Evaluation Q.2

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

The main colours in my series of posters were various shades of blue, white, and grey. The colours best represents the themes within my film which was manhood, pride, and heartache. The white represents purity and good which comes through via the main character John who helps to save his mothers life by donating a kidney. As black normally represents bad and white normally represents good, I though the mixture of grey would be key interpretation of the good and bad moments within the film, for example when John is being ignored by his mother.

The main figures and objects in the poster are clouds and a few of the main characters. The clouds were instilled graphically whereas the pictures photographically. The clouds represent brightness, and moving from the old into the new as they float along. This is how the main character is, and how he is feeling through the storyline so I decided to incorporate this into my poster. All the messages on the poster are visual, meaning you have to look into what the story means through the poster. The thought bubble of the mother and son hugging points the audience in the right direction into working out what the story is about, what genre it is and so on. As we you can see joy and happiness on the character faces as they are hugging, this could also suggests to the audience there is some sort of happy ending, I feel this just proves how good the combination of the main product and the ancillary because in the film it ends happy, and this shown through the poster. In the second billboard poster the main character has his head in his hands suggesting there will some sad or emotionally connecting moments within the film which great for drama lovers who like to build an emotional connection with characters, this is something which happens in the film and has been shown in the poster which again shows how well the film is linked with the poster. The third poster has two male figures that are of similar skin tone which could suggest they are brothers or family members. It is visible to see some sort of relationship connection and I thought this was important to show in the poster since it is such a key part of the film. We knew it was a great choice of actors as one of the viewers said “They really look alike”. This may also attract a larger audience has it has a strong reference to family and everyone can relate to this.

The target audience for this poster is from 15 to 35 years of age, due to the content of the film, and the emotional element which may be too advanced for younger viewers to grasp. I feel the colours on the poster relate well to the audience gap. One member in our audience said that the poster “really represent drama … and would be appealing to 15 – 40 of age”. This shows that the combination of the main product and the ancillary has been successful. All the colours are mature enough for the older audience members we want to attract. The poster appeals to families, kidney problem patients, boys, girls and many other audience groups this is mostly due to the content of the film although some of these things are portrayed through the poster i.e. the blue will tend to attract males, the clouds stereotypically would attract females as they tend to find these sorts of things pretty, and beautiful. The white also appeals to both sexes due to its mutual element. The persuasive techniques I have for my posters is just simply, how it has been laid out, looking professional and formal with an informal element which relates to younger and older potential viewers. Many pf the viewers said it was very “professional” and looked like it was done by a “professional marketing agency”. Personally as I was graphically making the clouds it almost took me back to another world of when I was younger and free, if viewers can relate to only halve of the memory of being free then the poster will be a complete success. This is reflected through the main character John, he feels free and simple as he realise he has saved his mothers life; a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders this again shows the combination between the main product and the ancillary. The genres referred to in my posters are drama and fantasy.

This fantasy illusion I have seemed to conjure up through using the bright clouds was not a target of mine and may confuse the audience has the poster has some codes and conventions of a fantasy film poster. As a film maker next time while I’m making a promotion poster for my film I have to be careful and not make unwanted genres overlap within my film poster.

 Drama in my film is created through the look of the characters, and the general layout of the posters, I feel this is very important because this will help bring in the right kind of audience and will reduce disappointment. Many critics viewed our film but the most noticeable one was The Guardian who said it was just “Simply amazing” and rated a very good 3 stars, this was put on my posters as a unique selling point, making our film more attractive to viewers. Attention for the poster is gained by the visual element of presentation quite simply, and through this hopefully potential viewers will view my film, and see the work we put into it and the reflection of the film through the posters. The tagline is very simple “Size doesn’t make a man” which again attracts boys who are may not be as popular, cool, or even strong as the average boy. This story could easily change some bodies life and give them confidence to be who they are, even they are not as strong and cool as everyone else.

I feel my posters have put across the themes and narrative of our film very well; this is done through picture of the main characters like John and Linda, the layout, graphical imaging and the colour scheme which I used. The shade of blue on my poster really represents the different emotions in the film, sometimes happy sometimes sad. These subliminal messages have all been placed to attract the audience and make them see the film in the poster. The only thing which makes my project not as effective collectively is the slight misconception of genres you get from the poster because it could be portrayed as a fantasy. Although besides this I feel the combination of my mina product and ancillary is effective.

The value of a magazine review can never be denied, it helps create buzz around a new film which is going to come and it helps to take your film to a new professional level. The success of a magazine review is reliant on how many people read it, which is dependant on what magazine it is for example if it was Empire or Total film it would be more successful due to the large multitude of followers they have, although if it is a smaller magazine provider like Gorilla film magazine it wouldn’t be seen as much meaning minimal amounts of Acknowledgement for your film. I chose to do a film review with Total film because it is an extremely successful film magazine provider with an average circulation 0f 85,301. It is also a British firm and as my film British I feel it will have a similar target audience as my film which makes the campaign more ideal. In relation to my film the article had many components which helped promote my film such as the Q and A section which helped our target audience and potential viewers get closer to the cast and crew and feel apart of the project in general. The review also had a lot of persuasive language to make potential; viewers view the film such as “This is a truly epic tale of love and pain” this language really sales the film and use of words like love and pain will grab interest as it is something will all go through, young or old which makes it relative and current. The use of the word ‘epic’ paints a picture of something being good or big which suggests that the film is big and good, this will again attract viewers. I also received feedback from a viewer saying “I like the way you used colours and how you added a Q & A section as it gives the audience a chance to get closer to the cast and crew” This again shows how the product and the ancillary tasks worked together to make a great combination. The three star rating also helped to promote my film, as it underlines how professional and critically successful it is especially as it was from The Guardian a hugely recognisable newspaper in Britain which again is the target audience for the magazine.