The document discusses the development of a film poster and magazine article for a short film about a lost item, emphasizing the need to adapt the designs to align with changes in storyline and conventional aesthetics. It highlights challenges faced in creating a successful advertisement, as well as the positive impact of effective reviews on film publicity. Ultimately, the combination of the two marketing tools is seen as an effective strategy for reaching the target audience.

1. Question 2: How effective is the
combination of your main product
and ancillary tasks?
Lyndsay Essex

2. Short film and poster
I chose to do a poster because I could
incorporate it into the short film itself,
because I knew beforehand that the
film would be about finding a lost
item or symbol of something (The end
product was a doll, which acted as a
symbol of childhood), and so to make
a classic ‘Missing’ poster made sense
to advertise the film.
Developing this poster meant making
many different versions were made,
especially due to sudden storyline
changes caused by technical My research found missing poster
difficulties. These issues meant that templates which I vaguely followed, to
small elements such as text or logos make the ‘Missing’ poster as close to
had to be changed to make sense. the stereotypical posters as possible,
with a small square image, large block
writing (usually in red) at the top, with a
description and contact details at the
bottom.

3. Version 1: Conventional film poster
Small description of
Appropriate background To fit conventions of other film
photo, illustrates what is posters, I tried to make one
what is being advertised missing, draws attention.
using a full background image,
with a short description of the
film. I didn’t complete this
version as I felt strongly that it
wouldn’t give the correct idea
about the film, and was too
vague to be used as an
advertising poster. I also think
that due to the style of poster,
the font which fits the film
didn’t fit the poster style,
further evidence that the style
of poster didn’t work with the
film’s theme and target
Title : bold, noticeable, Website information & tagline:
Big letters in bright clear, colour contrast against
audience.
colour draws attention. darker background.

4. Version 2: Missing posters.
Tear off sections, contact details & film outline, website and
logos. Clear information, fits conventions of ‘Missing’ Brighter colours and clearer photo, no
poster and film poster (cast, directors, etc at bottom) tear-off sections & rearranged logos.

5. Finished product
The final version had been Changed text to fit the changed storyline,
changed to fit last-minute logos, more clear font on link to website.
story changes, as well as a
clear photo and text.
The difference between
the first attempt and the
finished version shows the
development of ideas and
discovering that
something which is
conventionally correct is
wrong for my piece.

6. Magazine article
After looking at film reviews in magazines such as Empire, or film
reviews online, I created a basic template to stick to, setting out
where which piece of text would be, and where pictures would go. I
decided what the text would include by looking at language used in
other reviews.
I used this example for the layout of the final piece, using several
design ideas, such the main photo at the top and the list of
information (Such as length, director and release date). I also added a
URL for the magazine’s website and a star rating for the film.
My film, being much shorter and only using one simple plot had some different details, for example the caption
over this article’s photo there is information about plot lines and cameo appearances, I decided to include a
quote, and have the article including an interview, where I could explain more details of the film itself.

7. Effect of a good review
• Film institutions benefit from a good review,
as the publicity gained from positive press
will gain the institution and any
organisations associated with it popularity,
and in turn more money, as reviews are
essentially free advertisements which many
people read before seeing a film, and has
the ability to change the audience’s opinions
on what they see.

8. Finished magazine article
Title – film name mimics
poster, short line on article.
Film still &
caption,
Film stills have
photo
captions.
taken for
Brief plot the article,
summary & film
article website
intro. URL, star
rating.
Film
information
– certificate, Short
director, reviews,
producer, few
genre, magazines
running time have a
and release single
Reference to next
date. Page numbers, magazine review on a
weeks issue – with
name, website URL. page.
tagline.

9. Reviews representation of film
• By putting the review along
side reviews of animated
and bright, childish short
films suggests that the short
film in the main review fits
the same style.
• Caption/photo

10. Magazine background images
• Very few magazines I looked at had just a plain white background, and so I decided to add a
background image, relating to the magazine article, rather than the short film aspect. I found a
number of images, tested each against the text and tried using Photoshop on a few. Many
didn’t work because the font I had decided to use wasn’t clear against the background, or
didn’t work across the double page spread.
Tried with white text and different
font but was still unclear, didn’t
show filmstrip. Also the dull colour
Didn’t show much of filmstrip, wouldn’t fit a bright review about
Article text font and colour unclear text. Against background a happy film, more colours were
wasn’t clear over this design. texture. needed.
I cut off the plain side and used a zoom
of the filmstrip, as it added more
colours, as colourful has connotations
of ‘bright’ and happy , fitting the style of
Some areas too dark & some too Still looked plain white, titles and the film, and kept with the house style
light for text colour and font. bottom headers of magazine of film which is appropriate in a movie-
Didn’t fit with theme and style. weren’t clear. based magazine.

11. Other Ideas:
• As the main object in the film is a doll, to appeal
to a wider audience of younger children Rosie
could be sold as a separate toy. However as the
toy I used is an existing toy from the early 90’s,
so if this was a real film, an original and
distinctive toy would would have been created
and sold separately.
• The music used in the film could also be used to
advertise both the film and the band, if a music
video was created to go with the song, the film
could also be used to advertise the band.

12. Summary
• Overall, I think the combination of magazine
article and film poster works well, as the
poster can be incorporated into the film as
well as advertise the film, and the magazine
is a good way of reaching larger numbers of
the target audience (Older teens/Young
adults, who are more interested in films, and
so more likely to watch a short silent film.).