadness and disappointed. The background image is also very important as it is of a construction site telling the audience that the guy might have been working there because of not being financially stable. The first thought that will come in audience’s mind by seeing the construction site would be “Work” and not to forget my film is highlighting important social issues like Unemployment and Poverty.

This was the only film still from the final film that was used as the main image in the poster.

Whereas I took the picture of construction site especially to use as the background image of the poster

Like Raincoat’s title is written in a simple font, my film Fate’s title is also in a simple font depicting the seriousness of the poster. Raincoat’s poster make use of their lead actor’s image in which he looks tensed and disappointed, same is the case in my film’s poster where I’ve used my protagonist’s picture as the main image.

These are the posters of my reference films.

The following two images show how my film’s poster contains almost the same elements found in Slumdog Millionaires poster. However, I have challenged the codes and convention by putting up the billing box on the top instead of bottom.

This is the magazine review of my film in Movie Magazine

The title of the film is emphasized by being written in a bold font on a black background. I’ve given 4 star ratings out of 5 to my film “Fate” in the magazine review which make the audience curious and will give them a guarantee that the film will be upto their expectations.

Film’s title

The magazine review talks about when is the film releasing, what issues the film is highlighting e.g. Poverty and Unemployment. It also gives a short summary of what’s going to happen in the film but in order to create excitement didn’t reveal how the film end and left it on the audience inviting them to watch the film if they want to know the whole story.

I could only find a sample magazine review page of Movie magazine. Hence I’ve applied a similar format in my film’s magazine review. Movie magazines one side is usually covered with the picture of the person about whom the story is, I’ve similarly tried to put up pictures of my film on one side and my main lead’s picture is on other side covering almost half page. Alongside, coming soon is mentioned on Movie magazine review page which can also be found on top of my magazine review.

Kabul Express Magazine

I’ve used the following film stills in my magazine review because they depict the narrative of the story very well. A tensed picture of the main lead shows he is dejected. The picture of the family tells that the story revolves around those four people. And the children’s picture of where they are playing with toys shows their innocence , as if they are unaware of their dad’s struggle to feed them.

I wanted to maintain some common elements between my short film, poster and magazine review. For example I kept the typography similar for the Title “Fate” throughout my short film, poser and magazine review.

By having maintained my text throughout my short film, poster and magazine review, I’ve created synergy which means that the audience can clearly that these 3 things though having different media forms have some association with each other.

Title in FilmTitle in Poster

Another way of creating synergy is through the main character. I featured my main character “Jamal” on my poster and then in the magazine review so that the audience can recognize that this is the poster and magazine review of the same film.

The background of my poster and magazine review is also same which is of the construction site. This again indicates that my poster and magazine review and short film has a common element.

ByHamna Iqbal Baig