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

As part of the task of creating a film, I also needed to create an appropriate film poster and double page spread review. The main focus of this task was to create something that would establish a brand for my film - a certain style and continuity. This ensures that my media product is instantaneously recognisible to the audience.

Poster and Film

The poster of a film can have a significant impact on how appealing it comes across to the audience. This is because a poster is what they will most likely consume the most (second to a trailer). Therefore, it needs to be something that will grip the viewers eye and draw their focus to it, thus making them want to see it. 

On my poster, the eyes are a prominent feature because of the idea of the character having a mental afflication. Typically, we would see the first signs of any narcotics, ect, in the eyes - once again referring back to the idea that eyes show more than what we say or do. Also, by using a big close up, it creates a more intense and far more invading stare than had it been a full head shot.

Throughout all my media products, the main theme is the use of the characters eyes. In my film, it started with the shot of the eyes opening, the same still image that is seen on the poster. Additionally, this shot was repeated throughout in various ways. Therefore, making the main motif of the film her eyes. This means that the audience can create a connection between the filn and the poster, as they will be able to recognise the shots. The reason for this, as I have previosuly explained, is that eyes can show many emotions - as "eyes are windows to the soul" and can be regarded as a signifier for something much more sinister when shown in horror. Consequently, I felt the need to use this motif on my poster, using the still from my film to create a connection between the two. I kept the colour scheme dark, as this links with the theme that my film is set at night time, and that the dark is a common convention seen throughout horror. The colours I have used are basic, juxtaposing each other. This therefore meant that I could highlight certain aspects of the poster more - such as the title and tag line. Furthermore, most typical horror film posters prominently feature the protagonist, and since my character is both the protagonist and antagonist - the poster creates a sense of ambiguity, with it being open to interpretation about if she is the evil or not. This is due to the fact that there is not much seen of her, so the audience are left wondering which one it is. As perviously mentioned - this therefore subverts the idea that audiences like to know what is going on in a film in order to make the feel more secure when watching it. Moreover, the image of the eyes creates a more personal connection with the audience. This is important in a psychological horror, as they tend more to rely on the fears of the character, which are exacerbated by the audience due to the likeness of reality. Therefore, the idea of Freud and the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind can be used here to explain the impact from creating such a connection with the audience can make on them. Likewise - the Hyperdermic Needle Effect Theory may also be applied in terms of my poster and film combined because it plays on the idea of the influence mass media can subliminally have on its audiences. Thus citing back to the idea that the unconscious mind and the refection of fears is prominent in psychological horrors. This is the effect that I have tried to create through the use of both my film and poster.


Yet, it can be argued that since my poster features the tag line "How much of what you dream is real?" - the audience will eventually know what to expect, implying that this is a clear indication of the story. Consequently, because of the potential ambiguity, analytically speaking it means that the success of the function of my poster is somewhat debatable, since it does not explicitly indicate what the film is about. Yet, audience feedback has shown that they are aware of what genre of film the poster is promoting, and by extension, what genre the film is focused on - even if they are not notified of the plot immediately. 

As I have previosuly explained, one of the themes are typically associated with horrors are darkness/night. Also, black typically has connotations of death and darkness, both of which we associated horror with. Moreover, the continuity of the black creates a brand, and this is more visible when looking at my film, poster and review together. Furthermore, the credit block on my poster fits with the conventions of many other posters - as they are placed at the bottom and are notably visible. It also attracts more attention to the release date in white that is situated slightly above it. Thus this makes the combination of my main product and poster succesful and effective because it advertises when the film is to be released. By having this continuity across my poster and short film, it will mean that I can use synergy advertise across a wider range of platforms, making it recognisable to those who have seen any of my products seperately.

Film Review and Film

Firstly, the images I used on my review are a combination my a still from my film, and a photo that I took after finishing my film. Both images show the characters eyese to an extent - as this is the prominent motif across all my media products. This means that the top image gives a representation of what the film is going to consist of. Additionally, the second image has the girl looking away from the viewer. This disconnects them - as opposed to the effect of all my other products. I chose to do this because no  only does it make the spread look better, but it also adds more questions in the viewers mind - what is she looking at? Why is she looking at it? ect - and thus meaning that they would want to watch the film to try to answer theses questions. This links to the theory of FOMO (fear of missing out) and that as audiences we strive to constantly know what is going on in every aspect of a film. Furthermore, the top images shows the girl with a hand over her mouth, suggesting suffocation - this therefore may connote to the audience that death is a prominant theme in the psychological horror - whether it be explicit or implict.

Additonally, I wanted the review to be as minimal as possible - continuting the effect of the poster. This is because after looking at many other psychologial horror advertisments, I came to the conclusion that minimalism is often a re-occuring theme. Therefore, I didn't want the viewer to be distracted by lots of images and text effects, as the main function of the review is to inform. The article itself focuses on the film as a production, rather than it as a story - this is because it highlights to the reader how the film makes you feel, instead of revealing the plot. I chose to write it this way because horror films often come with the idea that if you watch them, it makes you fearless - and so the idea behind what I wrote was to encourage the audience to experience the same emotions, and thus allowing them to brag about it - and therefore indirectly advertising my film through word-of-mouth. I also feel that with the particular stylistic features that I have kept as a constant across my products (colour scheme, images, ect) it adds to the idea that it will again be recognisable across different platforms. Lastly, this means that my review is very conventional, and thus is similar to the existing examples that I explored in magazines such as 'Empire' and 'Little White Lies' - it is the whole colour scheme and images used that makes it unique to my film. 

Consequently, I feel that the combination of my main product and ancillary tasks work well together in creating a regonisable platform. Added to this, it can be argued that they also allow the audience to make the connections between the implicit themes, and perhaps for some, the subliminal messages they are denoting. Moreover, when together they make the audience aware that they are part of a brand through the use of the same stylistic techniques and features. The significance of this is that it means they can identify it quickly - this is also the aim of film. Lastly, I believe that neither ancillary task has given too much away about the film - and this is a trap in which I could I have fallen into through want of making my work popular. Therefore this means that the overall effectiveness of it is far greater than I could have hoped for - after all, who wants to watch a film after finding out the plot and spoiling it beforehand?