2. VIRAGO AND ANCILLARY TEXTS OVERVIEW
Our main product during this project was Virago, our psychological
thriller short film. This means that IRIS production’s main focus was
Virago during the production and pre production stages, however in
post production stages, our ancillary products transitioned into our
focus. A Virago poster and radio advert would be the ancillary products
we decided on for the post production stage of our project.
Pre - Production Post-ProductionProductionjhhh
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3. ANCILLARY TEXT ONE – VIRAGO POSTER
Edited in Photoshop
Virago’s poster follows a simple yet
effective design with a base of black in
conjunction with with red highlights. Our
first means to create an effective poster
was to set any non red colour objects to a
greyscale, this can be seen in the
motorcycle helmet where grey streaks were
originally a different colour. The reason for
this choice of colour was to foreshadow
later events within the film where our
protagonist commits suicide in a scene
where a lot of blood is present. Our second
means were to add in a reflection of a
robin, this is used to create ambiguity in the
poster as it has no apparent relevance
however this is just a foreshadow for later
in the film.
To legitimise the poster, we added a variety
of social media links, production logos,
reviews and *Steel tongs font. These icons
were all researched to find out how to get
the most professional look for our poster
4. Creating drafts of
what the post will
actually look like
within a real world
context allows for a
greater perception of
the professionality of
the post.
CREATING
CONTEXT
5. ANCILLARY TEXT ONE - CONTINUATION
Comparing to other ancillaries
Shutter Island is an example of a large budget/highly
distributed film that also falls within the psychological thriller
genre. When comparing to Virago’s poster, multiple
similarities can be drawn, firstly is the overall dark base the
post lays on throughout the imagery. This dark base can be
viewed as metaphoric resemblance to the film’s plot and
atmosphere, In Virago this is explored through the suicide of
the protagonist as he fights his internal struggles. Shutter
Island also features a large image of the protagonist on the
top and large image of the location (central set piece) for the
film, Virago’s poster is similar however we merged the ideas
of these two images and resulted with the motorcycle helmet
as it’s a direct link to our protagonist but also insinuates his
love for his bike and its prevalence throughout Virago.
6. ANCILLARY TEXT ONE - CONTINUATION
Comparing to other ancillaries
The Dark Knight is an action drama oppose to a
psychological thriller, however Heath Ledger’s portrayal of
the Joker is widely known as a psychological maniac.
Nevertheless, this poster (due to centring around Ledger)
follows a lot of the conventions I previously mentioned about
the Shutter Island poster: The poster to the right uses the
already mentioned base of black to establish a tone for the
film along with two distinct images that will play a part in the
film (Joker and the Batman playing card).
The main point of interest with this poster compared to the
Sutter Island poster is the contrast in colours that this poster
includes. Similar to Virago’s, The Dark Knight has grey
scaled all colours besides red which foreshadows later
events of the film
7. ANCILLARY TEXT TWO – RADIO ADVERT
Virago’s Radio Trailer
Overview
To make an effective radio trailer, I needed to know the basic
conventions of one. What I found was that film radio spots
include a: voice over announcing starring cast/crew and
producers, music and some sort of sound/effect that relates
to the film. In our case, the cast were the members IRIS
Productions; the producer was IRIS Productions and lastly
the sound effect linked to the film that we decided to include
was the engine of our protagonist’s motorcycle.
Comparing to real radio spots
In the Star Wars radio adverts, these conventions are also present
Starring cast/crew: George Lucas as Director
Music: Star Wars theme
Sound effect: Light Saber
Producer: Lucas Film
Star Wars Radio Trailer
