Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

07 Apr 2011 1 Comment

by gbrownchs in A2 Evaluation

Both of my ancillary texts link with my trailer through the text, images and colours. For example, I used the same outfits in the trailer as in the magazine cover photo and the film poster: it was set in school so the characters were wearing their school ties. I used the same characters in all three constructions because otherwise it would look like it was advertisting a different film and it wouldn’t link together as well as it has. The two girls on the poster are the two I chose because firstly Lauren is the main girl that is featured in the trailer and her name comes up in titles to advertise that she’s starring in the film, and Laura is there because she is good at holding poses with feisty looking faces and making the shot look convincing enough to be on a film poster. I used the same sort of setting for each ancillary text because the trailer is mostly shot in school. If I’d have shot a studio-based photograph for the film poster it would look more like i’m trying to advertise clothing or something so I had to use the same setting for the photos- same with the magazine cover. I had to take the photographs in school so that it linked with the fact that it’s filmed in school and so it linked with the film poster as well because it’s the same film. Chris is featured mostly in all three constructions because he’s the main character in my storyboard. If Lauren was on the cover of my magazine it wouldn’t be clear as to what film is being featured in that issue of the magazine- same with the film poster. If Lauren was the main image, the audience would get confused as to what film it was because she’s not right at the beginning of my trailer either- Chris is. When constructing these texts, I’d hoped that they would all come out looking pretty similar so that it was really obvious that they are all linked. I think the magazine cover did that well and the film poster, not so bad, but could have been better. I used similar fonts in each text so that they do link but I think the blantant link between all three is Chris.

The font of ‘Something About Hiles’ on the magazine cover purposely is a bit of a groovy font so it represents the comedy element of the trailer and I think that represents it quite well, however the title on the film poster is very different because it looks like handwriting, so it sort of represents the school element and the romance part to it.
To advertise the trailer etc I would probably have the poster distributed on buses, bus stations/stops, billboards, in and around schools and in the town centre because my target audience is teens etc, and they are a lot more likely to catch a bus rather than adults because they have not yet passed their test etc. Schools because they’re a lot more likely to see the poster and it hopefully would appeal to them. In magazines as an A4 spread like they do with perfume/makeup advertisements, and possibly in and around cafe’s. In service stations on the motorway, I noticed that there are always advertisements on the back of toilet doors and above the hand dryers so I would possibly have the poster placed there. As for the magazine, if all was successful with negotiation with the magazine company, I’d have it released around the same time as the film was actually realeased in cinemas. I’d have it sold in corner shops, major supermarkets, movie shops such as Blockbuster, in libraries/school lirbraries, and at the actual cinema. The fact that it’s a monthly film magazine would make sense to have it sold in the cinema so people can pick up a copy when the leave to see what’s on for future references.
In order of releasing, I think the poster would have to be first. To let the audiences know that there was a new film coming out in March 2011, and that would leave them wondering what it was, when it’s coming out, what it’s about, who’s in it, how big it’s going to be etc. Then the trailer would be released on televisions on most channels, but in most cases I’d say Nickelodeon, E4, Channel 4 and MTV as that is the age generation I’m aiming for. In cinemas as well and the audio could possibly be released for the radio stations like Radio 1 and Heart FM because the audience is of a younger generation and they are my target audience, and they will be more into the film more than older generations. I judged this on my audience feedback because they said that the trailer is obviously aimed at teens and it’s successful and that they did notice and recognise it as a teen flick.

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