Evaluation Question 2: How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Your Ancillary Text?

I have created a theatrical trailer, poster and magazine cover that all work in synergy to promote the campaign for a film called ‘Ever After’. Because all three products contribute to the campaign of the film they all needed to link together to create an insight into the film and to make the promotion of the film recognisable.

My three products are linked through the font I have used. The same font is used through the intertitles of my trailer, in parts of the magazine that features the film and on the poster. The font that I used fitted the genre of a romantic drama and so was used to make the campaign memorable to the audience. Both my trailer and poster include details about the film which then links them together by featuring  social media links and release dates, this makes the campaign more professional as it uses conventions of real media texts.

I have tried to create a similar colour scheme between all three of my products, which is a yellowy tint that links them. This is shown in a few shots of my trailer where I used the colour correction controls and the colour temperature slider to change the colour of the footage. When deciding what design I wanted to use for my poster, I looked at which one would relate well to my film but also what one I could link by colour to my trailer. Therefore I decided to use my first design of the female alone in a street with a streetlamp lighting up the photo, I then found a location with bright street lamps that would create the yellowy hint I wanted my poster to have. I again subtly used the colour yellow in my magazine cover as I still needed it to look like a professional magazine and follow the layout for sight and sound magazine. Because of this I only changed the colour of the bullet points at the bottom of the magazine to yellow, this still links to my other products but then followed the conventions of a typical magazine.

For my trailer, poster and magazine cover I have included key images that helps the audience understand the narrative but also links all three products together in the marketing campaign. I have used many clips in my trailer of the main female alone, this is done to help the audience follow the characters separately as both act differently when apart. It also helps the audience recognise the emotions on the characters faces that I was trying to convey. For my poster image I use a similar theme as the girl is alone in the street looking at the camera, this then creates enigma codes around that character as the audience start questioning why is by herself and also makes the audience feel more connected with the character as she is directly looking at them. By using this image I have linked my poster and trailer together with the same kind of shots running through my trailer as my poster image. My poster is a theatrical poster as I wanted the audience to have as much information about the film as possible but leaving the rest of the narrative a mystery. This is because the film is an independent film and so by giving the audience a bit more information about the film such as actors, producers and social media links, this might encourage more people to look into the film more and then finally watch it once it’s been released. Again for my magazine cover the female actress is by herself although looking off to the side of the camera, suggesting to the audience that there may be a reason as to why she is always alone but then only hinting as to why in the trailer, this then makes the audience want to watch the whole film to find out more about the narrative. All three of my products link through key images of loneliness and uncertainty.

The marketing campaign for the film is successful through its use of representation of characters throughout the trailer, poster and magazine cover. When watching the trailer, the audience will be able to see the gradual change in each character as the narrative progresses, this gives a better insight into what the audience can expect from both the characters and the narrative when watching the full film.  The characters then use the conventions from a romantic drama film as they are both individuals who encounter a problem which is a common narrative between romantic drama films. My poster represents the female actor similarly to how she appears in the end of the trailer, alone and with a blank expression on her face, suggesting that there may be a deeper meaning as to why she is alone because of the way she is looking directly at the camera.  This doesn’t tell the audience much of the story but leaves them wanting to know more about what’s going on in her life. Because my trailer and poster represent the female similarly it is clear to the audience the type of character they are going to see throughout the film. She is represented similarly to teenagers in real life as this make the audience engage with the character as she is relatable. However my magazine represents the actor in a different light, this is because it isn’t a snapshot of my film or part of my film and so had to follow the conventions of a magazine cover. The magazine features the ‘Ever After’ interview and so the actor needs to be dressed and styled appropriately for that kind of article and to appear on the front cover. Even though my magazine is the most different part to the campaign, I have included certain aspects so that the audience will still be able to recognise that it’s for the same campaign. For example, for the central image on the magazine cover I had her wear dark eye makeup which can be noticed in parts of the trailer.

Evauation Question 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

I have created a theatrical trailer, poster and magazine cover for a film called ‘Ever After’. The film is a romantic drama genre and is an independent film, because of this it does not follow mainstream trailer conventions such as using the names of the directors and makers of the film who are well known which will attract a larger audience. Romantic drama films typically appeal to females rather than males as they’re stereotypically more emotional and would relate to a narrative that displays the tension between a male and a female characters. This would perhaps allow the female audience to identify with the female character. Taking inspiration from the film ‘Gone Girl’ for the narrative of my trailer, as it was a film that was very successful and so I wanted to create a similar storyline to ensure the success of my film.

The characters I have used follow romantic drama genre conventions as I have an attractive female that appeals to the male audience but also who comes across emotional which follows the stereotypical traits of a woman. I did this to make the character easily identifiable to the audience, this kind of character can be seen films such as ‘Girl on the train’. The two main characters are introduced in a bed together asleep to show that there is a relationship between them and the next few shots emphasises this through mid-shots of the two characters in a bath. For the introduction of the characters and titles that appear with them I took inspiration from the film ‘Cherrybomb’ as I liked the way the letters appeared separately instead of the whole word appearing at once, for my film I used an effect which did the same thing as I thought that this again created the calming atmosphere I was trying to create at the exposition part of the trailer. I put the titles at the bottom left of the screen as it doesn’t take away the focus of the introduction of the characters.

From looking at different romantic drama films such as ‘Cherrybomb’ and ‘Submarine’, I found that the most common camera shots used were close ups. They are used to show the audience the characters emotions to explain each decision made by the character. I used close ups when the two characters are arguing so that the audience can see the emotion on their faces without having the rest of the setting to be distracted by, and to also draw attention to the words that they are saying and the tone of voice they use. Films such as ‘It’s kind of a funny story’ used close ups to focus on the emotions of the characters and the words they are saying. Close ups also show important features of the film to try and help the storyline continue, I have used this when trying to create the calming atmosphere to set the scene and give an insight to the atmosphere of the film at the beginning of the trailer. I used a close up of the lights and the dream catcher to set the scene and give an insight to the atmosphere of the film. Film trailers such as submarine use this when emphasising items that help create the tone of the trailer.

They also generally use a lot of over the shoulder shots, this makes the audience feel like they are looking at a scene they are not part of or shouldn’t be looking at. I used this when the male character is looking at the missing poster.

Slow music is generically used for a romantic film and a more upbeat sound track is used for a drama film. I used a mix of both so that when the tone of the film changed the music altered to emphasise the change in atmosphere which will help the audience understand the storyline easier.  This then created tension and made clear to the audience that this is the turning point in the trailer and relationship of the characters.

When planning the costumes and makeup for my characters I took inspiration from the film fish tank, I think that some of the costumes in the trailer represent teenagers in real life and so wanted to dress the characters in my trailer similarly. For example a lot of the girls in fish tank are wearing tight vest tops and so in the last scene of ‘Ever After’ the female is dressed alike. They also have the girls wearing dark eye makeup so in most of my trailer I have the female character wearing dark eye makeup.

From looking at other film trailers I have had to look into the types of institution I will need for an independent film. Film such as Fish tank Trainspotting and Submarine are all produced by film 4 productions, I then chose to use Film 4 as the main institution for my film trailer because I took inspiration from these films and they have produced films that are similar to mine.

When planning the ending of my trailer I looked at how other trailers have created mystery and enigma codes to leave the audience wanting more. The ending of my trailer is mostly inspired by the trailer for ‘Fish Tank’ this is because it becomes very fast past but then leaves the audience wondering what happens to the character next and leaves them wanting to watch the film to find out the answers. I tried to create a similar ending which then leaves the audience wanting to know more about what happens to the characters next, like where did she go and did he found her.

When creating my poster I came up with three different designs that I thought related to my film appropriately. I took inspiration from the film posters of the perks of being a wallflower, winters bone and blue is the warmest colour. I tried to make my designs as similar to these posters as possible so that mine had all the correct features of a real film poster. I decided to go with my first design as it showed the girl alone in the street which is a good representation of my film. I blurred the right side of the poster so that the main focus what the girl on the left and so that I could add text and information about the film without it looking too cluttered. Most mainstream film posters are portrait so I went against the generic poster design and created a horizontal poster to attract a larger audience because it looks different than a blockbuster film poster. I then followed a similar layout to the winters bone poster as mine also had the character to one side of the poster being the main focus with all text to one side. The winters bone poster has the name of the film in larger text with the reviews and details of the film in a smaller size. I then also made the text on my poster different sizes so that the name grabs the audience’s attention first followed by the smaller details. I took my inspiration for my colour scheme from the film poster of Blue is the warmest colour, in the poster they have used mostly dull colours with only one brighter colour. I have made my poster quite dark and dull as it corresponds with my trailer which has many shots from dark locations. The colour I have used in my poster is a yellow that is featured in both my trailer, magazine cover and poster, linking them all together. I added a yellowy tone to the photo as it could suggest a deeper meaning because yellow symbolises happiness but in the trailer the female character comes across as upset and depressing.

I looked at the film poster from ‘Perks of being a wallflower’ and noticed that a film poster needed the release date, social media links and a billing address. I then created a social media link for twitter and Facebook for the film and put it on both my poster and the end title for my trailer. My poster is different to the Perks of being a wallflower poster as they have used well-known actors and so have their names right at the top of the poster, because my actors aren’t well known I decided to put their names into the billing address.

All the research I made really helped create a professional looking poster.

This was my first design of an Empire magazine cover I was going to create, however when putting together my first draft of my trailer I began to rethink what magazine my film would appear in. I then gathered audience feedback from a focus group who then suggested I go for a different magazine like Sight and sound or little white lies. I then decided to change the magazine to sight and sound magazine as empire magazine features more Hollywood films so I had to find a magazine that shows independent films. After I decided to change magazine I then had a look at more covers from sight and sound magazine. I took inspiration from these three magazine covers, a common feature from all three is that the centre image is a close up of an actor and so I took some photos of the main female from my film that I could use as my central image. In these two magazine covers the actors on the front are not looking directly at the camera, because of this I decided to use this photo as the main image for my magazine. I then zoomed in on the image and got rid of the blank space around the character.  Sight and sound magazine have a similar layout for their covers and so I recreated this by having the title of the magazine across the top and over the forehead of the actress, this got rid of any blank space in that area and made the magazine more alike to the others produced by Sight and sound. I then made the name Alba Vellozo bigger than the rest of the text at the bottom so that it grabs the audience’s attention and follows the design of sight and sound magazine.  The text ‘The ever after interview’ is written in the same font that is used in the poster and in the trailer through intertitles, this helps create a strong brand image that would make the campaign more recognisable.