BY: SHANIA SUKHU

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination

of your main product and ancillary texts?

Assignment Brief

In our unit G324 our main task which we was assigned was to create a five minute short film.

In addition to this, individually we had to complete an ancillary task where we had to create a film review and film poster in order to promote our short film.

By carrying out these tasks I had to ensure I was aware of the codes and conventions associate with my chosen genre which was a comedy and incorporate them into my ancillary tasks.

How does my poster meet the comedy genre?

The use of bright and bold colours, such as yellow and blue connote happiness which reflects the comedy genre well.

The tagline “There’s a first time for everything” summarises the plot. This links to the main image suggesting the main character may be losing his virginity.

In the image Suki D’s facial expressions are comical. I believe this image successfully presents the comedy genre as the viewer can see Suki D looks surprised/happy about something.

The use of the plain blue background connotes calmness which meets the comedy genre as it reflects the light heartedness of the film and Suki D’s situation.

Suki D is presented wearing nerdy and oversized clothing which suggests he is clumsy and embarrassing, making the poster more humorous.

Fonts used on Poster

For the film title, cast names and release date I used the font Poplar Std. I chose to use this font as I thought it stood out and would catch the viewers attention. Furthermore, I also chose to use this font as the bold font style, in addition to the effects I added to the font, such as a drop shadow, inner glow and bevel and emboss means viewers will be able to easily and clearly ready the text from a distance.

Universal Accreditation was the font style I used for the billing block as I found this was commonly used on film posters. By using this font I was able to ensure the billing block on my poster looked professional. I included a drop shadow and inner glow to the font style in order to make the text stand out amongst the blue background and main image.

I chose to use the font style Adobe Heiti Std for the social media and Big Boy website links as I thought this font was simple and very easy to read. This was important as individuals who view the poster may be interested in finding out more information about the film, meaning the text must be easy to read and understand.

I chose to use a different font for the tagline to make the poster more interesting. I used simple effects such as a drop shadow and outer glow to ensure it stood out.

Image used on Poster

Before

After

For my film poster I had contemplated using an image of both characters, Suki D and Lady Candy; however, I came to the conclusion of only including an image of the main character Suki D to create an enigma when the audience view the poster, leaving them trying to work out the plot of the film through the single image, title and tagline.

I chose to crop the background out of the original image as I wanted to centre the image on the final poster. I also added a drop shadow effect and brightened the image to make it stand out and look striking against the blue background.

The reason I chose to use this specific image was because I believed it is very humorous and represents Suki D as being an amusing and fun character which is expected of characters in comedy films. In the image he is shown with his hands over his male genitals which suggests the plot will be based around a sexual idea; however, it does not give away the plot of the film.

Fonts used on Film Review

For the In Cinemas banner I used the font Myriad Pro and added a drop shadow to it. I wrote this in complete capital letters as I wanted it to stand out to the viewer and inform them that the film is in cinemas and attract them into watching the film.

For the main text containing the actual film review I also used the font Myriad Pro. I chose to use this font as I felt it was very subtle and clear ensuring the reader would not have any problem reading the text which was important as the whole point of a film review is for the reader to read the critiques review.

For the magazine company information, such as the company name, website and page number I used the font Futura as I felt it was simple. I wanted to ensure the font used for this text did not distract the viewer from the main review.

For the film title and tagline I also used the font Myriad Pro and added a drop shadow to the tagline text similarly to the ‘In Cinemas’ text. I chose to use this font as I wanted to use a fairly consistent font style throughout my film review. I also thought this font was clear, very easy for the reader to read and stood out which was very important as this was the information I wanted to stand out most.

Image used on Film Review

The image above was the image I chose to use on my film review. I chose to use this image as it shows both the characters, unlike the poster which only included an image of the main character, Suki D. I chose to use this image as it allows the viewer to develop and idea of the relationship between the two characters. Furthermore, the fact that the audience are unable to clearly see what Lady Candy is looking at in shock creates an enigma; however, by looking at the direction of Lady Candy’s eyes they are able to make a connection between the title ‘Big Boy’ and Suki D’s genitals, therefore suggesting the film is centred around the topic of sex.

Colour Scheme

Before creating my film poster and film review I knew I wanted to ensure I used a consistent colour scheme throughout to ensure my ancillary tasks looked professional and link with one another. I began by researching comedy posters, such as ‘Going the Distance’ and ‘Run, Fatboy, Run’ and found that common colours used were blue and yellow. This is because these colours are bright and bold, therefore connoting happiness, reflecting the light heartedness of the comedy genre. I therefore wanted to include these colours in my ancillary tasks as I wanted to represent the comedy genre well which would have been less successful if I had used dark and dull colours, such as black and grey due to these being depressing and saddening. Furthermore, I chose to use these colours as they are radiant and vivid meaning the posters would stand out to viewers.

Influences

The main influence for my film poster was ‘Walk of Shame’ (2014) which is also a comedy film similarly to ‘Big Boy’. After looking at this film poster I gained my inspiration of using a single image against a plain background. I chose to do this as when I first viewed the Walk of Shame poster I was really drawn into the idea of having one image as the main focus of the poster. However, I did contemplate doing this as I was unsure as to whether the audience would be more interested in seeing a poster with more detail; however, as the Walk of Shame poster was similarly created in 2014 to Big Boy, I felt it would still be relevant and meet the expectations of the modern day posters.

How did the Film Poster and Film Review contribute to my main product?

The ancillary tasks which I had created for my film, ‘Big Boy’ followed the codes and conventions associated with the comedy genre which required a lot of patience and effort as I had to carry out plenty of research on the genre in order to ensure I could incorporate these conventions into my final poster and film review.

Posters are created to help promote films and interest individuals into watching them. I believe I have done this successfully by creating a poster which was captivating and engaging. I had to consider the image I was going to include on the poster, as well as the fonts for the title and tagline as these are the most important features and I had to ensure they were effective and would intrigue individuals into watching our short film, without giving away too much about the film.

By creating a film review for ‘Big Boy’ I was able to give a critical opinion on the short film, in order to inform individuals about the film and help them decide if they are interested in watching it.

Overall, both the film poster and film review help raise awareness about the short film. This contributes to the final product which I have created as it helps promote it and interest individuals into wanting to watch it.

Conclusion

To conclude, I believe the ancillary tasks I have createdwork very well together and help promote the film in apositive way. I think the use of colours, images andtext really appeal to my target audience and intriguethem into wanting to watch the final film.

Overall, I am very content and satisfied with the finalancillary tasks which I have created and strongly

believethe combination of my main product and ancillary taskshas led to the creation of a very successful film.