Media evaluation

1. How effective is the combination
of your main product and
ancillary texts?
By Georgina Heisley

2. Introduction
The media products that we have created are all products that
would be created and released for the process of film
distribution. We created a film trailer, which would be used in
addition to our ancillary texts, a poster and a magazine cover,
to promote a film. We therefore needed to create a house
style and brand our products to ensure that audiences are
aware of the link between both ancillary texts and our main
product. Additionally, the products needed to follow
conventions of the films genre and created in a style best
suited to attract the target audience. Before using media
technologies to create our products, we researched genre, our
target audience and film distribution so that we were able to
then plan our products and create a house style for our media
products and ensure that we could maximize the effectiveness
of the combination of our main product and ancillary texts.

3. Genre
Jason Mittell argued that genre is used to sell products to
audiences, thus allowing them the choice of what they consume.
Social realism is “The most 'typically British' of all film genres”
(BFI). The genre focus’ on issues within contemporary society,
usually from the viewpoint of a social group who’s norms and
values are different to those of wider society.
As the genre focus’ on topics that society regards as issues, the
common themes of of the genre are forever changing.
Marginalised social groups are often represented, including the
working class, ethnic minoritys and the youth. Themes vary from
moral panics, such as gang culture, to issues considered taboo
within society, such as domestic abuse. The specific social issue
is explored in a dramatic and emotional story which focus’ on
the individual.

4. Codes and Conventions of Social
Realism
• Location shooting- to give a sense of realism
• Urban settings
• Ambient lighting
• Realistic representations of social groups
• Hand held shots
• Minimal non-diegetic sound
• Establishing shots- so the audience always
know were the scene is being taken place

5. Our audience.
Our goal as independent film makers would be to
gain critical success as opposed to commercial
success. Therefore our media products would have
the purpose of targeting a specific audience.
We decided that due to our realist representations
and exploration of complex narrative themes, our
film would attract an audience with a specific
interest in British film, likely to be middle-class and
any age over 18. Additionally, we decided that our
young cast and characters would also allow us to
appeal to 18 to 25 year olds without a specific
interest in independent film.

6. Our main product and ancillary texts
For our main product, we created a film trailer.
• Our trailer was created according to the social realist genre with the
purpose of attracting our target audience’s.
Our ancillary texts consisted of a poster and the front page of a magazine
which featured our product as the leading article.
• Much like the trailer, we created our poster with the intention of
attracting both of our target audiences.
• The magazine would attract an already likely audience, as those with an
existing interest in film would be the most likely to purchase a film
magazine. Therefore, we created our magazine cover with the intention of
attracting those with a specific interest in independent film.
Each of our the media products that we would create needed to present our
films ‘message’ to potential audiences, as all of our products would be used in
the marketing campaign for the film. We took the paradigms of Social Realism
into account when planning our main product and ancillary texts.

7. Our brand image
By creating a logo, tagline and by choosing a specific
typography; we had established a brand and a house
style. This would ensure that audiences would be able to
recognise the connection between our main product and
both our ancillary texts.
Our house style is recognisable, more so, in our trailer
and poster due to the nature of the the products. The
film and poster would both be distributed by our brand.
The magazine, on the other hand, would be distributed
by the magazine company in order to promote our brand.
Therefore, the title, font in addition to the fonts colour
palette all differ to the films house style. Our use of
image and the films title would allow the connection to
our other products to be understood.

8. Our brand image
We called our film Underfoot to reflect the
narrative, Tonys oppression of Laura. This is
done through the negative connotations that
can be interpreted through the word, which
means below or under the the feet. For
example, ‘Trampled’ may be a word suggested
by our title.

9. Our brand image
We created a bold logo of our films title, using a
colour scheme that looked like fragile skin,
which reflected the narrative. Our logo was used
in our trailer and on our poster.

10. Our brand image
Our products were linked by:
• The character Laura’s image, breaking
conventions of male dominance of narrative
• Laura’s costume, to suggest narrative
• The urban location, to suggest the genre
• The title of the film
• The films logo, to brand our products
• Ambient lighting, to create a sense of realism
• Production company

11. Our brand image
Ambient lighting was used in the footage that
we used in our main product and the images
used in our ancillary tasks to create a sense of
realism within the urban setting.

12. Our Trailer:
• Used paradigms of Social realism
• Included an establishing shot of the main setting
• Raised enigma codes
• Used action codes to create tension
• Established the main characters
• Included a production company animation
• Included the film title logo
• Included ratings and reviews
• Included directors and actors names
• Included non-diegetic sound in the form of dramatic
music to create a dramatic tone.

13. Ancillary Text - Poster
In order to attract our target audience we needed to
create a poster which displayed a clear connection to our
main product. We analysed posters from other social
realist films to help us develop our ideas. We decided
that our poster should include:
• Our house style, typography
• Our logo/ film title large enough to read
• Our tagline
• An image that suggests the narrative and raises enigma
• Conventions of the films genre
• Names of the directors, cast and production company
• The films ratings and reviews

14. The poster was edited on Photoshop CS6
and InDesign was used to add text.
Our logo stands, maximising the
effectiveness of the product’s marketing
purpose. Immediately the audience would
be aware of the films title. The uniqueness
of the logo would increase the likeliness of
the audience remembering the title,
important, as individuals unfamiliar with
our product would then be able to find our
trailer as they would know and remember
the name of the film. For those already
familiar with the logo and the main
product, the poster would develop their existing opinion of the film.
We chose an image that suggested the narrative and would engage the audience by raising
enigma. Enigma codes open questions to the audience. This makes them anticipate. Therefore,
people would need to watch the film in order for their questions to be answered.
A stereotype of the conventional female could be identified by the audience. The representation
that is mediated, is that Laura is weak, a ‘damsel in distress’. The male hand connotes power and
control, following conventions regarding masculinity. The representation of the male be seen as
superior and in control of the female. That only the hand is shown dehumanises Tony, portraying
him as nothing but violent and controlling. Conventionally, men are shown in dominant positions
and appear to be reflective of thought and intelligence. Women are physically portrayed in sexual
or reclining poses with blank or inviting expressions.

15. The framing that we have used suggests Laura’s
isolation, alone in the frame apart from the hand
around her throat. The characters body language
and facial expression was used to suggest her
discomfort within her location and to
demonstrate a negative relationship with the
character in the off screen space.
Minimal makeup was allows the viewer to
interpret her naivety and innocence. However,
we used Photoshop to manipulate the red tones
in both her lips and the tattoo. By doing this we
draw attention to the character and the hand
that strangles her. Furthermore, red is symbolic
of love, danger and passion. This would allow the
audience to make assumptions regarding
The hand has almost became part of Laura’s iconography, illustrating Tony’s control over her. Additionally,
Tony’s control is reflected in her costume, as Laura’s clothing covers her. In film, violence often attracts the
male audience. By positioning the audience to feel concern for Laura, we are also appealing to the audience
who are not attracted to violence.
the narrative. The dominant reading from the image would be that Laura is in danger. The tagline furthers
assumptions that can be made about the narrative, ‘How much is love supposed to hurt?’ indicates that her
abuser is someone who she believes to love her.
Good ratings and powerful lines from reviews have been used to assure the audience that the film is worth
watching. The use of a film festival logo directly targets audience with a specific interest in independent film.
Whilst the use of a young, attractive cast member targets our 18-25 year old audience.

16. Ancillary Task - Magazine
The image that we would use in addition to our films title
would provide the link between this product and our others.
We had to plan an image that we could create that would
raise enigma and emphasize the narrative of our film. Also, to
create a realistic magazine cover, we had to ensure the
inclusion of the codes and conventions of magazine covers.
This would involve:
• The magazine name to be clearly displayed
• A tagline for the magazine
• The creation of the magazines own house style
• The use of fonts in different sizes and colours
• The lead article’s subject made clear
• Featured articles subjects made clear
• The price and barcode

17. Photoshop CS6 and the program InDesign are
the programs that were used to create the
magazine cover.
The themes of the film are less evident in the
photograph that we used for our magazine
cover. This is because the themes would be
explored within the magazine article,
allowing the use of an image that presents a
different theme of the film; hope. The use of
the same character allows the connection to
be made between the magazine cover and
our other products. We considered using an
image of Laura and Tony, however this would
have been too similar to the image that we
used for our poster. We wanted the image to
offer a different reading to keep our audience
interested. In our pre-production planning,
we had also considered creating an image
that included the hero, Pat. We concluded that audience members who had not seen
the trailer may be led by this to believe that Pat to be the strangler from the poster.
We addressed him instead, by using the letterbox as a prop.

18. A tight frame indicates that Laura is trapped.
The characters body language indicates this
further, looking out of the letterbox at the
world that is out of her reach, hoping to be
rescued. Attention is drawn to the character
as she is the focal point of the image, her
gaze also draws the audience’s attention to
the off screen space. The purpose of this is to
engage the audience by suggesting narrative
and to raise enigma.
As with the poster, through hair and makeup
Laura is portrayed as naive and innocent. The
image builds on the ‘damsel in distress’
representation that can be read from the
poster.
The ambient lighting creates the sense of
verisimilitude in conjunction with the
location.
We chose a name and slogan for the
magazine which was appropriate for the
theme. A clear, house theme was applied to
the product by using key colours and other
headings representing featured articles have
been used to attract the audience.

19. Our main product and media texts work well as a promotional
package. Our ancillary texts both use images of our leading
female character (Laura). These images not only attract
audience attention by raising enigma codes, they represent
our character in way that is relative to the narrative of the
film. Our logo and house style can be recognised on our
poster and in our trailer, establishing the brand. All of our
media products follow the codes and conventions of the
genre, which is important as the genre attracts consumers.
Research allowed us to ensure the believability and realistic
look of our main product and ancillary texts. Our media
product and media texts would ensure the attention of our
desired audience in the intended way, which would maximise
the desired critical success of our social realist film.
However if we were able to do it again, we would include the
age certificate on the poster and make the film title clearer on
the magazine.