HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR

MAIN PRODUCT & ANCILLARY TASKS?

Evaluation Question 2

Brief

■ The brief of this assignment was to create a short film which lasted approximately five minutes long. The media product had to fall into a genre of our choice varying from action to horror.

■ The short film required to have a clear understandable story which had to be targeted at a specific audience

■ To create a Film Poster and a Film Review for a magazine

What was the aim for our Ancillary Task?■ During the production process, I happened to have come to a decision of planning to create a

Film Poster and a Film Review for a magazine. ■ The main purpose for the ancillary tasks was to help promote our final media product to our

targeted audience. When deciding what colour scheme I will be using for both Film Poster and Film Review I had to think thoroughly about how it would reflect to my final media product, Broken.

■ Both tasks had to be created which had clearly related to our final media product where the audience would be able to visually understand the genre and to gain an understanding of the storyline.

■ My aim had been to hand in both pieces of work in a professional manner and in order to achieve this aim, I required using the software Adobe Photoshop CS6 which allowed me to alter images and texts as well as to modify them to a certain extent. Having to use the latest software for my film poster had helped use different functions which other software’s didn’t allow such as downloading and using downloadable preset brushes from an outsource.

How did my Film Poster meet the drama genre?

Having the title ‘BROKEN’ in a shattered glass format helps the targeted audience to see the relation and suggests that something is permanently broken in the film. The tagline displayed is

“All it takes is a second”, these words are sharp yet meaningful as it refers back to the genre, drama, as it suggests how all it takes is a second to change life.

The pills have been positioned in titled way which seems to help create an enigma to the audience as they would question themselves on why is it positioned like this. The pills tend to symbolize suicide situations within Drama films.

The red font colour which helps to represent pain and danger. Having the font colour in red helps to connote the genre of the film.

Having shattered pieces of glass around the poster helps to convey the negative emotions to the audience. This is because shattered glass happens to be represented in scenario’s involving life-changing accidents.

Using the colour black as a secondary colour for my film poster helped to connote to the audience that the film would be about emotions and death. This happens to typical themes of the drama genre.

Font choices for my Film PosterFor the main title and tagline, I had decided to use Optimus Princep which is a downloadable font from an external source. The reason on why this particular font appealed to me the most is simply because, I believed that the font was clear and easily attracting audiences. I felt that this font was easy to relate to the genre as this had given audiences a mysterious attracting look. Once creating the title with the grunge effects being applied I had decided to use the same font for the tagline. The font and font colour helped to display the tagline in a mystic way to the audience which happened to be eye grabbing.

To display the billing and social media page names, I had used the font, SixCaps. The billing had all crew members including the director and cinematographer. SixCaps had been a great font to use for the billing as each letter had been tall and narrow to each other.

To demonstrate the productions official website I had used Syncopate Regular. The font had been basic yet formatted in a stylish way making it appealing to audiences. The font had been clear making it easy to read from a distance. I believe that the font had been great to use to make the production’s URL clear and rich.

Font choice for my Film ReviewI knew that the main title should be the most eye grabbing thing on the film review. Therefore, I had chosen to use a pure bold font, Microsoft New Tai Lue. The font would allow readers to be aware of the film and the tagline. Making it easy to read and attractive had been one of the reasons on why I decided to use Microsoft New Tai Lue.

I happened to use Calibri for this piece of text as I felt that it was essential to make this stand out for the readers. Using Calibri not only made it easy to read for readers but it allowed to make the entire film review itself look more appealing. This is because Calibri tends to be a stylish font.

The font for the entire general text was, Myanmar Text. I felt that this was an appropriate font to use for the general text as the style had been classic and would help appeal typical film review readers.

For other parts of the film review I had decided to use, Myriad Pro. This had been simply done to avoid any confusion with the reader. This piece of text had been something which the reader was able to relate after reading the article. Having the font in Myriad Pro would help the reader aware that this wasn’t part of the main points of the review.

I had used the font, Optimus Princeps to display the rhetorical question as this was something which only readers from a short distance were able to see. Having it in a small font had been specifically made for the targeted readers of the film review.

Images used within my Film Review

This particular image happens to help create various meanings to the audience. The image tends to create a representation of the character being rebellious and irresponsible. This is demonstrated from the costume and props used. The costume used i.e. the hoodie helps to convey to the audience that the character is irresponsible. The fact that the character is positioned on a newspaper stand helps to imply to the audience how reckless the protagonist is.

This is the same image after editing it on Adobe Photoshop CS6. Editing this picture had been tough as I had to use a wide range of effects. I had to start off with filtering the image to black and white then had to use the lens flare effect carefully which allowed me to highlight the characters hands in the image. Also, having a radial blur affect implemented to the picture it helped the image to fade perfectly with the film review. The final edited image helped to develop the representation of the character. The different effects allowed to make the character look more rebellious which creates an enigma towards the audience.

Images used within my Film Poster

Using a extreme close up of the pills bottle had been something which I had desired to include in my film poster when filming. This is because after watching our productions influences it was seen that medication was something that immediately symbolizes some sort of drama to the scenes. Therefore, I had decided to use this image as it happens to create different meanings to the audience. Having a pills bottle on the ground on some grass helps to imply that this is an unwanted medicine. I believed that this image was the correct way to relate the emotions of what the protagonist was feeling towards the pills.

With deciding to use a medium shot of a empty wheelchair was a great way to give small hints to the audience of what my short film is really about. The wheelchair is an iconic prop which connotes weakness to the protagonist. The audience would need to see posters where they are able to gain an idea of what the storyline is roughly about.

The image provides a clear message to the audience of death and fear for the protagonist, Daniel. With having the image focused on the train and its headlights it tends to imply that something death related is going to happen. With having it related to the other pictures it helps to give the audience an idea of what the film is about. Using an filter effect to make the image look more contrasted it helps to create an enigma to the audience of what is actually happening. The image also includes a small part of the wheelchair which gives a hint that a train is involved with the protagonist.

How did my Film Review explore the final product?■ I believed that my Film Review had followed a

colour scheme of burgundy and white. I feel that the colours used helped to keep my ancillary tasks related to the production itself as well as the genre. The general text for the main body of the review had been structured in a correct magazine format showing the sense of professionalism. The general text had explained how the writer had met the director and how he had explained the production stages in terms of the planning and organising the film. I had to constantly make sure that the Film Review had explored the final product by following similar colour schemes which were easily relatable to our production. Also, including rhetorical questions in the film review helped to make the audience aware that the protagonist experiences a range of emotions. Furthermore, the images used in the film review allowed to reflect on the protagonists lifestyle before the accident. When audiences watch our final product they would be able to compare how the image shows a different person compared to the character in the film after the accident.

Summary■ In conclusion, I strongly believed that the ancillary tasks were highly

effective to our production. Both, Film Review and Film Poster had included Drama codes and conventions which allowed to target our audiences in a manner which they would prefer. Using an appropriate colour scheme and images for the Film Review and Film Poster had surely been beneficial as it helps to send the correct messages as well as it helps to relate back to our production as a whole.

■ The ancillary tasks had been a good way to gain awareness from audiences as I believe that my Film Poster and Film Review had been successful and were strongly appealing to our targeted audience. I felt that the words which were constantly used in the two tasks such as “Broken”, “Depressing” and “Paralyzed” were words which best described the protagonists emotions and feelings.