1. Evaluation Question 2: How
Effective Is The Combination Of
Your Main Product And Ancillary
Task?
By Margaret Ansu

2. Assignment Brief
• For Unit G324 we had to create a 5 minute short film which
may be live action, animated or a combination of both. After
completing the film for our ancillary task we were assigned to
create a film poster of our film and a film review of our
magazine.

3. How my poster follows the forms of the drama genre
The poster uses a single image of “Lucy” the main female character.
The close up of her face allows those who view the poster to examine
the emotions is expressing. Her facial expressions conveys the
emotion of neutral sadness, by this I mean it’s clear she is not happy
but her sadness seems to be of long term suggesting she’s enduring
some form of long term hardship. This follows the conventions of a
drama film as it doesn’t convey happiness and humour but an
emotion that is of a serious nature. Also with the close up image
being the only image used for the poster, there’s nothing to take the
focus away from the character’s face, leaving most of the films back
story to the imagination of the individual with a small clue in the form
of the tag-line, “not everything is what it seems…”, adding a sinister
edge to the angelic looking image.
The simple and realistic theme of my poster upholds the
seriousness and realism that’s expected of a drama film. The
colour scheme only consist of white and yellow; white to portray
innocence and yellow to convey preciousness as innocence is
precious. The poster was inspired by the poster of the film
“Precious” as the theme of the two films are very similar.

4. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster:
Comparison between a successful film’s poster and my film
poster
This is the film poster of the film “Precious” an
independent film that blew up and came to the big
screen in 2009. The film it’s self had a lot of
influence as to how we carried out our film so I
then decided to use it’s poster as inspiration for my
own poster. I also decided to use this poster as a
template, as the film was a very successful drama
film and the poster then must have played some
part in promoting the film so well.

5. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster:
Analysis of Precious Film Poster
I liked how the poster had used quotes from reviews
and acclaimed individuals of the film world, so it help
convince people that the film was worth watching. I
decided to use this approach for my own film poster.
The title “Precious”, was made to stand out in a
unique way . The typeface was simplistic and linear
unlike those used within many film posters. However,
unlike the rest of the font on the poster the colour of
the title was orange. The use of orange alone made
the title stand out. Again I took this aspect aboard and
tried to apply it to my own work.
Lastly, I liked how the main focus of the poster was the
face of a girl, as it suggested that the girl was a major
character or component of the film. It also gave an idea
as to what the title “Precious” stood for suggesting the
two were linked and it was probably her name.
Moreover, with sole focus of the poster being on the girl,
the seriousness and feel of the film’s genre was
presented to the audience. Also it portrays the
seriousness of the film via her facial expression.

6. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster:
How I used the highlighted areas in my own film poster
I decided to replicate the use of accreditation in my
own poster. I however did not use quotes but
instead awards that the film had won, which were
not spread across the poster as the accreditations
for precious was positioned on the poster. I instead
placed the accreditations in a orderly fashion.
As you can see I did use the idea of a single person
focus. Reason being I thought it really did (when
done properly), convey the basis and ideologies of a
a drama film. The single person image I believe also
helped reinforce the emotional basis of our film
I then also decided to include the idea that the title
of the film was to stand out from the rest of the
poster by making the title yellow. I did not however,
follow this aspect through, as I thought that the
release that was also an important component of a
film poster as it informs passers-by of when the film
is accessible to view. Also the typeface I used for the
title was not linear.

7. Text Used in Poster
Nyala Regular Bold: was used for the release date, tag line and film
website. The font wasn’t of a usual choice for a drama film poster
however it was unique and I wanted to put my own spin on a
typical drama film poster. The font also had a certain eye catching
edge to it but not enough to draw attention away from the main
title which is the most important component of a film poster.
Steel Tongs: was a formatted billing
font, meaning that it was pre-coded to
allow me to enter certain pre-set
words and phrases such as “Directed
by” in the style that would usually be
used on an actual film poster’s billing.
It was simple to use once I understood
the coding. It also stands out but not
enough to take attention away from
the title.
KG Tangled Up In You: a bold font that looked rough. I thought it’ll be great
for this poster as it wasn’t too bold and blocked for a drama film poster
but it was just enough to stand out more than everything else when paired
with the colour choice of yellowish orange. The texture of the font also
reinforced the nature of the film’s title of being shady.

8. The Film Review
For my film review I wanted to achieve a simple and clean
look that kind of followed the same simplicity that was
achieved in the film poster. It wasn’t easy and many drafts
were made but I was able in the end to create a poster
that was good enough to present.
To keep with simplicity I opted to used the basic but
effective colour scheme of black and blue. Lighter blues
usually triggers the brain to experience feelings of
relaxation hence why it’s used in so many social
networking sites. Therefore I took that idea on board
along with black as the colour black is standard simple and
easy to read.

9. I included a summary box within film
reviews to give the reader a quick summary
of the film’s plot. The box is used within
many film review articles.
Another thing I adhered to was the use of a
star rating system to state how good the film
was.
Footer containing page number, magazine
issue, magazine name and website follows
the conventions of a magazine.

10. Fonts Used for Review
The text I used in the film review may have been a
different type face from the one I used in the poster but
it still follows the simplistic theme that I tried to achieve
in the poster. Like the poster the title of the film was the
largest text used in the review .
The font I used for the title article was Century Gothic
Bold, a Sans Serif typeface. I chose this typeface as Sans
Serif fonts are used within magazines and articles.
For the article's main body, the typeface was different
from the rest as I wanted it to stand out but in a way that
was subtle so I used a different font instead of making it
bold. Unlike the stand out quotes, which I’d decided to
make bold and blue in the steps of following the
conventions of film articles. Another reason why I chose
the font is because it was easy to read which is an
important factor for text within article.

11. Images Used within Review
Lucy’s costume choice contradicts the costume choice for the poster as in the poster she’s in a
white shirt to portray innocence. However in the film review she is in a black top to suggest that
somewhere within the film her innocence is taken. Within representation black clothing is
universally used to portray the darkness and evilness within an individual. Therefore I used a
photo that would hopefully convey Mr Wicks to the readers as a dangerous and dodgy character
which is then reinforced by the body language of the character as he seems threatening and
controlling specifically towards Lucy.

12. Images Used within Review
In relation to the poster, the image used within the review portrays the film in a darker
light and instead of focusing on the female character, it instead focuses on the male
character. This then could suggest to readers and viewers that both characters are of
high importance within the narrative of the film.

13. Images Used within Review
The image in the film review portrays the dynamics between the two characters;
how Mr Wicks is shown in a darker light literally as the image had been edited
around Mr Wicks to heighten shadows. Where in contrast Lucy’s seen in a lighter
view. The image is great in promoting the film and unlike the poster it shows two
characters but it gives an insight as to why Lucy is pictured in a “sad” emotional
state on the poster.

14. Using the Internet to Promote
Even though when looking at actual examples it was common to see the use of a
Twitter or Facebook page for the film also being promoted, I did not want to add it to
my poster as I thought it took away from it’s simplicity. Therefore I only added a
website address.
For the film review I did not deem it to be appropriate to use social
networking promotions within the review as it would’ve come across as
unconventional and unprofessional. I therefore stuck to what I had seen in
examples of real highly regarded film magazines such as “EMPIRE” and just
used yet another simple web address in the footer.

15. How the Poster and Film Review
Contribute to My FilmPosters are used by production companies as a marketing strategy to advertise their
films to the masses. It does so by using imagery to summaries the plot of the film. By
doing this when people see the poster and it is appealing they’re most likely to spread
the news of the film being released by word of mouth. Therefore when creating my
poster I kept this concept in mind and tried to use the best picture that depicted all of
what the movie was in one image.
On the other hand, film reviews are meant to give those who my be interested in
seeing the a film an analytical perspective of the film as it gives them more of an
insight to how well the film was executed. A review is also used to help people decide
whether the film is something they’d enjoy watching it or not.
However both film reviews and posters are great marketing strategies, as they both
raise awareness of a film. By using both methods, you’re more likely to reach a wider
population hence your target audience. I therefore believe, that these two products
played a major role in promoting the film by giving those who are interested a greater
idea of what the film is about, feeding their curiosity and leading them to the film so
that their curiosity may cease.

16. Conclusion
To conclude I think that both my ancillary task work well together as they complete
each other. For one portrays the film in one way but the other presents the film in a
another light that finishes what the other was trying to sell. Both follow the theme of
simplicity, I do however believe that I could’ve done better to link the two products
together but I am pleased with the final outcomes and think it’s great that they’re
rather different but similar at the same time.