Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Vanessa Florant

What are the main objective of our ancillary tasks?

• To create poster and film review in order to promote our film using visual and text platforms • To make the audience aware about the film and have a brief idea of what the film is about through text

and image.• To attract our target audience effectively and efficiently

Advantages of creating a film poster:- Easy to capture the audiences attention and draw them into watching our film through the clever use of image and text- Summarises your film in a simplistic form – if done correctly it is easy to attract your target audience- It is a direct form of communication to the consumer

Advantages of creating a film review:- The audience can be lured into watching and liking your production if the text is written in a professional yet artistic manner.- It is a direct form of communication to the consumer

How did my poster replicate a real media product and how did it conform to the action genre?

The font is bold and simple because I wanted it to look clean, professional and simplistic – this is replicated in real action film posters . Also I didn’t want the text to have any association with any other genre such as western or romance.

It is typical to see a male protagonist in action film posters rather than female as stereotypically ,men represent strength, power and resilience which are desirable attributes that the hero would usually need to defeat the antagonist(s).

Commonly, an image of the antagonist is within the poster to show an element of disequilibrium, and give the audience the impression that this character will try to supersede the main protagonist.

In real media products the credits are placed at the bottom of the poster. I used the font Universal Accreditation here because it looks very similar to what you would normally see and my aim was to try to replicate a real product to the best of my ability. I also used this font for “Hard hitting action” because it is easily readable and has a professional look.

A convention of a poster is to have the certification placed here so it is easily seen by the audience.

I used the font Consolas for the title, the tagline, the cast and the name of the magazine that reviewed the film

I decided to put in cinemas and for a limited time in Imax because it also another convention.

I put our logo in the middle of the tagline as it is a simple and unobvious way of informing the audience of who produced the film to the uncommon position, at the same time it is clearly seen.

The writing within Elliott’s eye and on the background gives the audience a hint of what the narrative involves. In this case it is technology (gaming). In other action film posters, sometimes the hints are within the background i.e. cars or characters holding weapons.

How did I use image, text, layout and background choice within my poster to replicate a real media product?

I decided to place Elliott in a suit to connote to the audience that he wants to be a top player within the game and he truly feels that he is just as good or even better than the players who try to kill him. It expresses his desire to be a “player” and it shows how much he loves gaming. Likewise, the writing in his eye and the blank look on Elliott’s face shows his seriousness as well as his drive to become a successful player. Hence, Elliott is represented as determined and focused through this image. The close up of his face helps me to portray this.I chose to put an effect on his face to replicate what Elliott’s character would look like if he was to be in a game, hence his character would look less realistic and more animated. The effect I used was Paint Daubs, in combination with a few other tools to smooth his face and I made alterations to the lighting to make his face look less lifelike.

In order to add an element of creativity to my poster, I decided to try and replicate the background of the matrix by creating my own image by manipulating texts’ through Photoshop. I chose to emulate this effect because it reiterates the fact that technology plays a huge role in the narrative as it is based on a game. I blended the antagonist Anwar into this image as it shows that Anwar is a part of the game. However to add to the mystery of who Anwar is, he is wearing sunglasses to hide his identity – in the film his identity is revealed.

How did I use image, text, layout and background choice within my poster to replicate a real media product?

I chose green as the background colour because the connotations that the colour holds links to the narrative of Suits and how our characters are portrayed. For example:• Green can sometimes denote lack

of experience; i.e., a 'greenhorn' is a novice. Similarly, Elliott is inexperienced as he is not a top player as yet .

• Green can indicate growth, ambition and hope. Likewise, Elliott wants to be better and he is hopeful that he will defeat the antagonists.

• Green symbolises liberty – The narrative is set outside on the road- there are no limitations.

• Dark green is associated with jealousy. Could Elliott’s friend Uzair be jealous that Elliott has been more successful at gaming than he has? Also, is Elliott jealous of the status and superiority of the players?

Elliott is in the foreground of the poster as he is the main protagonist – it isn't common to see the protagonist anywhere else in a poster especially if there are other people featured on it. In a similar way, Elliott's name is placed on top of the title Suits because he is the main protagonist. Anwar’s and Anish’s names are not as closely linked to the title which emphasises the fact that Elliott is the main person in the film.

How did my film review replicate a real media product?

I've embedded artistic and creative writing into my review whilst informing the audience of what Suits is about and what makes it such a good short film.

The font that I have used through the review is Arial as it is easily readable, simplistic, and clear. However the format of the font varied between italic and bold as I wanted to highlight different pieces of information. For example:- The title Suits, tagline, the

release date, running time, director, plot, reviewer, the name of the magazine, and final verdict are in bold because they provide the information behind this film – though the text is important too this isn't bold throughout because it doesn’t give off a professional look.

- The quotes from the body of text and the final verdict are italic because it is subtle yet depicts information that stands out.

I thought that it was important to maintain links between my poster and my film review as the content behind them relate. At the same time, this makes the construction of these mediums more professional. The relationships between the two can be seen by:- The animated effect on the

photographs- The use of the same deep green

colour

I chose this image of Elliott and Uzair in conjunction with a photo of the controller because this is where the story begins and the controller is the sole reason for the disequilibrium in the narrative. I carefully chose to place the tagline “game over” on the photo of the controller because ironically the controller doesn’t aid Elliott’s progress within the game, it ends it.

How did my film review replicate a real media product?

Before creating my film review I decided to look at a film reviews from different magazines as a guidance and to provide me with background knowledge on how to construct a film review. During my research I came across a lot of reviews from Empire magazine such as this.

I used this film review as inspiration and as a template, and thought that if I could mirror it correctly I would be able to create a successful film review. Hence, I closely followed the same template such as the two photos which help to tell a story on their own.