eval question by katiebethjesstrotter on emaze

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

Introduction

The brief for my a2 media studies were as follows:

Create a promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the film

• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film

• a poster for the film

Because of this, i chose to do the film trailer with the magazine front cover and the poster, as i was more confident with using creative software to design things as opposed to website design. All of my products were made in the horror genre for my original film "Shadows".

Film Poster

The first product i started was the film poster for my horror film "Shadows". After researching a selection of existing film posters (shown previously on my blog), i learnt a lot about the conventions of a film poster (more specifically, a horror film poster), therefore was able to apply them to my work in order to make it look as successful and creative as possible. On the next slide i will break down the different conventions within my poster in order to analyze how effective everything turned out.

The title of the film is shown towards the bottom of the poster. Not only is it the most important of all the essential information that goes onto the poster, the fact its at the bottom of the page relates to a lot of existing film posters; the title is very rarely shown at the top of the page.

I included a tagline at the top of the poster which reads 'Running Cant Save You'. I think this is a really effective tagline as it makes the audience/reader feel trapped, similar to the girl within my film.

The main image is shown in the center of the poster. The model is shown looking directly at the camera, giving her a direct mode of address. This relates to the conventions of existing products because the main image is always in the center of attention, as it needs to be the main focal point of the poster in order to draw full attention.

In order to make my product look like a legit movie poster, i have included a billing block at the bottom. I created this myself therefore it includes the director/producers name etc (myself) alone with any addition information that needed to be included.

Underneath the sell-line, i included the actresses names. This is don't in existing products as the poster designers would use celebrity endorsement in order to draw in more viewers to see the film.

The colour scheme i used was black, white and red. The black connotes darkness and mystery, which fits in well with my genre. Red connotes death and blood, and is used within the main image to show that theres an element of danger within her character. I chose white text as it would stand out well against the dark toned background; making it as easy as possible to read.

Overall i am very happy with the outcome of my final film poster, and it is my favorite out of all the products i created. I really like the colour scheme used, as it connotes and relates a lot to my chosen genre (horror). I think the main image is rather simple, however i think it adds to the impression of mystery and suspense. Overall i think this poster is very effective and in my opinion it could pass as a credible, existing movie poster.

Magazine cover

The next task i worked on was my magazine front cover. I wanted to create a film poster which not only advertised my film, but also advertised others, as well as extra sell lines etc. I water to follow all the conventions of existing media products, therefore i researched the likes of Total Film and Empire magazine. The following slide is once again going to break down my work, in order to show what conventions i have used and how effective they turned out to be.

The main image is shown in the center of the magazine. The model is shown looking directly at the camera, giving her a direct mode of address. This relates to the conventions of existing products because the main image is always in the center of attention, as it needs to be the main focal point of the poster in order to draw full attention. I have also used the main image to cover up part of the masthead, as existing products do this as a sign that the magazine is well established.

I have added the masthead on the top of the page in order to show readers what the magazine is called. it is partially covered up by the main image as this shows readers that the magazine is well established.

I have added sell lines down the left hand side of the page in order to advertise other films and interviews etc. This gives the readers a glimpse of what is shown inside the magazine and sell lines are a big part of exiting products, therefore i think it was essential that i added them.

Ive added a puff to the top of the magazine that shows there is a Free CD included within the magazine. This technique is used within existing magazines as it entices people into buying the magazine via freebies.

Ive added essential information such as the price, date, barcode and website. All of these are vital in magazine front covers as it gives the viewers all the information they would need if they were wanting to buy it.

I think the final outcome of my magazine cover is very effective as it includes all the basic conventions of existing covers that i have previously researched. It includes all the essential information needed for people to buy it, therefore i think it has the potential to be sold in shops/at the cinema if it were a real product.

Film Trailer

My film trailer was the main task that i created, therefore i had to do a lot of research on existing trailers. After doing this research, i also got some target audience feedback by finding out what they like and dislike about film trailers. From my research and feedback combined, i managed to make a film trailer that was 2+ minutes long (as my audience prefer long trailer as opposed to 30 second teasers), i made it influential and make people want to see the film (as thats what my target audience said was most important) and i created a range of shots that all worked together in order to make a rather fluent and successful film trailer. I added some cop-right free music over the top of my clips in order to take away the unprofessional sounds from the original film clips.

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