Question 2 media evaluation

1. Charlene Kelly
How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary texts?

2. Producing, Distributing and
Sharing Material
 Before the internet and social media
Short films like I Miss You would rely
heavily on film festivals to reach their
audience. Short films were an
opportunity for amateur directors to
showcase their talent through a film
about a topic they are most
passionate about. Short films often
have a very small budget and very
little input from big studio companies.
 More often that not if a short film had
a commercial release it was because
it was more than likely linked to a
larger production of a film for
example Pixar have just recently
released ‘Tales From Radiator
Springs’ as a follow on from their

3. Synergy
 Synergy has a massive impact on the media industry especially when it comes to
the promotion of films. Synergy is where two companies will pair up and create an
arrangement that is beneficial to them both for example, in 2012 Mount Dew
paired up with the producers of The Dark Knight Rises and created a promotional
advert which featured Gothem city (the city in which The Dark Knight is set. Within
the advert you see an individual caught up in the middle of a fight take a sip from
a bottle of Mount Dew as soon as he does this the street is suddenly empty and a
voice over suggests that Mount Dew takes you to Gothem city.
 Synergy is extremely popular in the media industry as it offers both companies
promotion of their products to different audiences for example, this particular team
up of Mount Dew and The Dark Knight Rises works particularly well as Mount
Dew is mainly targeted towards young males who are also members of The Dark
Knight Rises’ target audience meaning when they see the advert they are far
more likely to then go see the film. Similarly to this a Mount Dew truck is
conveniently placed on the streets during a scene from The Dark Knight.
 Synergy is a vital and important part of disrupting the promotional material of a
film as it means film producers can reach an audience they might not have
originally reached leading to the popularity of the film massively increasing.
 Although synergy helps to promote a film massively it is also extremely costly
meaning many small film companies can’t afford to merge with well known
brands. For example, my short film would never feature on a bottle of fizzy drinks
as my budget for the film was extremely small and this type of advertising costs
hundreds of thousands.
 A perfect example of synergy would be my film’s website set up in order to
promote the film and provide the audience with extra information such as: film
festival showing, full cast, back stage footage etc. this website would be operated
by Warp Films and will therefore be an example of synergy as it would also
promote their other products.

4. Promotional Campaign
(Convergence)
 When considering the promotion of my short film it is important to
note that there is multiple media platforms that hasn’t even been
considered during my project due to the cost and time it would
take to successfully make a promotional campaign for the public
to see.
 For example my short film would not be advertised within a
magazine or on a website of a successful film company without a
massive amount of work. I would firstly be required to reach out
to the company I was wanting to advertise my film in. If they were
willing to give me the time of day I would then be required to
show them my film along with many different positive reviews of
my film from well known and trusted film critics.
 Even then advertising my film in one magazine wouldn’t be
enough to reach out to all of my target audience, I would be
required to have reviews and posters in many magazines of all
genres as well as advertising and promoting on other media
platforms which may require me to pay for radio slots, social
media adverts, television adverts which would end up costing me
hundreds of thousands, a budget which is far too unrealistic for
my film and any short film not produced by a well known
production company.
 When considering the different platforms to advertise on it is

5. Promotional Campaign
(Convergence)
 In my personal opinion I believe the most significant media platform to
promote any film is the internet. Web 2.0 allows us to be both
prosumers and consumers and with the technology available today
allows us to reach an audience we once could only dream of, as said in
a previous slide before the internet short films relied solely on film
festivals to reach their audiences however nowadays due to the
technology available short film’s can reach audiences around the globe.
Using my film for example, there once would have been a time where
the only individuals who seen our work would be the our teacher and
the moderator however due to the development of social media and
YouTube we can now reach out to our target audience and not only
distribute our film to them but receive feedback so that we can improve
our product.
 Social media is one of the largest media platforms on the internet and
can be a free way to advertise your film for example the film Paranormal
Activity was produced on a very low budget and relied many on the
promotion of the film through their audience’s social media accounts
people would share the trailer onto their timeline that others would then
see and share it themselves leading to the film trailer connecting with
millions of people who then went on to buy tickets to see the film.
 Big social media platforms like Facebook also offer companies the
opportunity to buy targeted advertising. This is when Facebook send
messages and links of the promotional material to their users that fall

6. Promoting I Miss You
 They’re many different ways in which I could expand
on the promotional material I already have whist
sticking to my tight budget, some of which I have
already covered such as the use of websites and
social media such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
However they are others ways in which I could use
social media to my advantage meaning I wouldn’t
have to rely purely on shares of my promotional
material. Instead I could take advantage of the ability
to create free accounts and create pages specifically
designed to promote and advertise my film. As well as
using social media I could also devote a blog to the
promotion of my film or even create a website all of
which are free to do and all of which would allow me
to reach out to my target audience. Due to my target
audience being young and spending over 80% of their
day on social media and the internet advertising in
this way would be the most beneficial when it comes

7. Why a Poster and Review were
Required
 When promoting a short film like the one I produced it is vital to have
promotional material otherwise the audience will never hear about the
film. In order to promote my short film I produced a film poster and a film
review which could be considered the two most vital pieces of promotion
for a film.
 The review, poster and the film itself should always link and complement
one another in a way that engages the audience and allows them to
make a link between the three. It is said that we give advertising 3
seconds to catch our attention in some way before deciding whether or
not we’re going to look at it properly or move on due to this it is
important that they have features that stand out and that are appealing
to the audience.
 A review of a film, like my own, is often wrote with the intention of
persuading the audience to go and watch the film because of this it is
vital that the review is accurate and descriptive and makes a visual link
to the film in some way. To do this I included an image of Imogen and
Mason embracing one another on the love bridge. Although this
particular image was taken using a still camera it looks as though it is a
screenshot from the film which helps to engage potential viewers of the
film.
 A film poster, like the review should also link closely to the film itself in
order for the audience to make a connection between the two because

8. Combination of the 3 Tasks
 When producing my ancillary tasks it was vital that I created a synergy
between my short film, the poster and the review to ensure they all
linked together in order to make the promotion of my film as successful
as possible.
 Each aspect of my task relied on each other in order to work effectively
for example, in order to write a successful review I needed to have
produced my film but in order to make my film reach it target audience I
needed a review and a poster in order to promote the film. It was vital
that both the ancillary tasks linked closely with the film in order to make
the film promotion a success. It was vital that the audience linked the
film with the review and poster just from a quick glance.
 The target audience for my short film is 16-21 year old females and is
intended to be showcased online. Due to this the production of a film
poster might seem like quite an unnecessary production however, film
posters are quite often shared and passed on social media which helps
to promote the film to a larger audience, maybe even some that I
wouldn’t be able to reach through poster placement alone. The internet
is the perfect place to distribute promotional material for my poster as
most members of my target audience owns a social media account.
Social media is also the perfect place to share the review of my film as
many reviews are often shared via a link to the magazines website.
 The film poster is also a great way to promote the film being shown at
film festivals around the world which could help to increase my

9. Barthes’ Enigma Code
 Barthes suggested that they’re five codes to describe the
narrative of a storyline these codes are as followed:
 Hermeneutic/Enigma code, Proairetic/Action code, Semantic
code, Symbolic code, Referential code.
 Barthes states that every media production includes at least one
of these codes in order to effectively engage the audience.
 Hermeneutic/ Enigma code – This code refers to the mystery
aspect of the film. All three of my productions set up an enigma
code as the audience are left wondering why Imogen is walking
around on her own, making them wonder what is going on and
what is going to happen next. The audience receives small hints
as to what is going on throughout the film however aren’t directly
shown what is going on, they are left to figure it out themselves
until the end when the enigma is answered.
 Similarly to this my poster and review also help to set up a
enigma code as in the main image of the poster Imogen is fading
away leading the audience to wonder why meaning they’re more
likely to watch the film. Again my review reveals just enough
information about the film without going into too much detail
leaving the audience wondering what happens in the film which

10. Uses and Gratifications (Blumler and
Katz – 1974)
 The Four Needs Theory – Blumler and Katz suggested that the public use media to satisfy their needs
which often fall into one of the following categories:
 Escape and Diversion from every day life, Surveillance and Information, Personal Relationships,
Personal Identity
 It is important that my ancillary task combined with my film work together in order to fulfil the four
needs in order to appeal to my target audience and keep them engaged.
 Escape and Diversion from every day life – Watching I Miss You and the reading the review would
make the audience feel as though they are temporarily in a different world, their mind would be so
preoccupied by the products that they would forget about any problems in their own life and instead
worry about Imogen's.
 Surveillance and Information – My ancillary tasks work perfectly together to fulfil this category as they
provide the audience with information about the film, including release dates, overall ratings, cast
members, personal opinions about the film etc. This leaves the audience feeling as though they are
well informed about the filming meaning they are more likely to speak to others about it which leads to
further promotion of the film.
 Personal Relationships – All three of my productions work in harmony to fulfil this category as they help
the audience to develop personal relationships with one other as once they have watched the film they
might then share it on social media for their friends to see, similarly to this they may share the film
poster encouraging others to watch the film or they may read the review and discuses it in comparison
to their own opinion with others that have also read it.
 Personal Identity – The combination of my productions also work well together to fulfil this category as
many members of the target audience will be able to relate to the storyline, teenage breakup, leaving
them feeling as though they can emotionally connect with Imogen. The poster also helps as Imogen is

11. My Film Poster
 The poster is one of the most vital promotional pieces
and it should help set the tone, genre and storyline of the
film. It is important that the poster links closely with the
film in order to ensure that the audience makes the link
between the two when they see the poster.
 In most cases the poster features an image that relates to
the film hence why I have chosen to take a long shot of
the main character walking up a street in the centre of
Newcastle which is where my film is set, this shows
visual iconography between the poster and the film as the
audience can easily link the poster to the film just by
looking at the image alone due to the location and the
pose being the same as what is featured throughout the
film.
 The choice to take the image from behind was made as
for a good proportion of the film the audience is following
Imogen around as she relives dates herself and Mason
shared together. I also edited the image of Imogen and
placed it within a different layer on top of the background
so that I could feature it in colour. The purpose of doing
this was in order to help the audience make a link
between the poster and the film as Imogen wears the
same clothing throughout most of the film (the clothing
featured in the main image of the poster) I also edited the
image by changing the adjustments to make it look as
though Imogen is fading away, I made this decision as I
feel as though it hints at the ending of the film without
giving too much away which again helps to link the two
productions together.
 The font used on the poster looks as though it was

12. My Film Review
 My review was based closely on my style model, a
short film review from the magazine Little White
Lies, the target audience of this particular
magazine is quite young and falls within the age
range of my target audience because of this I
ensured that my review looked as close to my
style model as possible in order to attract the
attention of my target audience.
 The main purpose of a film review is to help attract
the target audience through a non-biased
individual’s personal opinion. It is important that
the review links closely with the film and presents
accurate information, because of this the written
aspect of my review took the form of the typical
conventions of a film review including stats, ratings
and an outline of the film.
 In order to help the audience make a link between
the review and the short film I took a still image of
the two main characters embracing one another at
one of the locations we filmed at this allowed me
to create an image for the review that looked like a
screenshot from the film. I also make the decision
to feature the image in black and white, similarly to
the flashback scenes in my film, in order for the
audience to make a visual connection between the
two. This shows Visual iconography between all
three productions as similarly to the poster just b y

13. Conclusion
 Overall I believe that my main product and my two ancillary tasks work
together effectively and successfully to help portray the genre, tone and
storyline of the film without giving away too much.
 The ancillary products work extremely well when it comes to the
promotion of the short film and really help to connect and draw in both
my primarily target audience and my secondary target audience.
 Due to the distribution of the poster a wider audience will be drawn in to
viewing the short filming due to them seeing the poster featured either
online or around the city centre in magazines or featured on billboards.
 Due to the three tasks having a synergy, working together for a greater
outcome I believe they have been extremely successful.
 All three products also show visual iconography between them meaning
the audience can easily link the three together due to the images on the
poster and the review representing aspects of the narrative of the film,
intriguing and drawing in the audience.
 To conclude I believe the effectiveness of my main task and ancillary
tasks has been very successful and I am happy with the outcome of all
three projects as I believe they all work together perfectly to promote
one another, helping draw in a wide range of audiences including those
that do not fall within either of my target audiences.