The document discusses the effectiveness of combining a film's main product (poster) with ancillary texts (trailer, magazine). The author ensured the poster, trailer, and magazine had a common thriller theme and linked in terms of genre. The same distinctive font was used for the film title on the poster and trailer, while a more formal font was used for the magazine title to conform to conventions. Images and costumes were also consistent across products to describe the narrative and characters. This helped link the products and make the overall package more recognizable for audiences. Binary opposites between good and evil characters/tones were portrayed across the products to provide intrigue and different perspectives into the film.

1. M A T T L O V E T T
How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary
texts?

2. My initial plan with my product was to ensure it had a common theme throughout, so that the
main and ancillary texts were clearly recognisable for the same film. This is highly important as
the 3 products would all be sold as a package, promoting the film so must link in terms of the
theme and genre it is creating (in my case was a thriller) Baring this in mind, I therefore decided
to use the same distinctive font for the titling on both the film poster and the film trailer. I didn’t
use the same font for the titling on the magazine because after thorough research, it became clear
to me that this differs for most films so I wanted to conform to this convention and use a more
formal look to the title for the magazine. None the less, I also made sure that the narrative itself
was reflected in both the magazine and film poster as both gave hints as to what the genre or
narrative was about.
For the film poster, I used an image of the antagonist looking
menacing and I used Photoshop to edit this to black and white to
create this dark feel for the character and to also hint to the audience
that he would be the antagonist. I positioned him in the foreground
of the poster to also show that he has a large amount of importance in
the film, but, he is not the main focus. The most important character
is however the protagonist who is positioned in front of him. I edited
this image to quite bright colours to show that he is the protagonist in
this film. I believe it is important to ensure that you address the
characters in the film with separate texts such as posters and
magazines otherwise the audience wouldn’t have as good of an
understanding as to what the film’s narrative is about.

3. In terms of mise en scene, I believe I was successful in
ensuring that everything from the setting to costumes
contributed to describing the narrative and genre of my
film. It all had to link together with my different products,
which is why I made sure that the antagonist wore a
distinctive coat and glasses combination that the audience
could easily recognise from the trailer, poster and magazine.
Similarly, I did the same for the brother as he was also
wearing the same outfit in the film poster as he was in
opening scene of the film. This helps to link both products
together and makes the overall product more recognisable
for the audience.
With my film poster, I wanted to make it appear as though
someone painted it. My reasoning for choosing this style was
after researching and analysing different film poster. The
stylistic influence I chose for my poster was from the film
‘Fight Club’ as this film has quite a dark feel to it, similar to
my own film, however, the bright colours used on the poster
creates a sense of mystery as to what the film’s narrative is. I
wanted to ensure that the audience could link both the
poster, magazine and film together, however, I also wanted
to leave the audience questioning the film which increases
the successes as it is more interesting and appealing in my
opinion.

4. My magazine uses features that are recognisable to the film trailer as it
replicates the dark and evil tone that the trailer creates. With the image
of the antagonist holding the rope, it suggests the role of this character
and that he will be most likely committing a crime. This is also reinforced
through the use of the shadowing effect that I achieved when I took the
photo. I used a backing light and positioned it next to the character to
create this shadow effect on his face. The impact this had was it lead the
audience to make an assumption that he is the antagonist of the film and
already create an image of what the character will be like. I did this after
seeing an existing example of a film magazine in which a character
holding a gun was made to look serious and emotive.
In addition, I also used a dark background which also indicates the narrative of the trailer. It also
contrasts with the film poster which is what I wanted to achieve as it provides a different aspect
to the overall package of the film and it shows a difference between good and evil (good = poster
and evil = magazine). I believe it was important to ensure that there was a variety of images of
different characters as it provides a more varied look into the cast and which characters the
audience will expect to see when they watch the film.

5. I certainly used the theory of Levi Strauss’ binary opposites when comparing my trailer,
magazine and poster. My poster in particular, suggests binary opposites as it is portrays good
V evil or protagonist V antagonist through the positioning and editing of the images used of
both characters. In the foreground the character is clearly perceived as the antagonist as he
looks menacing and evil as a result of the black and white effect I put on the image. In
comparison to the character in front who is clearly the protagonist as there is a bright and
colourful effect used for this image.
On the other hand, from the trailer it is clear that the film isn’t as simple as just good V evil as
the brother seeks out revenge and kidnaps the antagonist which could ask the question if he
truly is the protagonist of the film as he is still committing a crime out of anger and hatred
towards this character for kidnapping his brother.
Levi Strauss: Binary Opposites
In terms of improvement, I feel one way I could’ve done my products differently to really make
the products as effective as possible would be to use the same font on the title on the magazine
as well as the trailer and poster. The reasoning for this is because I feel as though it would help
the audience recognise exactly what film it is through the distinctive font of the title. However,
I do not feel that this hindered the success of my products as the audience would still be able
to understand exactly what film the magazine article was on.