,,

1. How effective is the combination of the main
product and ancillary tasks?

2. I feel that my three pieces of work work well together in order to
make an effective promotional package. I believe that they all
contain a symbiotic link enabling them to look like the belong with
one another, which adds to the professionalism of the promotional
package. This was something I wanted to focus on, as if the three
pieces looked amatuer, it is unlikely that they would draw in any
attention and would instead be overlooked. Another aspect I
wanted to focus on was making sure that through my ancillary
tasks, the narrative could be presented to the audience in an
effective way, but at the same time the storyline was not given
away.

3. Poster
● The first part of my ancillary task was to create a poster, when doing this the first thing I wanted to do was following
existing conventions in order to make my poster as effective as possible. The inspiration behind my poster was Friday
the 13th (2009).
● The image itself dominates the frame, the general mise-en-scene gives the audience a general idea of the narrative
based on the background location. Suggesting that the film itself is going to take place in the woods. This is also
suggested by the title ‘Deadwood Grove’. One of the reasons we chose this for the title of our film was for the title to
anchor the narrative and allow audiences to identify the link between the two. The title is the biggest font on the page
and is presented in the centre of the frame, allowing the audience to see it clearly. By placing it towards the bottom of
the frame, it gives the audience more to look at regarding the main image.
● Other mise-en-scene elements help the audience to establish genre, by the audience being able to identify this, this
will add to the effectiveness of my poster and therefore my promotional package. The mask is the most significant and
conventional of the slasher subgenre, as is the baggy dark clothing. The mask allows the audience to fear the
unknown and is a very successful in doing so, which is the main reason we followed this convention. Furthermore, the
fog creates an eerie vibe and through the fog the audience are able to identify a weapon (axe), increasingly putting
forward the sub genre slasher.
● The institutional information is placed at the bottom of the poster, well out of the way as it is the least important text
on the frame.“Coming Soon” rather than a specific date, acting as a teaser so that the audience will continually be
checking to see if a date has been given. It is however, usually more conventional to see an actual date. Furthermore,
it is also conventional to have a tagline which will further indicate narrative to the audience. This is something not
present on my poster, but it something I could look into to further increase the effectiveness of our work.

5. Magazine
I believe that my magazine front cover follows typical conventions. The main image dominates the frame, it
contains a main sell line as well as other sell lines, a puff, a masthead and a skyline (tagline). The
conventions allow my front cover to look professional as does the colors used. The colours used also
help to promote the slasher sub genre as it is predominately black, white and red.
The mask plays a huge role in the main image, I believe that it is important regarding my promotional package
to have my killer presented in all three pieces in order to create a symbiotic link to increase recognition of
all my products. It is conventional in all slashers to have the antagonist as the main focus, as that is who
the audience fear the most but at the same time are the most interested in, which is why I did not want the
protagonists presented on the front cover or the poster, as it would be less attractive as well as less
recognisable as a slasher film.
Additionally, by having ‘Deadwood Grove’ both present on the poster as well as the front cover, it allows the
audience to put a title to the face, as well as creates another symbiosis between the two. Furthermore, the
presence of the word ‘dead’ insinuates to the audience that there will be some deaths in the film, resulting
in further to the slasher sub genre.
I personally feel that the main product is the most effective piece of the promotional package. However, I feel
that with the addition of my ancillary pieces it enables my overall campaign to become more effective.
Where as, if there was no main product and it was merely just the ancillary pieces, they would not be able
effective in promoting my film, Deadwood Grove.

7. Trailer
I believe that our trailer is effective and would successfully draw in
our target market. One reason I think this is because our target
audience are a similar age to the protagonists in the film.
Effectively, this would make the target audience more curious
about what the characters are up to and may also be able to
identify with some of their behaviour. An example of this may
be hanging out with friends, drinking, as seen at the beginning
of our trailer. Another could be going away for the weekend,
unsupervised, just like we see in Friday the 13th. Similarly, in
this film we are exposed to a group of teenagers acting a similar
way to those in our trailer. Because Friday the 13th has similar
conventions to ours and was a successful film, this suggests
that our plot will be attractive to fans on the slasher sub genre.
Furthermore, by having a masked killer, it adds suspense and
mystery and anticipation for audiences. Drawing them in,
effectively wanting to discover who it is and the motive behind
the killings. One of our inspirations for costumes and props
regarding our antagonist was Mike Myers from the Halloween
franchise, who audiences see wearing baggy, dark overalls and
a white baseball mask. One thing that persuaded us to have a
similar costume was based on the fact it is very simplistic, yet
is effective and is also enticing and attractive to audiences.

8. Within our trailer itself I believe there are a few moments that will make the audience jump. The first one being when
the audience see Antonia on the floor, with the antagonist ready to swing an axe at her. Secondly, when we see
Shauna grabbed from behind, with her mouth being covered so she cannot scream for help. Lastly, when Selina
is escaping to the car and we see the antagonist emerge from the trees.

9. Teaser
Poster
The teaser poster itself main focus is the image. The image itself can be described as creepy, based on the contrast used to block
out half the antagonists face. By this image being a medium close up extensive detail is shown of the mask, which is the main
symbiosis across all of our pieces allowing audiences to strengthen their recognition of his role and that he is the main
character/antagonist. Allowing them to predict what he is going to get up to. This idea could be developed further through the use of
background. The audience will be excited with anticipation as to whether the to film will take place in an abandoned forest as the
poster and teaser poster suggests, further drawing them into want to watch the film.

10. Symbiosis
The poster and magazine front cover do not just create a symbiosis with our main product but also help with the
promotion of our film. One way the poster does this is through the promotion of our antagonist. This will allow audiences
to have the recognition factor, so when they see the mask or a similar mask, they will associate it with “Deadwood
Grove”. This is also something that the poster does - not only by the main image but with the main sell line. Exclusive
interviews with cast members are presented to convince audience to purchase the magazine to gain inside information
and perspective regarding the plot which could further encourage audiences to want to watch the film.
Even though the two camera shot types differ on the poster and magazine front cover, there is still a recognition factor
from costume elements (including the mask), allowing the audiences to associate both pieces with one another. Relating
this back to the main task of the trailer, ‘Jake Woods’ our antagonist, is seen on many occasions from a range of different
shot types, including those in the ancillary pieces. Through this connection and symbiosis across the three pieces it
makes them all more effective.
Another symbiotic link is textual information. On both ancillary pieces the name of the film is presented as it is a vital
piece of information they would need to remember in order to go and watch the film. The only difference decreasing the
effectiveness of the two ancillary pieces in the fact that the title of the film is not written in the same font. The reason
behind this is because the font used on the poster was not suited to the professional nature of our magazine and made it
look more amateur.
Other textual information we have used includes a tagline, a release date and ‘coming soon’. However, they are not
presented on both ancillary pieces, again decreasing the symbiotic link between the two.

11. Through symbiotic links and symbiosis across the two ancillary pieces and the main task. The ancillary pieces give the
audience a minor knowledge and understanding regarding the narrative of the film. But from repeated patterns such as
the skeleton mask, they will be able to identify this character as the antagonist. Furthermore, the trailer confirms this and
also gives the audiences more perspective into the plot, making it become more realistic, effective and enticing.
Having an appeal on the audience is very important. The trailer will have the biggest appeal as it is the most visual and
most detailed. It will give the audience a clear understanding of the narrative, which is not something that is put across in
detail via the ancillary pieces. This is common sense as my trailer is moving media whereas the ancillary pieces are still
media, which is why it is important we made our trailer as good as possible to draw in our target audience.
Other characters are presented in the trailer, allowing for the audience to guess their roles and try to guess the fate of
each individual character, allowing them to engage with the storyline more - which is something that was put forward by
Propp, as well as stereotypes and expectations put forward by Wes Craven in Scream 1996. Despite this the main focus
still remains on the antagonist. If the audience do not engage with him, it is unlikely they will want to go and watch the
film.
Enigma is “a person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand” this is presented through our trailer. One
reason is as to why the teenagers went to the park they did and what they was expecting to find or gain from their journey.
Another is why does Jake kill the teenagers as well as why he killed Jenny beforehand? These questions will further
intrigue the audiences to want to watch the film to find out.
Iconography is key and will be a constant reminder of sub genre. Through the use of the axe being present in the trailer
and poster, the audience will be reminded of the slasher genre and will then expect to see brutal deaths with the axe.