Q.2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and subsidiary texts?

When in the research and planning stages I discovered how there is consistency in film promotion packages. I thus started to draw out ideas of how I wanted my colour scheme to be, while looking at some drama genre films I discovered that they include pale and pastel colors especially if some emotion is going to be established. Normally these colours are developed from settings and backgrounds and made to be transparent such as skylines, beaches etc. Also the plainness of backgrounds allows actors to stand out such as Will Smith and Jaden Smith in Pursuit of Happiness who are in the foreground of the poster. Will is looking down lovingly at his son while his son leans on him, audiences develop some emotion and already sympathise with characters. I did this with my poster and had a pale blue background with a skyline transparent over the top of it while my character is black and this makes the character central, this image of my character is also in the beginning of my trailer, which develops a link. The only difference is in the magazine cover, where the protagonist looks intently at the audience to establish some sympathy from then as she is bare faced and looks determined. Audience begin to be engulfed in the theory of enigma and wonder how the vulnerable female changed into a visually strong character. The colour I used in the magazine is still largely blue black and white, which I mentioned before reflect a theme in terms of meaning in my products, and this shows that the film has taken its toll on popular magazine ‘Epic Film ‘making the importance of the colours used evident. This decision allowed me to expand my ideas and do something different than expected and I was able to use a wide shot of clouds however it still links with my trailer and poster due to the fact that in the beginning and end of my trailer a wide close up shot of my character are displayed and my magazine reflects this as it corresponds to my trailer with the similar close up, so this will still give the ancillary texts and trailer a visual link because the images look basically the same, with the exception of different editing and typography included.

Synergy is defined as the ‘strategy of synchronising’ and actively forging connections between directly related areas of entertainment. I have made connections clear through all my products through typography, I felt that they would need to connect together to make awareness of the product. I tried to make the font as distinct as possible as well as interesting so that it would be instantly recognisable for audiences. I used cooltext.com to create my typography and from this website I was able to adjust colours to adhere to my colour scheme within my products and these were blue, black and white: another recognisable factor within my products. I used the same font for the title ‘Unexpected’ and established them in 3 different ways. I felt that the font was so distinct that if I were to change colours and apply them to different texts they were versatile enough to do so and audiences would still be familiar with the text. The reason I added the blue glow around the magazine text and white glow to poster text was to show the visual effect I could provide, I also thought based on the backgrounds I used for each product including the trailer sticking to the colour scheme made it stand out. The blue and white connote purity, anxiousness and fear and contrasting the black with these texts reflected the determination my character has at it is a powerful and strong colour; these are all themes that are signified in my products.

In my A2 media product, I created a film promotional package that consisted of a trailer, poster and magazine cover. In the processes of making my trailer, poster and magazine cover I focused on key elements that would try to make the three link together generically as much as possible intertextually, with considerations to mise en scene, shot types, editing, typography and colours and costumes. I wanted to establish similar elements throughout all my productions. The main character was of course the key component in linking these together, I included her in the poster magazine and trailer, to establish a sense of continuity and to familiarize audiences with her which is significant in film packages, in order to make clear that all three were linked not only in terms of their design but how it reflects target audience, and how these ideas establish the same to realistic media products.

Using the characters not only displayed synergy within the ancillary texts and the trailer, but it also brings audiences closer to the protagonist and allows them to build a sense of relationship with them. My target audience are young teenage girls in school who are exposed to emotions. In all of my products the character is vulnerable from the photograph of her in the magazine to the shot of her sitting on the bench looking devastated in the first couple of seconds of my trailer shows a sense of vulnerability, my main aim was to have my audience relate to my character therefore having her appear in all types of products allowed me to establish a relationship between character and audience. The repetitive use of audience here can be linked to various film packages such as James Bond, Star Wars and Captain America franchises. The hairstyle of the main character in shown in the trailer and the magazine, this is the messy bun and I intended in having a messy bun to make my character relatable to young people in this generation, and my research found that young girls normally throw their hair in a bun when stressed and I hoped my audience would notice this by looking at the magazine and the trailer. By showing it in the trailer, the magazine cover, I have made one ancillary text and the trailer link together well. The hairstyle is important because I wanted my audience to relate to these characters when they see the trailer and magazine and hopefully this would influence them into picking up a magazine or anticipated for the trailer. Keeping the hairstyle the same was essential for continuity reasons without the style obviously changing that would make audiences notice. Similarity is applied within my trailer and ancillary texts just because it helps make them look better which is what I intended. A drastic change in hair would make the trailer and magazine look like it's from two different films on first glance, and the point of the link is for audiences to immediately link the two when they see them, even through simple issues such as the similarities in the actors and characters appearance. Using the same typography and sizing helped with the concept of also keep continuity of the poster, I used a similar font in each ancillary text and in the trailer

In terms of the use of shot types, when making my products, I was aware of trying different types of shots to keep it interesting but I also aimed to portray a link through angles and shots, the main shot type I used to project the link were wide mid shots, this is because the shots capture the setting and for my young target audience, I wanted them to be familiarized with the area and these shots of rough and vandalised area show the incorporation of youth and culture. Having this link with the trailer and magazine, which has gritty bricked walls is vital as it is essential to reflect the same theme and genre of youth culture would suggest the same concept. With the poster cover however, I didn’t include this shot type, as I wanted to show a different type of vibe and symbolism in the film. The mid shot of the protagonist looking into the road, have meaning but still remains ambiguous alike to my trailer and magazine.