Question 2

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

Along with my film trailer I produced a film poster and the front cover for a film magazine. All three texts work well together and link in various conventional ways. The purpose of a film poster is to advertise a film that is soon to be released, letting the public know important information about it, like the release date, title of the film, the actors/talent and the production crediting etc. The poster advertising an upcoming film is used to tease the audience and generate hype within the target audience, effectively creating a mass audience for when the film is released in the cinema or on DVD etc. In terms of verbal feedback for the film poster I found that may people liked the overall of the poster. They liked how the image portrayed the horror genre of the film and some people also said that the font linked in too, creating a scratched and blurred effect. The only bad feedback I got from my poster was that the font used for the title of my film didn’t link with my other texts, but I challenged these conventions intentionally to make my media products better overall.

The purpose of a film magazine is to inform the public about upcoming films or films that have newly been released, often including reviews and ratings inside. The front cover of a film magazine should be eye-catching and easy on the eye, however the information on it should all be easily read. When gathering verbal feedback to improve upon my magazine front cover as I was creating it I found that many people said I have followed all of the correct conventions (mast head, cover lines, bar code, price, date, plugs etc.) however, included an interesting and eye catching twist on the appearance. My target audience all agreed that the final front cover was very convincing and could be sold in shops today, alongside other existing magazines.

When looking for feedback on my poster and magazine cover together my audience could see a link however some said they could have linked better by using the same font throughout. I chose not to do this as I thought that the fonts used on each text worked well for that text alone. If I was to use the same font on all of my texts I don’t think the overall piece would have looks as effective and professional as it was found that the text looked lost on the often busy background of my media products. I took a risk in challenging this convention in my media products however I believe as the creator of them that this was the best option in making my products as effective as they could be. I feel challenging this convention has allowed my products to stand out from any others making them unique to look at, and in effect making them memorable.

My target audience liked that different characters were used in the poster and on the magazine front cover as they felt it gave them a good insight into the film, making them want to know more about the story. I chose to do this as I wanted the audience to be able to explore my film in their own mind, guessing the story line and out come before they endure the film/trailer as a whole. I felt this would get people talking about my trailer effectively creating a bigger audience.

Although I have challenged some conventions in all of my media products I feel they all link together through the constant horror genre theme shown strongly throughout. Overall I had some very positive feedback about my media products separately and combined with my audience agreeing that the combination of my trailers, poster and magazine worked very effectively and professionally together. As a whole I feel my media products have achieved their intended purpose as media texts separately and together as a whole, as they all do there intended job of promoting the film soon to be released.