1. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? By
Sharon Uyinmwen
The two ancillary texts I created were the Film review and poster. Before creating these I knew
that in order for them to compliment my film well they had to work in unity with one another
in order to put the film out there in the best way possible. I had to keep in mind the target
audience I wanted to appeal to, and keep a consistent housing style between the posters, film and
review. In addition I had to take into consideration the representations of my characters, and
create the posters in a way that it would show the representations rather than contradict them.
The film, poster and review working hand in hand are important as the poster
creates audience engagement and gets the audience asking questions. Once the
audience have become engaged they start looking to sources such as film reviews
to start to reveal the answers to some of their questions and depending on the
reception from the review, will then lead to them gaining the experience for
themselves by watching this film. So I kept these points in mind when I created
my ancillary texts.
With the creation of my poster I carried out research on films of the same
genre and how their posters were presented. I noticed a consistency of
composition simplicity from poster to poster, and how even though the
ideas were very simple they still got the general idea of what the film was
trying to convey without giving the whole plot away. I also looked at
colours and font styles and noticed reoccurring, red, yellow, and black and
white. These are colours which matched with the world of our film. I also
noticed a focus on key characters and how incorporating this could
attract a certain target audience. So, when I created my poster I made
sure that Frank and Charlie, the two main protagonists were main focus
of my film posters, by doing this target audience engage with my
characters if they feel they relate to them in some way. I used bold
colours like black, white and red as these are the main colours used in my
film. In order to develop audience engagement I made my taglines vague
whilst relating them back to the film. One example of this is ‘When the
blind lead the blind they are bound to bump in to some trouble’. The use if
the words ‘bound to bump into some trouble’ will get the audience
wondering what kind of trouble the twosome will eventually be involved
with and at the same time it didn’t give the plot away.
Also, the use of the words ‘The blind lead the blind’ not only does it hint to a scene
from the film but also adds as a representation to the characters as it highlights how stupid they are
and throughout the whole film this stupidity becomes apparent. The poster is a marketing
technique that appeals to a fan base not only through paper based techniques such as billboards and
posters but also virally over the internet and through word of mouth. So with this in mind my
poster had to have a unique selling point that audiences would remember to want to share with
others. This is particularly seen with my poster number 3. My tagline was based a familiar saying
which I then adapted to the world of my film. ‘ Cookies 20p, Donation to the blind
50p an ounce of intelligence...Priceless. The use of this tagline is not only
familiar to audiences, but, it also gets the audience asking questions. This will eventually lead to
them wanting to know more about the film. The genre of the film was another element that
needed to be shown through the poster. I made the comedy and light heartedness of my film shine
through by using funny pictures with natural bright lighting in all my posters. The image in poster
3 was taken inside the hotel as the pair was bursting through the doors. This was a good image to
use as it showed the characters facial expressions clearly which created a solid representation that

2. audiences could pick up. During the creation of the poster I tried my best to keep the lighting
natural and bright so audiences would become aware it is not a horror based or dark and gloomy
film. Poster number 1 & 2 incorporates the prop of the car which is the main plot point in the film.
In order to not give too much away, I adjusted the layout so the car would not be the main focus in
the frame. I eventually lowered the car in the frame. I used the certificate symbol (12) in poster 2
to reach out my main target audience so when the audience look at the poster they can have more
of an idea of whether or not it will appeal to them.
The film review is created to highlight the positives or negatives of a film in order for
audiences to decide if a film is worth watching or not, it also talks about previous films the director
and cast members have been a part of in order to spark interest in readers. Positive reviews entice
people to want to go and watch the film which inevitably increases the revenue for the
institution, and they tend to be written by neutral sources so the reader knows they are
getting an honest opinion rather than a bias opinion. This is what I found out whilst
analysing and researching various different film reviews and magazines. I preferred the
style of Total magazine the most, as I felt our film could fit well in a review like Total. It also
takes time to venture into different genres of film and publishes reviews of independent
low budget films similar to ours. My film review that I created is aimed to encourage people to
watch our film. I highlighted the genre numerous times when I said ‘If you like comedies and
actions films, you will love Switch as it has the perfect balance of the two’, this will also speak out
to a wider target audience as people who like action comedies will feel that the film will appeal to
them. Also because the initial age group is 12 and above the film review can speak out to the older
side of the audience as they are more likely to read film reviews. The writing style of the review is
a written in persuasive language to help sell the film in the best way possible, and briefly talks
about the synopsis of the film, it then goes into certain filming techniques used. Those who know
about the production of films will understand these aspects and will be intrigued by the thought of
the film using them. I have used an image that highlights the comedy aspect of the film, a picture
of Frank as he blew the flour in Big Pete’s face. The caption I added ‘Frank in the mist of one of his
bright ideas, literally’ also highlights humour and puts forward a representation of Franks
character. The light heartedness of the film is shown throughout the poster and the review and
works as a package with the film.
To conclude my film, review and posters all highlight key features of the film to work as ‘’Total’’
package.