Tuesday, 22 March 2016

How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

SCRIPT

The genre of all three of my texts is a thriller with the demographic of 18+ this is due to the usage of blood and some foul language and violent scenes used throughout the film itself.

There are common elements used in my three texts such as the characters. The images and footage used on all three texts are of the main characters involved which are effective due to the audience being able to easily recognise them.  I chose to use a mid-shot of Alex who plays Ryan on my magazine and poster due to him being the main protagonist throughout the film. I also included a mid-shot of Glen on my magazine to portray an antagonist character. The images used on both magazine and poster are serious poses from the characters. This is because magazines and posters stereotypically use either an action shot or a still shot for their main image. Thriller posters should give a serious vibe and cold chill which is why the pose of the characters look unwelcoming. 

Following from this, the mid-shots on the poster are black and white which is similar to the flashback scene in the trailer. I also dimmed the extreme close up image of Alex’s eyes which is a still shot from the trailer to show a more dark meaning and low key lighting is a stereotypical convention for a thriller. The fact this image is low key, it can suggest that even though Ryan is an innocent character, he has a dark psychological mind which tricks the audience into thinking whether he is a protagonist or antagonist.

There is a hatred relationship between Ryan and his father Glen. This is seen in the low angle shot of Glen shouting at Ryan during the trailer. This is also portrayed in the poster with the mid-shot image of him and Ryan on different sides of the poster looking serious. This relationship is a narrative I included in my poster. This will attract the audience and intrigue them to want to watch the trailer and film due to wanting to find out why they have a bad relationship and what will happen as the outcome. This is classed as a thriller due to the ‘unknown’ being a stereotypical convention.

I emphasized many film genre conventions such as the low key lighting which can be seen in the trailer towards the end but also the use of dark backgrounds on both my magazine cover and poster. This instantly tells the audience what genre it is due to dark colours being more associated to a thriller/horror rather than a comedy.  I also used professional fonts and colours within all three texts. My research showed me that the main colours used in fonts are red or white with a very dark background colour either black or dark blue. I used synergistic features within my trailer such as the inter-titles which includes a white serif font with an added red shadow behind it. This connotes danger and fear. I also kept the same colour scheme for my poster and magazine with the colours red and white. I kept the title the same for all three texts so the audience will be able to recognise it easily. The title is big and bold due to it being an important part of information; the title is white with a red outline. The title consists of blood splats which connotes death or violence which is similar to ‘The Last House on the Left’ title.

However, I created a tag line but this can only be seen on the poster I created. The tag line is ‘One way out’. With the font Trajan Pro on Photoshop. I kept the text white and added a red drop shadow behind. It would have been effective to use this as an inter-title for my other texts but a tag line is more suitable and stereotypical to be on a poster. The use of the tagline will intrigue the audience and give a thrilling effect which was the main purpose of it.

I used effects on the trailer such as a fade to white to show a memory. I used similar effects on my poster and magazine by using a white glow behind the images. This glow also helped make the images stand out and look more supernatural which is a stereotypical convention. The white glow can also connote innocence which exaggerates Ryan’s character.

There is a link in the institution between two of my texts. For example, the production company is seen on the trailer and poster. This is useful and effective due to the audience knowing what types of films are made. The age certificate is also seen on the trailer and poster. These are stereotypical places to view them. This is effective because it is clear who the main demographic is. Furthermore, the release date is on the poster and trailer and it is bold which makes it eye catchy. This is effective and will give the film views because the audience will know when it is available.
Overall, using the same colour scheme, images, fonts and generic conventions, the combination of my trailer, poster and magazine cover is effective due to it being easily recognisable. Due to the use of technological convergence, the demographic will easily be able to view these products on their phones or tablets due to them being published on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

 
 

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