A2 Media Studies portfolio Evaluation Question 2

1. How effective is the combination
of your main product and the
ancillary text?
Alice Mee

2. What were we trying to achieve in our main product?
In the beginning when creating our film we knew that the main aim was to entertain
the audience. This was learned from the theory of Uses and Gratifications which
suggests why the audience watch the film and take an opinion away with them.
Some things that an audience may take away with them could be: role models e.g.
Celebrities, socialisation e.g. going to see a film in cinema, education e.g.
documentaries and entertainment, all these are reasons why people may watch
films. Although the genre of our film is horror and therefore we created an aim to
scare the audience and make them feel uncomfortable when watching our film. The
use of music helped to create this effect on the audience because we could build up
the volume and pitch of the music to end with a sound effect which would make the
audience feel a certain way. The way we edited the film and created close up shots of
someone's face were also a factor of being able to scare the audience because we
could show the character’s emotions by showing their faces. However, with our main
aim being to frighten and entertain the audience, we also wanted to create some
educational view by adding some serious issues such as child abuse, drug abuse and
murder. And because of these issues we decided to include in the film we then had
to give the film an age rating of 15.

3. How did our main aim reflect our advertising products?
We wanted our film poster and radio trailer to
reflect the horror genre of our film. We decided
to represent the genre through the themes and
mediums included in our film such as suspense
and horror. Because we have a plot twist in our
film where the protagonist realises she is
actually dead and a ghost in somebody else's
house; we didn’t want to give this twist away in
our radio trailer or poster, although we wanted
to suggest that the film included ghosts and
intruders in the house. In both the advertising
products I felt we gave away the information
about the film that we wanted to without giving
away the storyline.

4. Our film poster
We created a film poster for our film, we did one as a
group but also we made one each which helped to
develop the final poster. We made these posters on
Adobe Photoshop.
Our poster represents the genre of our film with the use
of blood conventions. The giveaway that our film has a
horror genre can be associated with the font we have
used on the the poster as it is very creepy. By having a
dark background in a natural place and by having a tree
on the poster, almost subconsciously suggests that
something will happen to the protagonist in this scene of
the film. Because we wanted the audience to know that
the film is based around ghosts we used effects on the
characters at the bottom of the poster because they make
the characters look very ghostly. The transparency of each
character suggests which characters are mostly ghosts for
Agnes is almost see through and she is the ghost. We did
this so to get the audience thinking and talking about the
film for we haven’t given the plot away by doing this.
Finally we added the age rating certificate which also adds
to our specific target audience.

5. The impact of film posters
Before designing a film poser I researched into other film poster of the same genre in order to
be able to draw the audience in and represent the storyline and genre through picture. As a
group we researched into the film posters from The Woman In Black and The Others. We knew
we needed to create a poster which gave away a little bit about our film but in an instance for
someone may only catch a glimpse of it say if it was on a street advertisement board.
The Others: from the darkness of this poster I
knew the genre would be horror and possibly
have some jump scares throughout. The
candle suggests the film may be set in a
house also reiterating that it’s a horror and
includes ghosts because stereotypically ghost
films are set in houses. The text font is creepy
and sinister which reflects on the character’s
face in this poster as she looks scared, this
adds to the entire atmosphere that this
poster is giving to the audience.
The Woman In Black: The blue filter in this
poster gives the impression that the film may
include ghosts due to the effect it has on the
character’s. The tree and mysterious figure in
the background suggests that the film genre is
horror and possibly include ghosts because of
the figure shown. The character’s clothes show
the time era for this film which also leads to
believing it is horror, along with the shading on
his face as one side is dark and the other is light
maybe suggesting something might happen to
this character without giving too much away.
The font gives a lot away because it is bright but
creepy giving away the genre again.

6. How effective was our film poster?
We got some audience feedback on our film poster to see if we had created
the right message we wanted to get across. We asked someone who we
believed to be our target audience to answer a few questions.
What genre do you think our film is?
“Horror/thriller”
What feelings do you think the audience will feel when watching our film?
“scared and shocked, but also intrigued”
After seeing this poster would you be encouraged to watch the film and
why?
“I would go to the cinema to watch it with my friends but I think I’d be to
scared to watch it on my own”

7. Our Radio Trailer
We created a radio trailer on Final Cut Express by taking music and
dialogue from the film as well as sound effects and a voice over.
The radio trailer opens with Agnes (the protagonist) breathing heavily
to capture the audiences attention. We decided to use the voice of
Agnes to narrate the radio trailer who gives some information about
the film but not any spoilers. We used music to create the tension and
so the audience could grasp the genre. We used the sound effects
from the film such as the hanging and tree snapping to suggest ideas
to the audience but without spoiling the plot. By doing this we thought
we would be able to intrigue the audience and leave them wanting to
know more. Without ruining the experience for the audience I think
our radio trailer gives away the genre. I think that our radio trailer is
effective and draws he audience in to scare them, which is the
reflection on them that we wanted to created.

8. How effective was our radio trailer?
As well as asking a target audience member for feedback about
our poster we did the same for the radio trailer.
From this radio trailer, what genre do you think the film will
be?
“horror”
What feelings did you have when you listened to the radio
trailer?
“I was a little bit scared and also go goose bumps at the end”
Did the radio trailer persuade you to go and see the film?
“yes but I think it will scare me”

9. Conclusion
Overall I think my group radio trailer and film
poster represent our film very well. Both of the
ancillary tasks were to advertise the film and
attract the audience; the film poster had to
draw the audience in visually, whereas the radio
trailer was aimed to intrigue them aurally. From
this we were able to experiment and understand
how to attract our audience. The feedback we
received showed that we had engaged to
attention of our target audience.