How effective is the combination of your main

product and ancillary tasks?

By Paige Parker

Ancillary Tasks…

Film Poster

Film Review

What thematic elements are common within both the main and ancillary tasks?

Two principle themes within my film are dysfunctional relationships in a family context and alcoholism. Alcoholism

is a clear theme within the film and is shown by the mothers indulgent drinking at an early time of the day. This however is not a clear theme within either of my ancillary

tasks. Both of the ancillary tasks have a clear focus on dysfunctional relationships in a family context. This can be seen in the review by the quote used “Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression” and the image chosen which is similar to the image used in the film poster. These both show the main character of the film on his own looking anything but happy. The combination of the three is used in what I believe to be a successful way as all three outline the main themes and issues within the film.

Do you believe that your ancillary tasks are a clear reflection of your main product?

I think that although both of my ancillary tasks show the main themes and issues of the main

product I do not believe that either of them are a clear reflection of the film. I believe that the poster works synergistically to present the film while the

review draws attention to the film in a different way to promote the film but independently neither of the ancillary tasks are a clear reflection of the main product. The main reason that I believe this is because neither of the ancillary tasks show one

of the most prominent themes within my film which is alcoholism

How effectively does the poster promote your main product?

I think that my poster is effective in promoting my film in some ways. I used an

original image rather then a shot for my film. I chose this image because I thought that it would intrigue the audience as to

what was happening within the film and with the main character and cause them to watch

the film. It also conveys one of the main themes therefore it will target the correct

audience.

How does the poster inform your audience about your main product?

My poster following the conventions of a typical social realism poster it uses a close up of the protagonist, uses naturalistic lighting

and unknown actors. All of the conventions in which I have used informs my audience of the genre of my main product. The position and facial expression of the protagonist informs

my audience of one of the themes of my main product which is dysfunctional relationships in

a family context.

How does the review inform your audience of your main product?

My review informs the audience of the plot of my main product, one

of the main themes within my main product, the initial idea behind my main product and

people that took part in helping make my main product.

How does the poster reflect the issues of your main product?

My poster reflects the issues in my main product through the positioning and facial expression of the protagonist, Joshua Ridley, within the poster. Joshua is sitting with his back against a door with his hands on his ears and has a screwed up facial expression. This implies to the audience that there is something

going on outside the door which Joshua doesn’t want to see or hear and due to the young age of the child and the fact that he is hiding in what appears to be a bedroom the audience can deduct that the reason he is in there is because of something going on within the house which links to my main theme of dysfunctional relationships in a family context.

How far and how effectively does the poster reflect the style of your main product?

I believe that my poster is a fairly clear reflection of my film, but I believe that it only goes as far as to clearly reflect the genre and

one key issues within the film. I don’t think that it does justice to the other main theme

within the film but there is only so much that you can convey within a poster without it

being over the top and I believe that the way in which I chose to do my poster was the best choice as it reflects two of the most important

themes within my main product

How does the way that the review attracts an audience to your main product differ from the way that the poster does?

The review attracts an audience by revealing plot and themes within the film therefore attracting an audience which are fans of things that happen within the plot or the themes within the film the way in which the poster attracts an audience is completely visual there is no specific information just the things that the poster

suggests therefore the audience the poster attracts is an audience who is able to recognise a poster following the conventions of social realism or an audience that

feels that they would like the film as they are interested to know what will happen.

Is the review in any way biased and what might the impact of that bias be?

I believe that the review is not in any way biased. Throughout the majority of the review there is no direction for the article it is neither positive nor

negative just simply recalls parts of the story and my rationale behind the initial idea of the story. The only

directional piece of this article is the last sentence which says ‘We are shown the deteriorating situation of Alfie’s home life in a successful and dramatic way.’ This is the only part of the review which could be seen as biased and I believe that this could have a positive

impact on the audience as the magazine is a well known film magazine. Therefore a positive review from the magazine could influence a fan to watch the film.

What preconceptions does the poster develop in the mind of the viewer about the film?

Rather then to guess the answer of this question and try to answer it myself I decided

to post the picture on a popular social networking site and seeing what people

thought.

From the comments from people on Facebok I can see that people develop the preconceptions that the film is either about

child abuse/neglect or a horror film. The majority of people who have comment

have the right idea of what the film could be about as it does touch on child

abuse/neglect.