This is evaluation part2 for my A2 media.

1. Evaluation part 2
How effective is the combination
of your main product ancillary
texts.
By Dayna Pendergast

2. Section A

3.  For my poster I didn’t want to use a picture from the trailer so I
customized a picture that could imply a hint for the trailer. I took a
picture of a bloody hand in front of a green screen and placed it so
that it looked like it was emerging from a grave. This is using the
mise-en-scene of the graveyard and the iconography of the
gravestone clearly suggest where my horror trailer is set and the fact
that there is a hand popping out if the grave suggests it’s something
to do with the undead which clearly connotes zombies.
 Another key aspect that I used in my poster was the colours. I
included the black and red font. Black connotes that there is evil and
darkness involved, whereas the red connoted danger and blood.
Together these two colours are very commonly found in horror
posters as you can see in the Day of the Dead poster with the font in
bright red and the very dark background. A similar aspect of the
two posters would be the reaching out towards the coming soon it
creates anticipation for the film and adds a bit of excitement.
 The clouds moving in from the right hand corner is the use of
pathetic fallacy which connotes impending doom and that something
is coming. This is similar to the Day of the Dead poster as the
background is very cloudy and looks distorted.

5. From looking at my magazine cover the redness
just catches the attention, which is a conventional
strategy used on magazine covers. I used the red
colour to connote blood and danger as this is very
common with most gory horrors which is what my
trailer was aiming for. The black background is
something that is also a key aspect of horror
magazines. The bleakness of this connotes death
and evil, which are everything you’re going to get
in a gory horror with zombies.
Just like the magazine cover beside mine I have
used the archetype of a female; however you
cannot actually tell whether they are the “final
girl” or the victim. In my poster I have included a
phallic symbol which is an axe which represents
power and strength.

6. I used the technique of
listing the contents of the
magazine down the side,
which is very similar to the
Joker Empire magazine,
however on the opposite
side and less of them.
I also had the idea to use
more than one image so I
put together three zombie
images together to fit in
with the theme of my
trailer and fanned them
out to give it a more
interesting look.

7.  I wanted to make my magazine look like a very
popular magazine that reaches out to a wide
range of audiences. I did this by using the
catchphrase at the top “UK’s greatest film
magazine”. I placed a head in front of the font
which was conventional as can be seen in the film
magazine cover and the Empire cover.
 The main focus is the face which can be seen in
all three as well even though in mine the girl is
not looking straight at the camera that was so
that I could get the angle of the arm swooping
round as if to go and kill her and as we can see
the hand is covered in blood which gives of the
impression that it could be a zombie but not
giving away too much.

8.  My poster, magazine and trailer all link in together quite
well. They link well with the mise-en-scene of the horror
trailer. I used pathetic fallacy in the trailer and carried it
on over to the poster. In the trailer shot it is a shot of the
graveyard and the zombies and it looks very gloomy.
 The graveyard is shown in both the trailer and the poster
which shows that it is going to be a frequently visited place
in the film which links to iconography. The colour schemes
throughout the three pieces are very dark and dull colours
utilising reds and blacks which connote danger, death,
blood and evil.
 Another colour that occurs a lot is green and grey. Green
connotes a sickly colour but also links to the natural
location (woods) of my Ring Rosie trailer and intended film.

9. Section c

10.  The audience that I am aiming at is people at the age of
15+ this is because there is gore but not enough to class
it as an 18 certificate. I would say in terms of horror
fans it is going to appeal to the sub-genre that would
make up zombie/action horror fans which are into gore.
The success of World War Z shows there’s an audience
for this.
 There is definitely a dominant subculture right now as
many horror films and series are getting a lot of
attention. This includes American Horror Story and The
Walking Dead, which receive excellent viewing figures. I
would Ring Rosie also appeals to more women than a
general horror fan as the main characters are women
and it shows them in a stronger and more “badass” light.