EVALUATION QUESTION 2: HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?

Sharna Mandil

The brief of our assignment

The main objective for our coursework was to create a 5 minute long film.

After this was completed, we then had an ancillary task to complete which consisted of creating a film review and a film poster to promote our film.

What was the objective of our ancillary task?

The main goal of our ancillary task was to promote our film using both visual and text platforms, in the forms of a film review and a film poster.

I tried to ensure that my target audience would want to watch my film based on both the review and poster.

My main goal was to present the final film in a high standard by using creativity through the use of Photoshop, to promote my film so my target audience would want to watch it just based on what they had seen through my poster and review.

How did my poster meet the romantic-comedy genre?

I decided to use bright red within my poster in a number of different elements, with the font being red and also the main female characters dress being bright.

Red connotes love and romance within many film posters, and I found that during my research many romantic-comedy film posters used red somewhere in their poster. For example, the film poster ‘She’s Out Of My League’, the main female protagonist’s dress is bright red, which indicates to the viewer that the film entails love and romance, which is why I opted to use red within my own ancillary task.

I also chose to use a divide between the two characters, which shows that the two main protagonists have some sort of relationship divide between them which needs to be fixed, which is a common theme within the rom-com genre. I also got this idea from the film poster ‘The Ugly Truth’.

The characters body language is also a give away of the genre. Bobby’s expression and body language is that of a frustrated one, whereas Zara’s body language connotes to the audience that she is waiting for something, which is why Bobby has such a frustrated look on his face. Time is a also a common theme used throughout the rom-com genre, with films such as ‘How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days’.

The tag line on the poster also gives away to the audience that the films central theme is centred around time, as the tag line has the word ‘race’, and the female lead’s body language (her pointing to her watch) also connotes to the audience that the films narrative focuses around time.

How did my poster meet the romantic-comedy genre?

The title’s font is [insert font here], which is a plain and clear font which is easy to see and read. I decided to use this font, as I previously mentioned the text comes out clear to read, which links to the plot of our film which is clear and easy to follow which is why I decided to use this font.

The main title is a mixture of both standard text, and bold text, to highlight who the films main protagonist is. BOBBY is in bold, which gives away to the audience who the main character is. I decided to do this because, I wanted to let the audience know who the main character was, but at the same time not give too much away as there are two characters on the poster, which creates an enigma to the audience as they are left wondering who the female is and why has she been placed on the poster. It creates questions such as, what role does she play in the film?

The clothing of both characters, also conforms to the conventions of a typical rom-com film. The male is wearing a suit, which is typical within rom-com films such as ‘Friends With Benefits’, where the male lead on the poster is wearing a suit. The females clothing also connotes to the audience that my film is a rom-com as the female leads within many rom-com films, are presented as attractive and sexy, and wear clothing to connote this, which is why we decided to put Simren in a bright red dress to conform to the typical convention of a romantic comedy film.

I also put the BBFC certification onto the poster as this is a convention of film posters.

Font choices for my poster

For my credits on my film poster I decided to use the font called, ‘Universal Accreditation’ as this is a convention of any film poster

The other font I used within my poster was called TW Cen MT (Body). I decided to use this font as it is to the point, clear and easy to read, which is like the plot of this film, as it is easy to follow and understand. The font is also BOLD in some areas of the poster, this was to signify to the audience who the main characters were and also to highlight the key information on the poster, such as the release date, main protagonist, and also the tag line.

Font choices for my review

I decided to opt for a font similar to what I used in my film poster ([insert font here]), as the font on my film poster was clear and simple. I decided to use the font ([insert font here]), as I believed it would be effective to use on my film review. I stuck to a white colour to add to continuity.

I used a font which was clean and simple, so that it was easy for the audience to read. The font was also similar to what we used in our credits.

Images used within my film review

I decided to not use a shot from my final film by print screening, as I thought the quality wouldn’t look as good in comparison with a still image shot taken on a digital camera. I decided to use a 2 person shot with both protagonists, as I thought this would be more effective as opposed to using an image with just one protagonist in as when researching into film reviews, many rom-com film reviews main image was a picture of both protagonists involving some sort of character positioning revealing who was the more dominant character in comparison to the other. The image I used reveals to the audience that Bobby is the main character, as he is looking directly into the camera and engaging with the audience through his facial expression. Zara is looking away from the camera and looks slightly uninterested into Bobby’s attempts to woo her, as she is looking away. Her facial expressions also reveal that she is slightly awkward while Bobby gives her attention and affection, as he has her hand held close to his heart (connoting love to the audience), and looks very keen and excited through facial expressions and body language, as he is embracing her hands with both of his hands not just one, connoting he is very attracted to her which is a convention of rom-com films, as the female lead usually is very attractive and all other males are in some way attracted to her. I think the image was effective in not giving too much away to the audience, but at the same time giving enough information needed to guess the genre through the use of body characters body language, facial expression and the colour of their clothing.

The clothing the characters are wearing, gave me the basis of what colours to use for the colour scheme of my film review, which is why I opted for red, white and black for continuity, making it look that little bit more professional.

Images used within film poster

I decided to use images of both leads within my film poster, as I believed using both protagonists on my poster would indicate the genre of the film through the characters body language, facial expression and the colour of their clothing.

I decided to use a full body shot of each character, as through doing my research many rom-com posters used full body shots to show the characters body language. In my poster as the female lead is pointing to her watch, and Bobby’s body language indicates he is frustrated, which creates enigmas as to why is he frustrated, is he late for a date with the female lead?

The concept of time is illustrated through the use of Zara’s body language as she is pointing at her watch, which indicates to the audience what the central theme of the film is (time).

When taking photos for my poster and review, I decided I wanted both leads to be dressed in a particular way. I wanted the female to be dressed in a dress which is a convention of a rom-com film, as the female lead is usually very attractive and in the film poster she is dressed ‘sexy’ and made to look extremely attractive.

I wanted the male to have a flower in his mouth to indicate the humorous element of the film. The flower indicates romance, however, the fact it is placed in his mouth adds a humorous element to it,.

How did my film review explore the final product?

I decided to keep the layout of my film review as simple and straight forward as possible, to ensure that the review would be effective and easy to follow. I opted for a red, white, and black colour scheme for my poster, which is a convention of a rom-com, as the red’s connote love and romance. The tag line for the review gives away to the audience that the protagonist Bobby is unlucky in some sort of way however, we don’t know how this is which is why I decided to use this tag line as it gives away some information without giving the whole plot away to the reader, which would persuade them more to watch it as they wasn’t to find out why Bobby is ‘the most unluckiest guy, ever’.

The poster emphasises twice that the film is short, with the ending statement being ‘and at only 5 minutes long, who wouldn’t give it a watch?’, and also the verdict part of the review also again emphasises that the film is short with the statement ‘a short, but incredibly sweet film’. Emphasising twice the length of the film was something I really wanted to incorporate within my poster, as it would make the audience want to watch it even more as it is only short, but also at the same time very enjoyable, which is why it was awarded 5 stars.

Another convention of a film review I also decided to follow was the large bold font, in the middle of the review highlighting the best parts of the film ‘this comical film is an instant classic’. I got this convention by researching into other film reviews in magazines such as Heat, and Empire, which also had larger bolder font in the middle of the review telling the reader what the best elements of the film are.

Colour scheme

Throughout both ancillary tasks, I decided to use the colours red, white and black.

Red is a colour typically used within the romantic genre, as red connotes love and romance, so as a convention of this genre I wanted to use this colour throughout both tasks.

The important text on my film review and poster was in white and red, so that it stood out and was clear and so the audience could quickly scan the poster and review, and see the most important pieces of information rather than reading the whole review, or looking at the whole poster. I stuck to white for both titles on the film review and poster to add to continuity.

On the film review I wanted to use white as my central background, so that the main text and images would stand out more allowing the viewer to focus on the text, and as dark colours aren’t associated with rom-coms I decided to use a light colour to meet the conventions of a romantic comedy.

Background

I opted to use a simple plain background for my poster, using the gradient tool on Photoshop CS5 which faded from black to grey.

Black and grey aren’t a typical colour associated with the rom-com genre, more the horror/thriller genre, however, I felt black and grey are simple colours and as the central pictures are quite large in size, so I decided a simple background would look more effective and simple, as it would allow the audience to focus more on the image of the characters instead of the background.

Logos and websites

While researching current film posters, I found that somewhere within the poster (mostly at the bottom), all the film posters provided a web address of the production company, which meant that the audience could type the web address into the internet and be directed to the films website, which would provide further information about the film. As a convention of a typical film poster, I decided to add ‘LOL Productions’ web address so our viewers could find out more information about our film if they wished to. A web address is very important as digital technology is increasing so people tend to find out more information via new digital technology, rather than ‘old’ technology such as newspapers.

I also added the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook logos onto the poster, so viewers could find out more information via social networking sites if they wished to. Social networking sites are a very popular platform to promote films, and networking sites are very popular and widely used by thousands of people each day, so it is an easy way to promote a film to a mass audience.

Summary

Overall, I feel that the combination of both my film review and poster is very effective, as both tasks link to the other in terms of either colour scheme, images and backgrounds.