evaluation question one media

1. HOW EFFECTIVE ISTHE
COMBINATION OFYOUR
MAIN PRODUCT AND
ANCILLARYTEXTS?

2. Synopsis
The films overall narrative features the character, Roman finding a camera in the loft of
the house he has just moved into. He begins to take photos of objects such as a rose in the
garden.The things he takes pictures of disappear and is revealed to be the camera that is
‘taking’ them away from the physical world and putting them into the camera/photos.
Roman never finds out that the camera does this and is only known by the audience. The
film is rated 12 and is of the thriller neo noire genre.The idea was brainstormed first and
then later we improved upon the idea by looking into certain influences for it. Our main
influences in terms of style and direction where SinCity and Schindler’s List.We also took
some influence from the films shutter and polaroid as these both involved a camera as a
narrative device.

3. Project aim
The aim of our main production was to create mystery and tension through the use of a
mysterious narrative structure and the use of the narrative device, which was the polaroid
camera.We relied heavily on cinematography to succeed in these results as the multiple
types of shots we used conjoined to create the intended effects we wished.The use of
editing techniques also aided us in our aim to create mystery and tension as we used
many different masks, transitions, and a montage to try and exemplify the mysterious
aura the camera has while still trying to keep to the tension building that most thriller
films feature.We also wished to subvert some of the typical connotation of a thriller film
as to not have a direct antagonist and rather have an object as the main ‘villain’ in the film.
We wished to do this as it creates intrigue for the audience as typically a object cannot be
seen as having an antagonistic nature.

4. How was this reflected in the
advertisement campaign?
For each of our products of advertisement we wanted to achieve synergy from our poster,
to our radio trailer and our film.We decided to use themes similar to our films in these
such as the camera iconography and the theme of entrapment as the objects and
characters get trapped inside the camera and photos of the camera.We also wanted to
keep the mysterious undertones of the film and portray this onto our poster and radio
trailer so we used imagery and sound from the film, on both of these advertisements, as
to keep to the theme and style of the film.This in turn would allow the audience to clearly
identify that the advertisement campaign belongs to the film and to give hints to the
audience of what the overall narrative is about.

5. Film poster
The poster for out film features the main protagonist, Roman walking out
into the horizon along a trail of photographs.The photographs join
together in path like shape and an image of a women screaming layered
behind the photographs to give the sense that she is trapped inside of
them. We used a white, red and black colour scheme to stay with the style
of the film as it is in black and white with the colour red highlighted.The
reds of the poster convey the themes of death and is the main indicator of
something that has gone missing in the film so this theme stick with the
poster as well.The whites convey safety and the real world as the character
is walking towards the light.The blacks convey the entrapment as it is on
the photograph. Mystery and tension is also shown through the poster as
the mysterious dark figure is ambiguous as the audience cannot see who it
is so raises questions.The screaming girl inside the photographs also
creates an enigma as the audience will question why she is in the
photograph and why she is screaming. As a reference for the poster we
used similar themed films in the thriller genre as a way to gain insight into
what styles we can use.We also referenced the end of the end of our film
in the poster as the character leaves both the photographs and camera
behind while walking away into a white light so creates an open end, which
creates more mystery and questions for the audience, so we wished to use
this in our poster as well.The font in the poster is also features a dark
colour scheme with a white outer glow to flow with the colour scheme of
the film.The font is also in a sans serif style so it keeps with the
minimalistic nature that we intended for the poster.

6. Comparisons from film to poster

7. Poster inspiration/influences
For the poster inspiration we looked into the idea of minimalism mixed with a surreal
theme that is almost uncanny realism.The minimalistic theme came from the main
protagonist being surrounded by a white background which contrasts with the black
colouring of his silhouette.We used the same stylistic choices from our film as we included
the red into our poster which is used frequently throughout our film.
Our film poster was influenced from many components of other posters, the main
influences were films such as shutter, polaroid andThe box.These film posters featured
similar themes and styles to our such as the mystery and minimalism in colour and style.
For the film poster for the box red is used to foreshadow something happening to the
character shown on the poster and is similar to how we used red in our film and poster as a
way to foreshadow things going missing.This poster also featured a silhouette of a man
so makes him look mysterious which is similar to our poster where the main character
cannot be fully seen as it is only his outline in black.This was intended to create an enigma
into who these characters are.The use of the screaming face was used to signify that
these photographs have a dark underlying nature to them so is used to slightly unnerve
the audience.This is similar to the film poster for Shutter which we drew influence from as
it also featured a dark face giving it a unnerving feel to the whole poster, so we wished to
achieve a similar effect with the screaming women.

8. Poster Influences

9. RadioTrailer
We also researched into radio trailers and were given the task to create one to advertise
our film but to also synergise with our film poster.We discovered that the key components
were:
■ A voice over
■ Sounds from the film
■ Dialogue from the film
■ Music from the film
We wanted to use the same themes from both our poster and film in our radio trailer so
we wished to carry on the mysterious feel to it.The trailer begins with a narration from the
main protagonist Roman, that is also present at the start of the film as well.We also used
other parts of dialogue from the film as it synergises well and helps to continue the
themes into the radio trailer. In one part we have our character saying “excuse me do you
mind if I can take your photo” so this conveys the camera iconography that is present in
the film. Each time the dialogue comes to an end, a diegetic camera shutter noise can be
heard to transition into the next sound.This reinforces the camera iconography but also
gives hints into what the narrative of the film is about and what the narrative device is.We
also have a voice over overlayed over this narrating general information of the film such as
“coming soon” as it is intended to notify the audience what the name of the film is, when
it is released and who has produced it.

10. Radio trailer influence
For our radio trailer we decided upon using the general stereotypes for a radio trailer as
they are the ones that are the most memorable for audiences.We used a low tone
narrator, sound from within the film and we mentioned the director and production while
refencing others films that have been made by them.We also used the soundtrack from
the film similar to how other radio trailer sample there soundtrack from the films.We tried
to not make the radio trailer as serious as our film as it wouldn’t encourage the audiences
to go watch it if the narration sounded boring and monotone, so this is why we didn’t use
the typical voice that horror or thriller radio trailers use as they aren’t as memorable.

11. Viral Marketing campaign
After creating both our poster and radio trailer we also decided to research into viral ads
and viral marketing strategies for our film.We decided to create a viral marketing website
advertising a ‘new’ camera that is on sale labelled “Get out of my life camera”.We wanted
to use this viral marketing as it is a fun and easy way to market to your target audience
and is great to raise awareness for your film.
TheViral ad represents our film as we have used the same camera from within the film for
this website.We have made the website look like a poorly made teleshopping commercial
that features a video of the camera as it rotates.You are also able to ‘buy’ the camera on
the website however it is stated it is out of stock due to it going missing.This links the
website back to our film as objects and people go missing in the narrative because of the
camera.The website also features descriptive text describing the camera which can give
the audience hints as to what the films narrative is about.

12. How effective is the combination of your
final product and the ancillary texts overall?
Overall, I feel as if our final product and ancillary texts are effective for the means we
wished.We conducted research beforehand, to give us insight into what we could create
for our final poster.We all created our own designs first from the research and then
decided on the final one and improved upon that one.We also created a survey asking our
audience what they thought of our poster and we received a positive response stating that
the effect of the poster was very thrilling and mysterious which were the intended themes
and emotions that we wished to evoke from the poster.The Radio trailer received the
same response with only minor tweak having been said to make.We also utilised synergy
of our film in the poster, radio trailer and viral ad as it gives a sense of identity to the whole
product and advertisements but also makes it easy for the audience to identify the genre
of the film.We wanted to keep the advertisements related to the film by using
iconography and themes from within it such as the colour scheme and the use of
photographs and cameras.To conclude I feel as if we were successful in combining our
final product and ancillary text In an effective way. I think we were successful in ensuring
our film was viewed the way it was along with the advertisements, which was as a mystery
thriller with neo-noir elements.