How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary

texts?

By Jordan Cella

Final Product

Our documentary was based upon the theme of remembrance, which was connoted through the use of poppies and the title; ‘The Forgotten Memory’.

In order to maintain the theme of war and to ensure that the audience were aware of this being the focus, various iconic items and images were used repeatedly. For example, the use of the poppy.

Final Product

Between the print works and the actual documentary, there aren't many links. This is due to only the first five minutes of the documentary being filmed. Had we needed to lengthen the production, there would be an increase in the amount of iconography. For example, there may be use of the gun and the link between medals/necklaces gained through war.

The main links are between both print works and how they relate to one another, as well as the documentary.

Print WorkDouble page spread

Print WorkNewspaper advertisement

Print WorkFor the print work, I researched documentaries which were similar to that of our own, this enabled me to recognise iconography of war documentaries and how they had been commonly promoted.

Through this we were able to focus our work and ensure that our target market were the central focal point. It also helped us to know what sorts of costume and lighting, etc would be used, helping us to enhance and embrace as much professionalism as possible. It also helped us understand the mise en scéne of the documentary, and what we needed to do to be in keeping with the style of our chosen channel; BBC One. When researching about BBC One, we discovered that Radio Times, their magazine, heavily promoted television programmes or radio shows that were being aired and created by the BBC. This was one our main reasons behind our ancillary texts being focused upon Radio Times’ specifications.

The use of a repertoire of elements was extremely helpful as it enabled us ensure that all of our work was interlinking with one another through iconography and stock elements, such as setting and characters. It also made sure that our mise en scéne was consistent and reflective of our war focus.

Research

ResearchTo convey our research we used a repertoire of elements grid. This was a useful tool as it meant all of our key influential material was in one place, and that we were able to cross compare things at the same time. By doing this we could ensure that everything was interlinked with one another and that the mise en scéne requirements were met.

The point of the exercise was to make ourselves aware of the basic codes and conventions of a war documentary. These were then stretched or completely ignored when we created our own, however we found that most of the things that we did within our five minute documentary extract were to the guidelines set out by the repertoire of elements. We did not want to create a generic war documentary, however felt that using the repertoire of elements correctly and as a stimulus, we were able to create the best text possible.

Research

This was my original idea for the layout of the poster. I completed this within the research time so that we were able to have something to look back at and as a template. Originally I had planned for this to advertise our documentary, and was to have all of the information (time and date of airing) just below the image of the poppy.

The Forgotten Memory

BBC One

War scenery/Veterans

Poppy(In

Foreground)

Time/Date

Research

Within our finished product there is high quality photography, taken by Matt, which demonstrates and clearly connotes the theme of war through the gun, bullet and the chain. However, the poster does not detail the airing time of the programme as originally planned, nor does it convey our main theme and stimulus of remembrance which was originally to be shown through the poppy. Through the lack of this, the poster does not advertise our documentary and simply connotes the documentaries theme.

The Forgotten Memory

BBC One

War scenery/Veterans

Poppy(In

Foreground)

Time/Date

This is a comparison of the layout that I created and our finished product.

Radio Times

When researching later on, I was able to find a website known as Specle, which contained all of the measurements and specifications of a double page spread for the magazine.

Radio Times Double Page SpreadI also searched for images of other double page spreads which had appeared in the magazine. This was so we could remain as true to the original identity of the magazine as possible.

Similarities between both are:•The use of one image, which takes up the whole of the two pages. This was used to connote to the receiver the main focal and importance of the article, in the original example this would be the band The Vaccines.•Large font for the title. I was able to discover that Radio Times varied its font from article to article. For example, the lettering used for the font of the original, is the bands branding. •There is a subtraction of bright colours such as oranges and pinks in both of these DPS’s, however they both have one colour which is brighter and stands out in comparison to the dull darkened colours of the rest of the text.

Newspaper Advertisement

For the newspaper advertisement we used our research which had been gathered from Radio Times. This was to help us decide on the dimensions and the layout of the main advertisement. As a group we chose to have one main image, and only use simple lettering. This is because we had rarely seen posters or advertisements similar for any BBC programmes, creating a bit of an issue for us when it came to creating the poster. Eventually we were able to find some poster designs which helped for our idea to become a reality.

Advertisement To research newspaper advertisements I found images of similar ads, these were to help us compare and make decisions which suit the existent advertising materials.

Similarities between both pieces of advertising:•They both have the logo of the specific BBC channel that they are going to be aired on•On the existent advertisement there is a tag line, on our one there is the title of the programme. Although these are different, the programme in the original may be more well known and therefore does not need to be shown explicitly, unlike our own new documentary•Although the advertisement which I have got for BBC is of the channel, it still has similarities with that of our advertisement, neither declare times of viewings. For our advertisement this is a downfall as we should be promoting and without this information, the promotion is not completed correctly.

To ensure that all of our work links together and compliments one another we have tried to remain consistent with photography and the articles present.

DPS

The article details the an overview of the documentary and the main subtext. This was to be presented in The Radio Times magazine as a part of the promotion process. We certified that the poppy was the focal point, as

it helps to promote the key and main focus of our documentary, Remembrance and Remembrance day. This helped remain consistent with both the theme and the shots of poppies being washed upon the shore in the opening of our documentary extract.

To link the DPS and the newspaper advertisement, the same metal objects were used, just photographed at different angles and with different lighting. In both, there is the inclusion of a metal lighter, bullet, gun and necklace. These objects all portray war imagery and link to the theme.

Points where the poppy appears in the documentary, are screen grabbed here, so that the links can be made

Relation Between Print Work and Final Product

Within both pieces there is a clear link through the use of iconography; the main piece being the poppy. In the documentary, within the first few seconds, audience members see a poppy which is washed upon the shore. This creates connotations and links to the theme of remembrance, the main theme of the documentary. In the DPS we made sure to include the poppy, which was saturated more in comparison to the rest of the image, as this is the main iconic link between both texts.