Question 2 - Final Draft

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

The film itself and ancillary texts all work together to sell and promote the film. The poster is the first of the 3 products to be released and open to the audience's eye so it has to be attractive and create a desire for the audience, to want to watch the film. Posters are used to deliver hints and clues about the genre, plot and characters of the film and to intrigue the target audience to want to watch it. Our posters reveal that our film is part of the children's fantasy genre due to the colours and characters. The colour blend of yellow and pink work to attract our main target audience of young females and the glittery effects and brushes clearly present the magical, fantasy side of our film. People said the posters were "cute" and that there is a slight "Disney feel" to them as they are very colourful and magical reflecting the imaginative and fantasy aspects that are relevant to these types of films, suggesting that our film will also be similar to the works of Walt Disney. Due to Disney being an extremely well known and established filming company it gives the impression that our film will be similar to the films that Disney produce immediately creating interest for the audience. Disney films are liked for their fantasy and family-fun stories so similar films will be intriguing for the target audience. From our posters you can notice that the film will have a theme of magic and fantasy due to the glittery backgrounds and characters. You can clearly see from the main image of 'Genie' that she is a genie due to her costume and the effects that surround her image and that perhaps she has a big role to play in the film because she is the focus of attention. She is very saturated in colour and is the main focus of the poster as she is in the foreground so her character will attract the audience as they can see straight away she is a magical character. Therefore the posters will appeal to people who enjoy fantasy/children films. Feedback informed us that it is clear to see that she is a primary character and that she has a magical touch. The prop, the gold lamp, also implies the plot will consist of genie's and magic as it is a convention of these. I was told that all 3 posters have "a clear and consistent housestyle" which helps to establish them as part of the same film. Each of them promote the fantasy and magical element of our film in their own way and through different colours and images. The saturation and colours of our posters actually match the cinematography of the film and you can clearly see a relationship between the two, displaying that they are part of the same film. This emphasises the housestyle of the posters in relation to the film and they share similarities that help to sell the film. The body language of the characters help to address the fun, childish side of the film and therefore targets the audience of children. 'Luke's' body language suggests he is looking up at the genie suggesting that perhaps they have some kind of relationship within the film. During feedback I was told that this works well and that "the picture of Luke and Genie looks cute and automatically shows they have a relationship". The genie's facial expression is looking away from 'Luke' perhaps displaying the idea that he has some kind of admiration for her because of his position in the frame and the fact that he is looking up at her. The credit block makes the poster look a lot more effective as it looks more professional and the layout isn't too crowded for it and it fits in nicely. In each of the posters there are clear indications towards the idea that 'Genie' and 'Luke' have a relationship/friendship due to their body language and facial expressions. In the second poster our audience told us that the "characters are clearly defined through the images" so our poster was effective enough to reveal the genre and provide hints and clues as to what the plot of the film is about. All 3 posters insinuate there is a relationship between 'Genie' and 'Luke' and along with the colours and fonts it suggests that the film is a kind of young love story. This will attract audiences who enjoy these films and more importantly it will appeal to our target audience of young girls.
The film review is used to provide audiences with opinions and information on what films are about and whether they are worth watching. Our film review continues to advertise our film and encourage people to watch it as it issues positive opinions and critisms of it. By suggesting it is a 'family film' it targets the audience of families. As our direct target audience of children aren't likely to read film reviews it is parents/family members that are most likely to read the review and they may be encouraged through the review to take their children/families to go and watch the film. The language of our review is quite simple and it's not very persuasive as the text is simply describing the plot of the film. However it does explain that it is a "family" film and that it is enjoyable to both "children and their parents." This would attract parents/family members to want to take their children to see it as it has been described as "fantastic" and claims that families have been watching it.
By using posters, the film and reviews you are marketing your film at various different audiences through different kinds of media. Posters are likely to be placed in areas such as bus stops, train stations, schools etc so will appeal to children/adults who use these places regularly. Reviews are usually found in magazines or on the internet so will attract attention from people who read the magazines, perhaps parents or other family members. These will all encourage people to go and watch the film because they'll be reading positive reviews of our film and be encouraged to watch our film which is 'fun for all the family.'