How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?
1. How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary
text?
2. My A2 Media Studies coursework required me and my group to create a film trailer. This film
Trailer had to link with the ancillary text which would be used on our poster, magazine and
Production company logo. The way in which we did this was by using certain elements in each
Of them for example we use red throughout our texts. This was not just because we thought it
Looked good but that it is a common convention associated with the horror genre and we
Decided it would be a good idea to follow it.
As you can see from the above we have not used red for every single bit of text as this would
Look silly however we have used it for our title throughout to keep consistency. On the film
Magazine we have used as well for half of the title. The reason behind this is that we believe
White is a colour which contrasts red well and also the idea behind this magazine is that the
Computer light is shining on his face (that side of the magazine). On our film poster we have
Used it on the recording sign. The reason for this is that we wanted more red on our magazine
But through looking at other posters we saw that things like the production block isn’t
Traditionally same colour as the title.
3. Furthermore the way in which we linked the title with the idea of “The Dark Net”. Was by
Putting the curser in-between the letter this makes it look like it is someone searching the web
and therefore it enhances the concept that our film is about people searching the web.
The logo on the far right is the one we have used for our social media campaign. We have
used this as it builds excitement and anticipation in the sense that you are not giving away
Much to the reader.
4. Furthermore we have used props and costumes as a way of combining both our product and
Ancillary text. We used the hoodie over the killers head this goes with our theme that the
Internet can be a dangerous place and you don’t always know who you are talking to. We
Convey this point throughout the opening stages of the trailer.
We make this point throughout the trailer as this was our theme “The Dark Net” and the fact
That people don’t know who this person is makes it even more terrifying. We used the tagline
“Going offline will be killer”. This too links with the theme that the killer is constantly watching
You. This tagline could be taken in a number of ways by the viewer. For example it could be
A play on words that these social network addicts will only be offline when they are killed.
5. We wanted to use the fact the killer always lurks in the shadows and we wanted to use the
Illusion of annonminity to create an effect that the killer could be anywhere.
. This is used on the poster and magazine in the sense you don’t learn anything about
Him despite being able to see part of him you cant make out anything distinguishing.
Throughout the trailer this is continued as we only show the killer from shots which hide his
Identity.
Also we have used the killers weapon in many shots this may be a more subliminal type of
Continuity in the sense that people may not immediately get the link between the knife and
“Slasher Productions”.
6. After researching teaser trailers, I learnt that the trailer is the basis for which the themes,
Characters, images, colours and symbols of the film and its synergy campaign are first taken, as it
Shows parts of the film. Overall I think that our trailer adds effect to the overall package as it
Includes the same characters, colours and themes as the magazine cover and film poster. For
Example, there are shots of a mysterious man with his hood up (our killer) and this goes to show
The repetition of this image meaning the audience would know they are part of the same film by
Looking at our media texts. The font that is used in the titles of the trailer is the same font used in
The film poster, which also creates a link for the audience across the media texts. The film trailer
, poster and magazine are all linked in terms of genre this is used through the colour pallet used,
The typography used and iconography used. For example red font is used because it is
Associated with blood and horror.
7. The settings are urban the reason for this is that the target audience can relate to it in the sense
Our film is based at an urban group. Furthermore teens using social network is easily
Incorporated with this idea…
These are just some of the examples of urban areas we have used in our film. We used lots of
Different areas.