The document discusses Amber O'Dell's ancillary tasks of a film poster and review for her main film project. She created these products to promote the film and ensure they complement each other. For the review, she followed conventions of real film reviews to provide an unbiased perspective. She published the review in the style of the British Film Institute magazine Sight & Sound to appeal to a film-literate audience. Amber designed the poster to represent the film's themes and dynamic through imagery based on her research. She aimed to create a simple yet striking visual that would attract attention and convince viewers to learn more about the film.

1. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE
COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN
PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?
EVALUATION QUESTION 2
BY AMBER O’DELL

2. ANCILLARY
TASKS
◦ For my ancillary tasks, I produced a film
poster and a film review. These products
each serve to promote the film. If this
project is done successfully, the products
will all compliment each other and
synergize.
◦ Throughout my project I have
conducted various research into the
process, style and conventions of short
film posters and reviews. I have based my
own products on what I believe would be
best suited to my target audience.

3. MY TARGET
AUDIENCE
◦ PRIMARY
◦ 16-22
◦ Female
◦ White
◦ Generally familiar with the short film genre
but not avid fans
84.6
2
15.3
8
GENDER
FEMALE MALE
46.15
15.38
38.46
AGE
17 + BELOW 18 - 24
31+
92.3
1
7.69 ETHNICITY
CAUCASIAN
MIXED
30.7
7
23.0
8
15…
7.69
LOCATION
BANSTEAD
TADWORTH
WOODMANSTERNE
EPSOM
76.92
23.08
HAVE YOU EVER
WATCHED A…
YES NO
16.67
33.3316.67
25
HOW OFTEN DO YOU
VIEW SHORT FILMS?
WEEKLY MONTHLY
ANNUALLY NEVER

4. https://www.fastcompany.com/1815812/psychology-behind-movie-poster-designs
Why is a film poster
important to the overall
success of a film?
A film poster is planned and designed, in
precise detail, to produce the reaction that
the marketing team wants from it’s audience.
Unless it is a film that is of a tremendous scale
in terms of status, budget and marketing,
most films tend to have one central poster
image – which means that they really get one
chance to ‘wow’ the public with this image.
The image must be a suitable and interesting
representation of the film and must tempt the
audience, convince them to watch the film
that this poster is promoting.
In an increasingly digital age, film posters are more
likely to be seen by a wider audience if they are
displayed on a social media page or a website. A film
poster emblazoned on a billboard in the middle of a city
doesn’t have the same influence as it would’ve in the
past. Solid film posters still serve the same purpose to
an extent, but compared to the internet, they just can’t
gain the same audience. There are plenty of people who
still enjoy consuming media and such the ‘traditional’
way, but realistically your film is more likely to do well
with the audience when you have some online presence
during the marketing stage.

5. The images here are 4 examples of film posters that I took
inspiration from for my own poster.
- SHALLOW GRAVE
◦ I discovered this poster after I had previously experimented
with images featuring tools. I believed that the tools in the
image accurately represented the catalyst character of the
plumber, and my use of rule of thirds in my own images also
represented the awkward dynamic of the film, with the girl,
sister and date. As I will discuss later on, the use of inanimate
objects such as tools in a film poster, if done correctly, can
create a very strong and memorable image. The ‘Shallow
Grave’ poster is an example of this, it takes the still life
photograph route but amplifies it by having several different
types of hammers displayed around the poster.

6. BEHIND THE
IMAGE
The premise of the image behind my poster is to represent the
dynamic of the characters in the film.
The two metal tools on the outside are similar in colour and style,
leaving the orange tool in the middle as the odd one out which
relates to the theme of my film. Interestingly, the odd one out could
be any one of the three characters who are part of the awkward
date dynamic.
• The older sister is intruding on the date where she is obviously
very unwelcome.
• The date feels uncomfortable caught between the family conflict
of the sisters and towards the end of the film is pushed out in
favor of an ‘alpha male’ character.
• The protagonist feels that she is trapped with the obligation of her
sister, and a yearning to find her own sense of individuality and
freedom.

7. - CURFEW
The main thing that I got from this poster was the font. I really liked the bold title and
thought that this was incredibly effective for the overall look of the poster. Though with the
image I used, I couldn’t produce a poster with a title as large and bold as ‘Curfew’. I did take
the idea of the bright orange font as I thought this would increase the strength as a whole
of my poster and match the colour of the second tool in the image.

8. ◦ The use of objects and still life in a film poster tend to infer that the film is less of a mainstream blockbuster
affair and more of a niche artisan flick. The reasoning for this idea is the mountains of evidence of iconic
films using more conventional methods for film posters.
All of these images have in common the fact that they are computer generated rather than real photographic
images, this supports the idea that mainstream films do not tend to use simple still life images, often only
using photography in terms of images of actors, which are also heavily edited before being released.

9. RULE
OF
THIRDS
◦ Rule of thirds is a photography
and film composition technique
that divides the image into 9
equal parts. Advocates of the
technique claim that aligning a
subject with these points
creates more tension, energy
and interest in the composition
than simply centering the
subject. I used rule of thirds in
the image for my poster as well
as in my film.

10. Dark background to
allow the tools to stand
out
Release date
Tagline
‘You will never get a second chance to
make a first impression.’
Star actor names
Laurel leaves – award credits
Director’s name
Main focus of image, relevant to
film, interesting visuals
Lots of space for
credits, text etc.
Star rating/snippet of
review from media
Various credits – company
logos, cast, crew, etc.
Title of film

11. AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
‘simplistic, adds
greater effect
to the props to
add to the
suspense and
tension’
‘Strong image,
quirky and the
spacing is
effective’
‘visually appealing –
well structured
composition’

12. ◦ Film reviews analyze a film in terms of performances, actors, choreography, script, story in an often unbiased and
neutral tone in order to give a fair review of the film.
◦ Gradually, the film industry is becoming worth more and more money by the day, large studios and production
houses are coming up with their own in house movie reviews. In this case, it is important to find reliable sources to
provide film reviews that will not be corrupted or biased accounts.
http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/Importance-of-Movie-Reviews/1379743

13. ◦ Sight & Sound is a British
monthly film magazine
published by the British Film
Institute (BFI).
◦ Published in 1932, management
of the magazine was eventually
passed to the BFI in 1934.
◦ Sight and Sound is known for its
film reviews and it’s poll of the
greatest films of all time that is
held every 10 years. An
international group of film
professionals is approached and
asked to vote.
◦ Until 1992, the votes of the
invited critics and directors were
compiled to make one list.
However, since 1992, directors
have been invited to participate
in a separate poll.

14. Heading – page
design, formats page Image taken from film - preview
Caption to
accompany
image
Reviewer
credited at
end
Date of
release/film,
director name
and certificate
Film title
Thorough
review, covers
all aspects of
film
Page footer, magazine
name, date of
publishing, page
number
Credits, including cast,
crew, production
companies etc.Actual text of
review arranged in
columns
Synopsis
separated
from the
rest of the
text

15. ADHERES SUBVERTS
The general layout of the page is
very visually similar to the original
S&S design.
Columns are used to format the
page and separate the text.
There are aspects of my design
that differ from the S&S design
such as the name of the reviewer
at the top of the main body of
text.
The use of an image from the film
along with a caption to provide a
preview of the visuals.
The use of more than one image
to display a wider representation
of the film.
An extensive cast and crew list
that follows typical convention
including cast, crew, production
companies etc.
I have provided more space in the
page for my credits instead of
having them tightly packed in.

16. A review synergizes effectively with a film as the substantial amount of information that a review
reveals about a film is designed to provide its audience with a fair idea of what the film is about, the
themes included and the general quality of the film. A positive film review can influence a lot of
people and could provide a new audience for a film that they may not have been able to reach
before. For example, if the review featured in Sight and Sound magazine, a BFI conglomerate, the
audience is likely to be film literate people who are more open to watching niche films and short
films similar to my product.

17. ◦ The ancillary tasks serve to promote the main
task by appealing to my target audience.
◦ I took care to make sure that the review was
fair and balanced in order to closely emulate
conventions of a real film review. A fair, non-
biased review is more likely to convince the
audience to watch the film as they will believe
the source is reliable. As many S&S reviews do,
I thought that this review would potentially
make my film more appealing to a more film
literate group. This claim is based on research
I’ve done into S&S reviews and I’ve found that
many issues of the magazine feature reviews of
mainstream films along with films that are less
recognized such as indie and foreign films.
Therefore, the inclusion of mainstream films in
the magazine may convince people who are
used to consuming films that fit into the
category of ‘niche’ to watch a film that is a
different style to their typical tastes.

18. A poster is a very relevant marketing tool in
the current age. Visuals are very important
to attract an audience and convince them
to consume your media product.
In my poster, I tried to give an accurate and
thematic representation of my film through
the iconography and tone.
I made sure that I provided a strong image
overall. This is because posters tend to
include one main image and therefore must
be interesting enough to grab an
audience’s attention and have a great
impact on the audience the first time they
see it, otherwise they will most likely
disregard it and not think any further of it –
therefore not making an effort to find out
about the film.