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

2. The Ancillary Texts
Whilst creating my advanced portfolio I produced a short film. After creating my short
film I also created two ancillary texts to accompany this film. I created a Film poster and
a film review. When making my film poster I looked at other film posters and some film
posters specific to my genre of social realism and compared them, I also identified the
key conventions. This enabled me to create a successful film poster that would be
accepted in industry.
When creating my film review I researched the Little White Lies publication and
attempted to emulate their style. I read many of their reviews from many different
issues allowing me to gain an understanding of their typical conventions in both
aspects- Design and writing style.

3. The Poster…….
How is it linked to the film ?
I used various elements from the film in my poster, I did this to make sure that they both linked directly. I
think it is important for the poster to correspond with the film so that when people see the poster they
know what to expect from the film. in my short film Jennifer gets pregnant, I reflect this in my film poster
by having a picture of me with a pregnant stomach. In the picture on the poster I also wear the same
costume this also links directly with the film. I think it is important to have the protagonist as the primary
focus on a poster as when people see the poster and then watch the film they will be able to identify the
character as they are already familiar with the character.
In my poster research the main character Looking for Eric is on every film poster that had been created for
the film (Below) this helped me to identify the two main characters and you can also identify the character
types by their facial expression. For example in my poster the two pictures of me are looking at each
other, one pregnant, and the other one not. This links back with my film as Jenifer is a teenage girl who
doesn’t want to be pregnant, I think elements of this plot strand are evident in the poster.

4. The Poster…….
How does it use the codes and conventions of the film in its
design?
How does it convey genre?
My short film was created as a social realism film I attempted to communicate
the genre of my film in the film poster by using typical conventions. A typical
convention that I used in my poster was a brick wall background, this
communicates the gritty nature of the genre and is also iconic and people that
enjoy social realism films will identify with this element in my poster and they
will know that it is a social realism film.
In my film we I used low key lighting I attempted to dim the brightness in my poster to
follow this convention, this didn’t really work well and it is hard to see this. I also used an
element of the narrative to inspire my title text. In the film Jennifer is bullied via text
message therefore the text font for the film title is in the style of font similar to a text
message.

5. The Poster…….
What audience does it target?
The intended audience for my short film is 16-25 year olds, I think this is
appropriate as issues such as bullying and teenage pregnancy are dealt with
throughout the film and these are issues that people of that age group are more
familiar with. I think my poster attracts my target audience as there is a young
teenage girl on the poster which will attract other young people. I also think this
poste r will attract more females compared to males as there is a pregnant girl
on the front and this is more likely to appeal to a female audience causing the
audience demographic to have a female skew.

6. The Film Review
I think Little White lies was an appropriate publication
to use as this magazine writes about every type of film
no matter how small, which is unlike other film
magazines such as Empire. I think Little White lies was
appropriate for my short film as it is a small, low-
budget independent film and these are the types of
films that are written about in the publication
amongst other genre of films.
Was the magazine appropriate for the film?

7. The Film Review…..
How does it promote the film?
I think my review gives a very balanced judgement on my
film highlighting the negatives as well as the positives. I
think this critic tone is strength in my review as this reads
well and comes across very honest. This is also a convention
I have simulated after reading some reviews from Little
White Lies.

8. The Film Review…..
What aspects of your film does it focus on ?
The review focuses on the theme and narration in the
film and explains that although the film is low-budget
the message it portrays is an important one. In the
review I even suggest that this film should be shown
in schools to highlight the devastation of bullying and
how this can change someone’s life.

9. The Film Review…..
How far does your review reflect the real strengths
and weaknesses of your film?
I think my review does reflect on the actual strengths
and weaknesses in the short film and I feel although I
do mention the negative aspects I often conclude the
point positively. If I could improve on this I would
attempt to write more analytical and when being
negative I would try to stick with this to avoid the
contradicting myself.

10. To conclude ….
Overall I think the three products work well together as they all
effectively support each other communicating the narrative
and genre of the film. I think they all look like the share the
same concept as they all feature similar or the same elements
such as the brick wall or a picture of Jennifer this links them all
together and ties all three up in the same media package.