How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts
I have produced a video (above) to go along with this, it features a voice-over. The script that I used is below (trailer footage is from first draft).
In my three texts, I attempted to convey the genre of (psychological) thriller through various means. I wanted to make it seem stereotypical while also standing out from other films of the same genre. I feel as though the genre has been demonstrated effectively across of each of my texts.
My film is aimed at teenagers/young adults, aged 15-25, of both genders (but males will probably enjoy it more due to them stereotypically being shown to enjoy the genre more) and of working class (D/E). This is because the protagonists belong to these demographics and therefore the target audience may find them relatable.
Throughout all of my texts the focus is on the antagonist; in the trailer within the first few seconds the viewer is aware of his presence while not knowing a lot about him as his mask is only just visible when he is shown taking away one of the characters. This utilises the enigma effect where not a lot is known making him seem scarier and the audience wants to know more. Even at the end of the trailer, not a lot is known about him other than the fact that he has abducted at least two of the protagonists and is actively seeking one of them, but the audience still doesn't know who he is seeking or why which may convince them to watch the film in order to find out the answers. This enigmatic feel around him is also reflected in my poster and magazine cover. In my magazine cover the antagonist is shown suddenly appearing from the woods which makes him seem mysterious, and in both my magazine cover and poster, his mask is messed up which it is not in the trailer. This could connote that he is dangerous and also leaves the viewer questioning "why?". This is similar to V for Vendetta where not a lot is known about the main character (antihero) giving him a feel of danger and mystery.
Another form of synergy between my three texts is the font. In each of them the "Biro" font is used at some point (in each title in the trailer, the tagline on the cover and title, tagline and reviews on the poster). We chose the Biro font as the antagonist's sign is leaving drawings on the people/where they were and the Biro font looks like it is hand drawn and also looks somewhat unsettling which is fitting of the thriller genre.
They all also use dark lighting - a key mise-en-scene paradigm. The dark lighting is key for any thriller film; it makes the atmosphere a lot more tense because the dark is a representation of the unknown which people fear, and if our antagonist is associated with the darkness it will make people fear him further. The images in the poster and magazine cover were originally quite bright so I had to use the burn tool and filters to make them darker. This also draws attention to the other conventions of the texts, such as: the main image of the antagonist.
The setting of the poster is the school in which the trailer is set - at school. This will be effective in attracting my target demographic as they will still be at school/university or would have left it recently.
Another form of synergistic elements between the poster and trailer is that they also feature key institutional information; this information includes the names of actors and other people in the production team as it is important that they are recognised for their work. The poster takes this further and lists the main actor at the top of the page. The reason for this is that the lead actor would have put in the most work and would likely be the focus of the narrative. In addition to the institutional information, they each have information about reviews. These reviews help to sell the film as it shows that major film reviewers enjoyed the film, as these sources are trusted and established reviewers it would convince people to watch the film as it shows it is of good quality due to the reviews being positive too.
In addition, the tagline for our film is "Time to draw". In the trailer, we used this as a form of inter-titles. We had "Time to..." at one point in order to leave the viewer wondering what is going to happen next. A few clips later, "to draw" is shown and with the different connotations of the word "draw", different viewers may have different interpretations (drawing with stationary or drawing a weapon), but both are correct. My poster also uses this tagline, but uses a # in front of it. This is popular on Twitter for talking about a subject, and Twitter and other social media are predominately used by my target demographic.
To conclude, I feel that my texts use synergy and work well together in order to establish the (psychological) thriller genre which allows me to attract my target demographic, through an established character and narrative.
In my three texts, I attempted to convey the genre of (psychological) thriller through various means. I wanted to make it seem stereotypical while also standing out from other films of the same genre. I feel as though the genre has been demonstrated effectively across of each of my texts.
My film is aimed at teenagers/young adults, aged 15-25, of both genders (but males will probably enjoy it more due to them stereotypically being shown to enjoy the genre more) and of working class (D/E). This is because the protagonists belong to these demographics and therefore the target audience may find them relatable.
Throughout all of my texts the focus is on the antagonist; in the trailer within the first few seconds the viewer is aware of his presence while not knowing a lot about him as his mask is only just visible when he is shown taking away one of the characters. This utilises the enigma effect where not a lot is known making him seem scarier and the audience wants to know more. Even at the end of the trailer, not a lot is known about him other than the fact that he has abducted at least two of the protagonists and is actively seeking one of them, but the audience still doesn't know who he is seeking or why which may convince them to watch the film in order to find out the answers. This enigmatic feel around him is also reflected in my poster and magazine cover. In my magazine cover the antagonist is shown suddenly appearing from the woods which makes him seem mysterious, and in both my magazine cover and poster, his mask is messed up which it is not in the trailer. This could connote that he is dangerous and also leaves the viewer questioning "why?". This is similar to V for Vendetta where not a lot is known about the main character (antihero) giving him a feel of danger and mystery.
Another form of synergy between my three texts is the font. In each of them the "Biro" font is used at some point (in each title in the trailer, the tagline on the cover and title, tagline and reviews on the poster). We chose the Biro font as the antagonist's sign is leaving drawings on the people/where they were and the Biro font looks like it is hand drawn and also looks somewhat unsettling which is fitting of the thriller genre.
They all also use dark lighting - a key mise-en-scene paradigm. The dark lighting is key for any thriller film; it makes the atmosphere a lot more tense because the dark is a representation of the unknown which people fear, and if our antagonist is associated with the darkness it will make people fear him further. The images in the poster and magazine cover were originally quite bright so I had to use the burn tool and filters to make them darker. This also draws attention to the other conventions of the texts, such as: the main image of the antagonist.
The setting of the poster is the school in which the trailer is set - at school. This will be effective in attracting my target demographic as they will still be at school/university or would have left it recently.
Another form of synergistic elements between the poster and trailer is that they also feature key institutional information; this information includes the names of actors and other people in the production team as it is important that they are recognised for their work. The poster takes this further and lists the main actor at the top of the page. The reason for this is that the lead actor would have put in the most work and would likely be the focus of the narrative. In addition to the institutional information, they each have information about reviews. These reviews help to sell the film as it shows that major film reviewers enjoyed the film, as these sources are trusted and established reviewers it would convince people to watch the film as it shows it is of good quality due to the reviews being positive too.
In addition, the tagline for our film is "Time to draw". In the trailer, we used this as a form of inter-titles. We had "Time to..." at one point in order to leave the viewer wondering what is going to happen next. A few clips later, "to draw" is shown and with the different connotations of the word "draw", different viewers may have different interpretations (drawing with stationary or drawing a weapon), but both are correct. My poster also uses this tagline, but uses a # in front of it. This is popular on Twitter for talking about a subject, and Twitter and other social media are predominately used by my target demographic.
To conclude, I feel that my texts use synergy and work well together in order to establish the (psychological) thriller genre which allows me to attract my target demographic, through an established character and narrative.
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