How effective is the combination of your

main product and ancillary texts?

By Zayn Sattar

The use of ancillary texts or in simpler terms a poster and magazine for any sort of film production are important aspects of advertising as these get the film exposure from potential audience members intentionally or unintentionally. However the effectiveness of this all depends on various factors, for example is the poster capturing and is it something that provokes thought as essentially these texts are like forms of art whereby if people are attracted they will tend to observe what's going on in detail. The magazine cover that has been designed keeps to the norms of the typical “Empire” magazine format in terms of what has been included, for example the title makes it clear to existing and new audience members that this is a certified corporation and the real deal when it comes to reviews and the latest news in the world of media, another thing is the date and magazine edition as this helps collectors keep track of all the releases but even from a barcode which is typically located on the left hand side of a magazine is an important feature as this is what enables purchases to be made and registers with the company what edition was popular and what wasn't so popular affecting the decisions made by Empire in the future. Just from these norms themselves it can be seen how different aspects of a magazine can attract different audience members, from collectors to casual readers so bringing this all together in one magazine can be influential in promoting a new film to a wider base of audience members.

In terms of the combination between the ancillary texts and my media production i feel that before the idea of any sort of ancillary texts even came about i felt that the trailer alone was something which was unique and not so common within the industry so could potentially be something which attracts audience members as this UK influence though is quite niche could be our Unique Selling Point. From this it was quite clear to work out that with the trailer alone it would be difficult to break into the industry as smoky productions is newly established and has no previous filming history so would take a while for audience members to come on board. I still believe the film is something which will be the catalyst in the development of smoky productions but it's just a case of people actually seeing Parallel choices and being aware of our production as this is where the real word about Smoky productions will begin to get out. However This is all going by the trailer alone, with the introduction and use of a visually capturing poster and magazine i think this changes things significantly.

The Magazine (Left) and the Poster (Right) are the Ancillary texts behind our Production.

The benefit of this is through having a newly established company like ours being on the front page of not just any magazine, but Empire, which is referred to as the Bible for film lovers and the biggest movie magazine in the world is something which gives our production slightly more exposure than we had anticipated, reaching out to a global audience. This particular magazine as mentioned briefly before follows the general conventions of any other Empire magazine with the issue number, barcode, date, website, price and overall layout being like that of the others. But compared to all of the past magazines this edition is categorised as “Limited Edition” as specified in the bottom right hand corner showing the importance this edition has. From observing this front cover and comparing it to the past editions that have been released, it's clear to see their is a different feel to the whole magazine and this is capturing for the audience. The film name is clearly displayed in the stem of the magazine on the left and this is clear to see, being in bold black letters on a white background gives it a bit more emphasis from a design perspective and this overall fits in with the whole colour scheme of the magazine. All the information that is included follows the colour scheme of a mellow yellow but yet still stands out whether the main text being written is in white, black or gold.

For the poster a different look altogether has been given with the colour scheme making use of the gray scale. Through various adaptations and play on images this final poster was the result and something which was visually capturing, not keeping to the usual clear ways posters are made. By having the main character with the back towards the audience leaves a mysterious feel as to what is really going on and the blend this has with the layer of a car not only fits in with the main image of the protagonist but gives the audience an insight into what the trailer could potentially consist of capturing the attention of not only those who appreciate automotive masterpieces but anyone who casts their eyes on it. The general tendency of humans will draw us into wanting to find out what it is that is exactly said in the poster, as though the tagline which is displayed horizontally on the edge of the page is distort from a distance, it is something that will draw the attention of the audience in, linking not only the poster, the magazine and most importantly the production together as this along with the film title is something which is shared by all pieces, attaching them all with one another. So overall i feel the use of ancillary texts and has been very beneficial in communicating our main product which is the film “Parallel Choices” through our trailer to the masses that are waiting out there.