The document discusses the design choices made for ancillary products promoting a horror film, including a film poster and magazine cover. For the film poster, a conventional font was used for actors' names but not the demon's to avoid revealing the antagonist. An original "carved" font was used for the subheading to stand out. Scratched walls in the background leave the time frame open for audience imagination. A demon image is used as the main visual as it is conventional for horror posters. For the magazine cover, a conventional slogan and red color were used but with original glowing and font effects. A smoky forest background fits the horror genre while not revealing the time period. Both the poster and cover use direct eye contact from characters

1. MY ANCILLARY PRODUCTS
FILM POSTER:
The font I have chosen for the actor’s names looks fairly modern and simple in order to not
distract the reader’s attention from the rest of the film poster. The white font reflects the
character’s innocence although it is clear that they are not entirely innocent, as they have all
done something bad. This is rather conventional for a horror poster as it is to advertise and
not give away the narrative. Therefore, I decided to not change the font or color for the
demon’s name as I did not want to make it too obvious for my audience who the antagonist
is as it would make the narrative appear too simple and predictable.
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For my subheading, I wanted a more original and less conventional “catchphrase”. The
image on the right is from the horror film poster Sinister and displays a very simple
subheading. I had asked my target audience whether they thought that a more original
subheading with an original font and color would work better and based on my answers, I
felt that I made the right decision to break such conventions. Therefore I used a font which I
downloaded from the website DaFont.com which looks like it has been carved or scratched
into. This fits well with my film as my demon rises from her tombstone and scratches her
way out of her coffin and out of the soil. I also thought that if my font was less conventional
and “boring” that it would make my poster stand out and create a stronger effect on my
audience. I also decided that having the word ‘revenge’ in red would also be more powerful
as it has connotations of danger and stands out from the rest of the sentence which leaves
my audience with the fear of the demon’s strong motive for revenge.

2. 
For the boarder of my film poster, I did not just want a plain background of a certain location such as
the one in the Woman in Black as it would be hard for me to find a strong powerful location in order
to take this picture within my area. Instead, I thought that the walls with scratches and dents would
be more powerful as it was said to be less conventional in my audience comments “the walls on the
side are really effective and original.” This originality also fits with the idea that there is no time-
frame visible right away which does not limit my audience’s appeal as I leave it to them to decide
when the film/trailer is set in. This gives my audience the power and control which will hopefully
make them use their imagination to create “scenarios” that they would like to see in my trailer.
Overall, I was hoping that this would taget my audience and make them less passive as they have
control of their own imagaination which I think is effective within the horror genre. In the
background image of the Woman in Black I liked the trees in the background. Therefore, I tried to
incorporate trees behind the demon in order to reflect the disruption of nature and it’s natural cycle
of life as she is in front of the trees making her appear more dominant and henceforth more fearful.
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I used my demon for my film poster as I thought that it would be more conventional for a
horror poster as it has been done in a lot of other horror film poster and create a strong
impact on my audience. My demon is looking directly at the audience in order to target
them personally as they engage in eye contact immediately which makes the audience
notice the demon right away and feel fear as she appears very dominant and menacing
which is conventional for a horror poster. Her hair however hides part of her face in order to
not reveal herself entirely to the audience before they have watched the actual film as I
thought that that the audience would find her more frightening if they used their

3. imagination to decide how she actually looks like. Similarly to the poster from the Uninvited,
it is a shot from the front of the true antagonist which overall, makes the film poster more
captivating and iconic which allows the audience to realize that it is a horror which will help
target an audience that watches horror films.
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For the font and color of my film title, I wanted to remain quite conventional in order to
establish the genre of horror in my film yet still be original and target an audience and in
order for my film to stand out from all the clichéd horror films. Therefore, I first decided on
the color of my title for which I settled on white as I saw it was rather conventional for the
film title. The white has false connotations of innocence and purity which links to my title
and narrative as there is a clear sense of irony. Unlike the title for The Uninvited, I did not
want something that would be hard to read and unlike ‘Drag me to hell’; I did not want a
title without a relation to my genre or film. Therefore, I settled on a ‘destroyed’ effect in
order to symbolize the character’s disrupted and damaged lives.
For the border of my entire film poster, I added a black visual effect that looks like an eye
with inside, my demon and the entirety of the poster. I decided to do this as I thought that it
was an original and unconventional idea that links with the idea that my protagonist is being
watched continuously and is targeted by the demon. However, as my demon is in the
picture, I also thought that they eye would reflect her previous life where she was being
surveyed before her death. Overall, this looking eye effect allows the audience to
understand the idea of people being followed and targeted which makes them feel empathy
towards whoever the victim is which is conventional in the way that it targets my audience.

4. FILM MAGAZINE COVER:
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This is a conventional slogan for Empire magazines. This markets the magazine’s brand and
this particular issue at the same time. It allows the audience to feel a sense of loyalty and
respect towards the magazine which then leads them to good, high expectations of the
magazine. I decided to use a conventional font that once again links to the horror theme of
my magazine cover and will help target my audience. I used a ‘destroyed’ effect that reflects
the damaged lives of my characters, which creates a link between the magazine and my film
which overall allows a more powerful effect on my audience. The image on the right is from
another Empire magazine and for a science-fiction film. This influenced my idea of having a
link between the genre of my film and the magazine cover as the electric blue for the film
Cowboys and Aliens has connotations of space and supernatural which clearly fits with the
film.
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For my magazine title I wanted to find a balance between remaining conventional in order
to make my magazine cover look realistic for Empire magazines yet still be original and
creative. I decided to keep the red color as it is one of Empire’s biggest conventions shown

5. with the image on the right. The red also has connotations of danger and is conventional
colors the horror genre, which I think, helps fit my film and genre and targets my audience
and inform them about my film. However, I decided to add a glowing effect on the top of
my character’s head, which allows the letters in the middle to have a different, lighter
shade. This suggests that my character on the magazine cover isn’t entirely bad as she is the
victim in the film and that she is strong and dominant as she appears over the magazine title
and creates a change to the color. In order to break away from all the conventions of an
Empire magazine, I decided to change the font and have a ‘special feature’ issue similarly to
the issue for the film Hellboy 2. Therefore, this allows the theme of my magazine issue to be
clearly a horror one and fit with my film and the other productions I have included within
my magazine. Similarly to the other (real) magazine covers, the price is added above the ‘M’,
which is once again a convention for Empire magazines where the price in pounds is in a
bigger font than the next two lines that also give the price in US dollars. Therefore, this
allows a sense of familiarity for my magazine cover and fits the conventions for Empire. By
breaking some of the conventions I did, I hope that my magazine cover will stand out from
the others on the shelf and make my audience see this different/original cover as a newer
and more interesting purchase.
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This is my background image for my magazine cover. I took this picture in America and it
consists of white mud that smokes which is rather conventional in the way that it doesn’t
look too busy. I thought that this would work well for my background as the smoke has
connotations of danger and fire which links to the theme of hell in my film. I blurred out a
corner that shows the forest in background in order to keep a simple background, which is
conventional for magazines as they try and focus on the character on the top layer. In
comparison to this other magazine cover which mostly has a wooden background, I liked
how it fit with the genre of the film Sherlock Holmes and the fact that it is set in the past
where wood was used a lot in construction… Therefore, this creates a link between the
magazine’s background image and the film. I like how the Sherlock Holmes cover is able to
target a wide age range through the use of an ‘ancient-looking’ background and a popular
actor famous among all ages. Therefore, within my magazine cover, in order to produce

6. something with the same results, I used a background image that fits with the genre
however does not give any idea of the time my trailer/film is set in.
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This special feature box at the bottom of my magazine cover fits some of the conventions of
an Empire magazine. I decided to use a black box as it fits with my horror genre as black has
connotations of evil. The white text allows a contrast with the black and makes the text
stand out and represent the theme of good versus evil within my film. I also decided to add
my barcode in the corner right of the page as it fits with the rule of thirds where the
barcode will be the last thing to notice as it is not very important as it does not market the
magazine in any way. I decided to add other still images from other horror films at the
bottom in order to have a certain section that advertises the rest of the magazine issue.
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I decided to have mid shot of my key character for my magazine character as it advertises
the film the best as she is seen the most in my film and trailer. She appears vulnerable in
this picture and is looking directly at the audience in order to target the audience specifically
and make them feel sympathy for her. This powerful effect allows the audience to also feel
the need to protect her as she is young and bruised which grabs their attention overall and
makes them intrigued. Within the Sherlock Holmes magazine cover, we can see that he
looking at us directly as well which depicts his confidence and control which makes him
appear dominant, grabbing the audience’s attention. I think that in both cases, the use of
direct eye contact with the audience and an emotion being passed through from the
character helps target the audience at the store and will capture their attention.