EVALUATION QUESTION TWO: HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE

COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND THE ANCILLARY TEXTS

OUR MAIN PRODUCT: Before we started to create our film, we completed some pre production tasks including; researching into our genre, and planning our film e.g. writing the storyline etc. We researched the conventions of psychological thrillers, as we wanted to find out the codes and conventions that are used in psychological thrillers to draw in the attention of the audience as well as to shock them. We wanted to use the codes and conventions of psychological thrillers to help build both tension and suspense to our audience e.g. we used silhouettes and shadows/ darkness to build tension in some of our scenes making the audience feel more anxious to find out the enigma of the film (who the person is behind the mask/ how is the silhouette). However we wanted to make it clear in our film that ‘Jane’ (one of Deb’s friends) had left, and wasn’t present during the art storage scene. This would be a major clue for the audience, as Jane would be seen as the main suspect in the plot.

MAKING ANCILLARY TEXTS: Ancillary texts are crucial in the process of making a film. Ancillary texts are used to effectively advertise and promote media products through a variety of media platforms. Even though there are a range of different media platforms we decided to create a poster and a radio trailer to promote our film. We decided to create both a poster and a radio trailer, as we wanted to promote our film with a visual and an auditory way. Creating our ancillary texts was fairly easy, as we all knew exactly what we wanted from this film. This is because we were all clear on our chosen genre the coders and conventions we had to incorporate in order for our film to work properly. We wanted our ancillary. We wanted our ancillary texts to create suspense and to shock our audience, therefore we didn’t want to give away too much of the storyline and plot of our media text, so that our audience would still have the shock factor when they saw the film.

RADIO TRAILERS:

Radio trailers are one of the oldest forms of advertisement and are still a relevant form of advertising in modern society. However it has been found that the majority of radio stations within the UK are owned by the BBC, as the BBC receive most of their funding from TV license's paid by the public, so they don’t advertise anything other than their products. Whereas other radio station receive funds from companies in return for advertisement. Radio trailers include audio/ dialogue clips from the film, these clip would give the audience a quick insight on what the film is about without giving the full plot away, but would still make the audience feel interested in the product. Radio advertisements are an effective way of advertising as the audience would be able to hear it in the shops, in their car, in the comfort of their own home, or maybe in a educational environment such as a school college or university.

RADIO TRAILER RESEARCH: Radio trailers are relatively hard to find on the internet, as the best way to hear a radio trailer is directly from a radio/ radio station, however I managed to find a radio trailer for ‘The Book of Eli’. From listening to this, as well as listening to trailers that have been aired on the radio directly, I was able to pick up some common conventions of radio trailers, as well as how they are used to draw in an audience. One of the common things I found about radio trailers, is they often include clips from the film, such as sound effects, and quotes that make the film sound interesting and appealing to the audience. Radio trailers also often have voice overs that give information on the film, and promote it e.g. The Book of Eli had a quote saying “absolute must see” this would convince the audience that this is a good film to watch. They also include information on when and where the film can be viewed, so the audience would know exactly where to go to view the film. For our film trailer we wanted to stick to these common conventions, so we used a sound clip of the dialogue used in the knockout scene for Deb, when she is reunited with Tina. We thought this would be a good clip to put into our film, as it will give the audience a quick insight in the more action filled parts of our film. It would also draw our audience in as they would want to know exactly what happened. We also thought this would be a good clip to use, as it gives the audience the chance to identify the protagonist in our film, before they watch it. We also stuck to common conventions of radio trailers, as we stated the release date of our film, and where it can be viewed. Also we wanted to make sure that we still incorporated the genre of our film within our trailer, so we decided to do this by adding ‘eerie’ music to our trailer so that tension could be built within our film so the audience would be more drawn in to our film. Also eerie music is a common convention used in psychological thrillers to make the audience feel ‘on edge’ and well as to connote to the audience that something is quite right in the film, making the audience want to keep watching.

FILM POSTER: Before we planned our group film poster, we researched psychological thriller posters to see the common codes and conventions so that we could try and incorporate them into our film poster, we also created our own individual film posters and grouped together to see which elements of our posters were effective and which ones weren’t. When planning for our film poster we wanted to make sure that we covered every element of the poster e.g. fonts, font sizes, colours we wanted to use on the poster e.g. the background colour, and whether our ideas stuck to the common conventions and codes that we had found. We wanted our film poster to be as effective as possible as film posters are a good way of advertising a media product, this is because they can be put up in a variety of locations in a range of different sizes e.g. on a billboard, on a bus, up at a cinema etc. therefore they would always be in the sight of the public. So because posters are put up in a range of different places it is likely that they will attract a large audience, as more of the public would be able to see the.

Example of how film posterscan be shown in a wide range of locations

POSTER EXAMPLE: When planning for our groups film poster I researched psychological film posters so I used IMDb to look through psychological thriller posters so I could pick out common codes and conventions that we could use to engage the audience. I found that most of the posters for psychological thrillers either have the antagonist or protagonist as a main focus for the poster. Also some posters such as Paranormal Activity have stills from the film as a main focus, therefore most posters created for psychological thrillers give the audience a quick brief insight on what the film will be like. Therefore I wanted to incorporate either the protagonist or antagonist as the main feature of our poster, this way the audience would have a quick, brief look of the tone/ storyline of our film. I also noticed that the majority of psychological thriller posters incorporate dark colours e.g. have black backgrounds and a red font, therefore I wanted to incorporate these colours in our poster.

MAKING OUR FINAL POSTER:

After we all created our own individual posters we came together to create our final film poster. For our film poster we wanted to use a still from our film of our protagonist (Deb) running through the corridor. We liked this still as the light from the camera flash in this still helps separate the darkness and lightness of the frame nicely, so the main focus is on the protagonist (Deb). We took some inspiration from Film Noir as we were inspired by the colour scheme of the film, as we liked how it made the film appear moodier, and as if something bad was going to happen so we decided to use this on our poster.

(Film Noir)

ANNOTATION OF OUR FILM POSTER:

We took some inspiration from Film Noir for our poster, as we liked how the black and white theme made our poster look mysterious, andthis ties in with our film as our film has the main mystery (enigma) of who is the person behind themask. We also like the black and white theme on ourposter, as it creates a shadow effect and this is a common convention used in psychological thrillers, Therefore we kept true to our chosen genre.

We decided to use a red font for the title and release date for our film as we wanted it to stand out from the rest of the poster, as we wanted these key pieces of information to stick in the audiences mind. This is why the rest of the information is in white e.g. the film review social networking links etc. as the red will attract the eyeof the audience so they will want to read more, and because the rest of the information is in another colour itis more likely to stick in the audiences mind. Also anotherreason we wanted to use a red font is because red is a common colour used on psychological thriller film posters.

We also used a red font as red is often used to connote danger to an audience as it is sometimesused to symbolise blood as well as death. Therefore The audience would be able to figure out somethingand will happen in the film.

We also included a review and star rating for our film as we wanted to show that our film had been supported by trusted sources, this would make the audience trust these review and make them want to watch the film. We also wanted to add reviews as they are a common feature on film posters.

We added an age rating for our film as we wanted to make theaudience aware that there is an age restriction on our film, thisway they would be aware on whether or not they would be ableto view our film. Also age ratings are a common feature on filmposters.

We added social network links to the bottom of our film posteras we wanted our audience to be aware of where they couldget reviews and information about the film from other audiencemembers. We also wanted to incorporate these into our film poster to help promote our film, also social network links are a common feature on film posters.

We also added the release date on our poster so our audiencewould be able to see when the are able to view the film.

We also liked the idea of using this still from our film for ourposter as because the light is reflecting off the doors the audience would be able to see they’re shut, this gives the ideathe idea that ‘deb’ the protagonist in out poster is trapped. Therefore our poster links well with our film as there is a scene where Deb becomes trapped by the antagonist. So, our film poster links well with our film.

SIMILARITIES IN OUR FILM POSTER TO EXISTING FILM POSTERS:When we created our film poster we wanted to make sure that we kept to the typical conventions and codes used in psychological thriller posters, as we wanted to stay true to our genre. We did this by putting the following features on our poster:

We placed the steel tongs on the bottom of our poster, as this is a common place to put steel tongs, however some psychological thriller posters such as ‘The Butterfly Effect’ have their steel tongs in different places e.g. around the corners of the poster. Steel tongs are a typical feature to include on a film poster therefore we felt it was crucial to include these on our film poster.

We also followed conventions on the title of our film on our poster, as we wanted to make sure that it stood out against the rest of our poster, therefore we used a red font. This helped our film title stand out against the black and white background, as well as the rest of the font as we only used red font for the film title and release date. Also red is a common colour used on psychological film posters, as it symbolises death, blood and violence.

We also stuck to common colours for psychological thriller posters as we use mainly black and white to create a shadow effect, which is also another convention of psychological thrillers. We also took some inspiration from ‘Film Noir’ as we liked the moody feel the colour scheme create, so we wanted to use this in our film poster.

POSTER EVALUATION:

After looking at a range of different psychological thriller posters, and their features, conventions and codes, I believe that our group has created an effective poster. I believe that we stuck well to the common conventions and features of psychological thriller as we used a black and white theme with our poster to create a shadow effect on the film still we used in our poster. Black and white are both common colours in psychological thrillers as they can be used to symbolise both bad and good, black can also be used to symbolised death. Also shadows are a common convention used in psychological thriller posters, as they help create tension and interest to the audience, as they would want to find out what the enigma in the shadows is. Also the still from the film that we chose to put onto our film poster show the protagonist of our film running, this would interest our audience as they would see the still and want to find out what she is running from, and also because she is running in a low lit environment an eerie tone is set in our poster, which would be expected of a psychological thriller poster. Therefore our poster would appeal mainly to audience members that like the psychological thriller genre. Also because we have used a still from our film in our poster we have given the audience a quick insight of our film, so they would be able to pick up on the tone of the film, so by looking at the poster they would be able to see whether or not this would be a film that would interest them. Also some of features of our film could be picked up by audience members that have seen the film would be able to pick up on e.g. the font that we have chosen for our film title kind of look like charcoal that has been smudged out a little, this can be linked to the first scene in the art room when ‘Jane’ snaps her charcoal, leading into the plot of the film. Therefore overall I believe that we have created an effective film poster as it incorporates common conventions and features of psychological thriller posters, and also captures the attention the audience, making them create an interest in our film as well as encouraging them to go see it.

CREATING OUR RADIO TRAILER: Our radio trailer was created using iMovie as it has a voice recording system that allows you to record from the speaker directly to the computer, we used this program as we wanted our trailer to sound as realistic as possible. Our radio trailer is comprised of a scripted voice over, and specially selected clips of audio from our film. Our radio trailer was specially designed to last within a 30 second time frame. Our trailer was started off by creating a 30 second blank space as a base for a trailer, this was done to make sure that our trailer didn’t run over for too long, as most film trailers last around 30 seconds. The audio clips were from our film were selected and dragged from the film into iMovie were ‘audio only’ was selected, so that the clips could be converted into an editable audio file that could be changed so it would fit properly in the sections of our trailer timeline. This process was then repeated for each individual audio clip, making sure that spaces had been created for our voice over narrator clips. The narrator clips were recorded in a small quiet room to make sure we didn’t have any background sounds or disturbance of any kind. Once all of the narrator clips were recorded and fitted properly into the 30 second time sequence, special effects could be added to make our trailer sound more interesting to the audience. The sound effects used were taken from iLife sound effects, these sound effects were used to make the trailer sound more lifelike and also to create tension to the audience listening, making them want to watch our film. The back track for our trailer was then added. The score selected starts at a slow pace, but increases as the audio clips become more intense. This adds to the sense/ themes that are often created for psychological thrillers, therefore by listening to the trailer the audience would be made aware of the genre of our film. All of the audio clips were then adjusted slightly so they fitted in time with our selected score. After this our trailer was then exported.

FEEDBACK:

For our feedback we asked a couple of our classmates what they thought our film poster and radio trailer and we received verbal feedback. The majority of the feedback we received for our trailer was positive as one classmate said that our radio trailer “sounded very realistic and true to our genre as the sound effects help create an eerie insight of our film”, another classmate said that “the soundtrack we selected helps create tension, and works well with the audio clips selected from the film”. The feedback we received for our poster was mainly positive too as one respondent stated that our poster “looks like a real life psychological thriller poster”. Another respondent said they liked how the main focus was on the “silhouette” as it created a “mysterious affect on the poster” and “made the audience want to see the film as they would want to find out why the girl in the poster is running”. From this feedback we can conclude that our ancillary texts were effective, as they caught the attention of the audience and also help create and eerie atmosphere for the audience. Therefore we were able to achieve reactions from the audience that would reflect the genre of our film.

CONCLUSION:

Therefore to conclude I believe that the ancillary texts created by our group are effective in their purpose of promoting out media product. I feel that our ancillary text well represent our film as they capture that eerie atmosphere that we want to capture within our film. All together our ancillary texts show that the effort we put into our film was always at a constant as there were no texts at a lower value than the other, therefore equal effort was put into each text, including our film. I believe that our ancillary texts as a whole were extremely effective as they gave a decent amount of information about our film, without giving away the full plot. Therefore I think that our ancillary texts complement our film well as they give just the right amount of information and insight to engage and interest the audience to make them want to watch the film.