The student created a short film for a coursework project along with two ancillary texts: a poster and online review. These texts were designed to advertise and promote the film to its target audience of 15-24 year olds. While the poster and film shared similar visual styles and color schemes, the review used the style and layout of the Rotten Tomatoes website to seem more authentic, though it lacked visual consistency with the other pieces. Overall, the ancillary texts worked together to create an advertising campaign for the short film while breaking some conventions by differing in visual presentation.

1. How effective is the
combination of your main
product and ancillary
texts?

2. For my A2 coursework I had to produce a short film along with two
ancillary texts. These texts included a poster and a review which link to
and work with my short film, all with similar styles.
These texts together create a campaign for my short film to advertise it
to the target market.

3. Target audience;
Also as this audience are only 40% of the cinema audience, this article
states that it is likely because they watch a lot of films through online
streaming both legally and illegally. I feel that all aspects of my
products fit its target audience, the film fits in to all the guidelines of a
15+ film which I researched in to on the British Board of Film
classification website. Also my poster would attract people of this age
as they will understand what is happening in the image and as it is
distributed online they are very likely to see it. My review and film are
also shown online which applies to my target audience as they are
within the digital generation and have been brought up around
technology, knowing how to use it and commonly having it in their
daily routine.
My target audience are 15-24 year olds, this audience applies to my film, poster
and magazine. My target audience was one of the first aspects of my project I
decided after my idea for my short film, I felt this age range would be most suited
and interested in my short film. From this I made sure my ancillary products
applied to and fitted this target market, through past research I looked again in to
Pete Buckingham’s article about audience theory's and noticed that my audience
applies to some of his theory's about the younger generation of audiences which
are within the image quotes below.

4. Short film;
My main product is my short film, my film combines with both my poster
and my review. My film combines best with my poster and it was a much
easier text to create similar aspects on. The main aspect I wanted to flow
throughout the film and poster was the text, this is because the title is
important to both texts and I wanted this to be the same font and colour
throughout. I felt it was most important to have similarity's within the film
and poster because the poster is what sells the film and I wanted the
atmosphere and style to be the same. My short film does not have as much
continuity with my review, this is because the different colour scheme due to
my review being placed on Rotten Tomatoes and needing to fit their colour
scheme and style. Although they do not have the same look, my review and
short film have the same style of writing. My script for my film and the
writing I created for the review both have the same style and atmosphere. I
think that together my texts work well as a campaign for my film and
although they may not all be the same style, they work. Having my review
different styled to my poster and film is breaking conventions which I
wanted my products to do as it is a individual short film and not a
blockbuster film I felt that it was able to break conventions of the texts
which work alongside the film.

5. My poster is for online use to be viewed on websites and on the prescription
programme Netflix. This online institution offers more for my target audience as
they have grown up in the digital era and commonly know how to use the
technology's. The main difference between online and offline institutions is the
difference in the target audience, stereotypically older audiences would prefer
offline institutions and company’s and a younger audience would prefer online.
Online posters will usually feature on the films official website or in advertisement
boxes on the side of a variation of websites as well as within online film reviews.
Offline posters have a larger variation as they can be advertised in magazines, on
billboards, bus stops and flyers. Although this method would allow the film to be
more known of due to the variation of locations available to place the poster, I
chose to distribute mine online due to in my opinion it fitting in to my target
audience better as they are highly likely to have internet access due to their age.
Issues with this distribution method is that although it is common of people in my
target audience to have internet access, some people may not or may not have the
skills to use the equipment needed for internet access. Also as my poster is going to
be placed on adverts within web pages, some laptops or computers may not have
the software to show this and it may appear as a blocked plug in or the website
may be blocked through online filtering and parental guidance.
These are examples of online and offline posters;
Online; offline;

6. I think my poster works well with its ancillary texts, the film and the review.
The style of my short film is consistent throughout the poster through the
atmosphere, colours and mise-en-scene. My poster has the same style and
colour of text as the title and credits within my short film, also the mise-en-
scene within my poster is the same setting as the ending of my short film
creating more of a connection between the two products. The lighting within
my poster also fits the same lighting as the end of my short film as I wanted
this to be consistent between the two products. My review has the same
atmosphere as my poster which links them together. These are examples of
continuity between the different elements of my advertising
campaign and short film.

7. Strengths & weaknesses; Opinions from myself and my focus group.
•The image of the girl on the knife
looks more interesting and
attracts the eye to the poster.
•Gives off a mysterious
atmosphere.
•The colours work well with the
thriller genre.
•The iconography of the knife is
good.
•Good teaser of the location
expected within the film.
•The image is good quality and
clear to see.
•The text is bold and easy to read.
•The image is blurred which can
make it look like the quality in it
is lost.
•The image on the knife is too
clear and not metallic looking
like the knife.
•The jacket is too dark to be able
to see where his other arm is.
•Would look better to see more
of the character rather than just
that section of his body.
•An effect on the image looks too
soft for the genre of poster.

8. Review;
My review is in the style of the
online institution ‘Rotten Tomatoes’.
I chose to distribute my film on this
review site because I wanted my
review to be online as both of my
other products also are and it fits
into my target audience being
technical and looking at products
online. As my short film is not a
blockbuster film I felt that it would
fit this review site as although they
feature a lot of blockbuster films,
Rotten Tomatoes offers reviews
about short and independent films.
I used the style and layout of the
site as I wanted my review to look
as close to the real thing as I could
which I feel like I have done using
the green colour scheme and
placing the images and text in the
same layout.

9. My review does not link with my main product or poster very well. This is
uncommon for a campaign such as this one for a film, the style and colour
scheme are conventionally similar or exactly the same but I chose not to
use this convention. This is because I wanted to use an online institute
which would be more likely to feature a review of my film, through research
I found that Rotten Tomatoes website features a range of films some of
these being short films and I felt that my review would fit much better on
this site rather than in a blockbuster film such as Empire magazine.
Although the look of my review such as the colour does not combine with
my other products, the style of my writing for my review, I feel this does
suit my other products as it is quite formal but not extremely due to my
target audience and my other products also have this aspect.
These are similarities of my review and a Rotten Tomatoes review;

10. Strengths;
Good clear layout.
Large amount of
information.
Images make it
interesting.
Looks like an
actual website.
The review is a
good length and
written well.
Looks like the
official website.
Colour scheme
works well.
Weaknesses;
There is a lot of
blank spaces.
Images could be
bigger.
The writing could
be a bigger size to
make it more clear.
Could have more
details about the
film; e.g.
distribution
company.
Could feature more
about the
characters as there
is not much about
them.