How effective is the combination of your main product and

ancillary texts?

Evaluation Question 4

Introduction

• In addition to my short film, as part of my advanced portfolio I also have to create two ancillary texts

• These are: a film poster, and a film review

• They need to be an effective combination with my main product

Film Noir Posters

• Authentic film noir posters from the 1940’s do not look like modern film posters

Film Noir Posters

• It could even be argued that they are not an effective combination with the films they represent

• It is important to remember that they are very much of a time

• In a blog post, I realised this, and decided that my ancillary texts would be more modern than these authentic posters

My Ancillary Products

My Ancillary Products

• As you can see, my poster and film review take the form of a modern style of film poster (with actors names, title, credits) as quite formulaic.

• However, I link it to my genre of short film through a number of features, which I will now explain.

• This will show how they are good ancillaries in combination with my main product

The Basics

• Firstly, my ancillaries link to my main product in that they clearly show the three actors and actresses in my product.

• The idea is that anyone who has seen the short film would realise this.

Representation

• The representation of my female ‘femme fatale’ in the poster, mirrors that of her in the film. A large, evil character that has a presence over the two male characters

• The representation of the two male characters in the poster also mirrors their representation in the film. Two conflicting males, facing eachother. Both consumed by their love and desire for ‘Betty’. It highlights how their desire leads to conflict

Representation

• The ‘femme fatale’ representation in my ancillary shows her as the main character

• Like the main product’s narrative, the poster focuses around her

• She is presented as a large figure on the poster, though she almost fades away to the background – like in the film. She is always present in the thoughts, motives and desires of the two male characters, but she is rarely seen.

Representation

• A similar effect to my poster is seen in the poster of the Film Noir ‘This Gun For Hire’, in which the ‘femme fatale’ represented in the film takes up a large part of the poster, to mirror her presence.

Narrative

• The representation of ‘Betty’ on the poster further links to the narrative

• In the narrative, she plays off the two men against each other with rumours, encourages them to meet together, and then kills them both. Escaping with a sum of money agreed by the two men.

• The narrative revolves around her and her control, and can be seen in the poster.

Narrative• The poster depiction of the two men also mirrors the

narrative.• The narrative shows them to hate one another, and so by

showing them sitting opposite eachother in my poster, this highlights the competition and rivalry between them in the film.

• They are also shown to be much smaller than ‘Betty’, almost insignificant. In the film, to her they are significant.

• They are represented to mirror how they appear in the film. Importantly they are done so underneath the cloud of Betty.

Narrative

• The poster also explicitly mirrors the narrative by showing the two men sat at the table with a briefcase – exactly what is shown in the film

• The briefcase as a motif in the film connotes deals, money and concealment. I used this in my poster to mirror this motif as seen in the film.

Genre

• Importantly, my poster and film review mirror the ‘Film Noir’ genre as a whole

• Firstly, the poster is in all black and white, which mirrors a key convention of the genre that an audience will instantly recognise

• My use of conventional 1940’s font also helps allude to the sophistication and glamour of the 1940’s genre

Genre

• Also, the images used in my poster were created with film noir lighting techniques in mind. The ‘chiaroscuro’ lighting technique as seen in my film is replicated in the poster to mirror the genre.

• There is a sense of darkness about the poster, and duplicity. The half dark/half light shadow of my actresses face on both the poster and review show how I have used chiaroscuro lighting like I have in my film

The Film Review

• The film review, although looking to appear as from a film magazine, also is an effective combination with my main product

• It too, is black and white, generally quite dark, and sees my main actress take up one side of the double page spread – in typical chiaroscuro lighting to her face.

Film Review

• Furthermore, the content of the magazine’s explicitly cites some of the links to the film and it’s genre.

• With my film being a modern take on the genre, the magazines review also talks about the modern features I use, such as mobile phones and the modern soundtrack

Audience

• My film is aimed at a young (16-24) audience who may prefer independent and short films to big ‘Odeon’ blockbusters

• I looked to effectively combine this aspect of my film with my ancillaries in my film review

• I did this by ensuring that the double page spread appeared as though it was in a ‘Shorts’ section of a film magazine

• I also used the review text to be able to mention the modern concepts in the film that I used to make it appeal to younger audiences.

Audience

• Also to appeal to my audience, my film poster features the logo’s of numerous short film companies and independent film companies and cinemas. My audience of independent film-goers should recognise some of these and want to see the film.

• This therefore further links the ancillaries with the aim of the main product to appeal to this target audience

Final Evaluation

• My ancillary texts and main product are an extremely effective combination

• This has been achieved through matching specific genre conventions in the ancillary to my ‘film noir’ genre, such as chiaroscuro and dark lighting

• I use the ancillaries to reach out to my target audience through how I review the text

• Creating a simplified version of the narrative of my final product through how I represent my actors and actresses in the film poster