HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TASK?

By Turiga Kanapathippillai

Assignment Brief

Unit G324 required us to create a short five minute film. Once the film was completed we were also required to create a film poster and a review.

How my poster follows the form of the romance genre

The poster uses three different images. The first image being a close up of ‘Anna’ who is one of the main character. The close up shot shows her facial expressions conveying her emotions to the audience. The facial expression here suggests that Anna is in a deep thought and is gazing at the person she loves. This follows the conventions of a romantic genre as romance usually involves two people who are in a relationship. The second image is of both Tom and Anna. The shot shows them both happy and it gives the audience an insight on what the relationship between the two main characters is like. The last image is of Tom and Anna both staring out at the sea. This image also hints upon the idea of ‘Life is a Journey’ being a romance genre as viewing the scenery together arm in arm is a romantic gesture.

This poster is simple yet effective. It consists of romantic conventions. The colour scheme consists of a dark burgundy colour. This colour represents love yet mystery and danger. This makes the audience question about the narrative within this film. This poster was inspired by ‘Never let me go’ which also follows the same codes and conventions as ‘Life is a Journey’.

How my poster follows the forms of romance film poster: Comparison between a successful film’s poster and my film poster

This is the poster for the film ‘Never let me go’. This film was released on 2010 and it won British Independent Film Award. I loved the layout of the poster and the colour scheme used within it therefore I used this poster to inspire me to create my own poster. I used this poster as a template as I wanted my poster to stand out and be effective just like this poster.

I believe that its a good poster and has played a huge part in the promotion side and I wanted my poster to have the same influence towards our target audience.

How my poster follows the forms of romance film poster: Analysis of Never let me go poster

The title ‘Never let me go’ is in big bold writing. This is to make it stand out against the pictures and the background. It instantly gives the audience the title of the film and an insight to the genre of the film and the narrative. The use of colour for the title is different. It is unique as usually a romance poster will mainly consist of pink.

The poster consist of three different pictures from the film. Each of the picture giving the audience a clue to what the narrative is about. The two close up shots used conveys the emotion and feelings the characters are going through. The second picture of the two main characters clearly shows they are in love and it links in with the title ‘Never let me go’.

One of the other feature I loved about the poster was the use of quotes and reviews. This persuades the audience to watch this film.

How my poster follows the forms of romance film poster: How I used the highlighted areas in my own film poster

I used the same layout to create my poster for my film ‘Life is a journey’. I kept the colour scheme the same as the use of colours was eye catching therefore I decided to keep it the same for my poster.

I decided to keep the title of the font different however for the rest of the text I decided to keep the font the same. I changed the font for the title because I wanted the title to stand out and to capture the audiences attention. The rest of the font I decided to keep it the same because I felt it suits my poster and adds an effectiveness to the poster.

I also changed the layout for the billing block because the original billing block from the professional poster did not suit the poster as much. Also, the layout that I used is unique and made the poster look more professional.

I also liked the fact that on the professional poster it had three different images therefore I decided to include photographs from different scenes within the film. This is to give clues to the audience to what might happen within the film.

Text used in poster

I used variety of fonts within the film poster. For the cast names and the main film title ‘Life is a Journey’ I used Arial Black font. This is a common font to use in a poster. It is a clear and bold font and it makes the text stand out against the rest. Above the cast name I used Tunga font.

For the production company name I decided to use Franklin Gothic font. I wanted to use the same font as ‘based on the best selling novel’ on the professional poster however Franklin Gothic was the closest font I could find. This font is bold and easy to read.

Photoshop has a font specifically to create Billing Block which is called Top Billing. I decided to use this font as it had the style which a Billing Block require. It stands out but not as much as the main title.

For the review section I decided to use different fonts. I used a mixture of Cooper STD, Brittannic Bold and Candara. These fonts are not the usual fonts to be used on a poster however these fonts are one of the reasons why my poster looks professional and eye catching. The combination of all these fonts make it unique.

At the bottom of the page the font used are Myriad Pro and Impact. These font makes the text easy to read however the use of colour does not make it stand out as much as the other text.

The Film Review

I wanted to create an informative yet simple film review. The film review took me longer to create as I couldn’t decide on the layout. There was more drafts created for the film review than for the film poster.

In order for my film review to come across as simple, I had to use basic colours. I decided to use black and red as my two main colours. I believe that red and black are a good combination. I used black because it is clear and it makes it easy for the users to read the text. Red symbolises romance.

Film Review

I added a ‘Closer look’ section which gives the audience information about the overall filming and film, which they would not know about.

I have also included a page title to let the audience know about what this article is about.

I have also included a star rating system to give the users an indication on how good the film is.

Another feature which I have added onto my film review is a footer. I’ve added the production company name, page number and the website of our company.

Fonts used for review

The fonts I have used on my film review is different to the fonts on my poster. I have used variety of fonts on my film review to separate the different information. The font I used for the title of the page is Lucida Sans.

I decided to use Rockwell font for the film title. This font stands out against the rest as it is bold. The audience are able to identify that ‘Life is a Journey’ is the film title. I decided to use HiraMaruPro as the font for the tag line as I thought it went well against the Rockwell font.

The font I used for the main text is Kozuka Gothic Pr6N. It is a different font from the rest but it stands out and is very easy to read. For the main sub title I decided to use a red bold StoneSansOSITCTTBold font.

The font I used for the footer is a mixture of Krungthep and Myriad Pro. Both of these fonts are similar to the font used in the professional film review.

Images used within the review

I only used one picture for my film review as I felt like this picture represents the film very well. The image used here is different to the once on my film poster.

On both of these images, Anna and Tom being the two main characters are both wearing casual clothing. This is because we wanted to convey to the audience that Tom and Anna are just normal characters that are going through problems that a relationship would. We want our target audience to relate to either one of these characters.

Images used within the Review

I used variety of images within the film poster and review, this is convey the different emotions.

On the film review, the image included portrays a happy loved up couple. In contrast, the poster consists of a close up image of Anna face. The eyes look sad and she has stopped herself from smiling. This gives an indication to the audience that a problem has occurred within her relationship.

Using the internet to promote

I made sure I either included the website address or the link for the social media site either on the film poster or review.

On my film review I included the production company name and the website. This is to give the review a more professional look.

On the film poster, I included the social networking sites link and the release date. Adding both of these information is commonly used within professional posters so therefore I included it on mine.

I decided to put the social networking sites on the film poster because posters are used everywhere and not just in a magazine. This means that if someone sees it in a shop they can quickly search about the film via the social networking sites. Film review are usually only seen in a magazine.

How the poster and film review contribute to my film

Film companies use film posters to help advertise their film. They do this by using big bold text and images to make it more appealing and to grab their target audiences attention. Posters are a good way of advertising through word of mouth. Once the public are attached to the poster, they could market the film by telling their friends and family about the film.

The film review is mainly targeted at the audience who seem interested in the film but want more information about the film. It summarises the film so they have more information to make them interested in the film. It helps them decide on whether to watch the film or not.

Creating a film review and film poster can help advertise and market the film which reaches out to a wider audience. Both of these marketing materials played a huge part in my film as they both gave more information but also kept the narrative of ‘Life is a Journey’ as a mystery making the audience more eager to watch the film.

Conclusion

Both the ancillary tasks played a huge part and work well together. They both convey a different purpose, the poster advertising the film and the film review giving the audience more detail about the film that the audience may not know about. Both the film review and poster is simple but unique. The structure is both clear and they both meet their purpose however I do believe that some elements should have been kept the same to link them together such as the colour scheme or the font style used.