1. Evaluation Question 2: How Effective Is
The Combination Of Your Main
Product And Ancillary Task?
By Margaret Ansu

2. Assignment Brief
• For Unit G324 we had to create a 5 minute short film which
may be live action or animated or a combination of both. Then
after completing the film we were to create a poster and a film
magazine review page featuring the film.

3. How my poster follows the forms of the drama genre
The poster uses a single image of “Lucy” the main female character.
The close up of her face allows those who view the poster to examine
the emotions is expressing. Her facial expressions conveys the
emotion of neutral sadness, by this I mean it’s clear she is not happy
but her sadness seems to be of long term suggesting she’s enduring
some form of long term hardship. This follows the conventions of a
drama film as it doesn’t convey happiness and humour but an
emotion that is of a serious nature. Also with close up image being
the only image used for the poster, there’s nothing to take the focus
away from the character’s face leaving most of the films back story to
the imagination of the individual only with the help from the tag-line
“not everything is what it seems…” adding a sinister edge to the
angelic looking image.
Simple and realistic theme of poster upholds the seriousness and
realism that’s expected of a drama film. The colour scheme only
consist of white and yellow; white to portray innocence and yellow
to convey preciousness as innocence is precious. The poster was
inspired by the poster of precious as the theme’s of the two films
are very similar.

4. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster:
Comparison between a successful film’s poster and my film poster
This is the film poster of the film “Precious” an
independent film that blew up and came to the big
screen in 2009. As the film it’s self had a lot of
influence as to how we carried out our film I
decided to use it’s poster as inspiration for my own
film poster. I also decided to use this poster as a
template, as the film was a very successful drama
film. The poster then must have played some part
in promoting the film so well.

5. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster:
Analysis of Precious Film Poster
I liked how the poster had used quotes from reviews
and acclaimed individuals, in the film world to act as a
form of accreditation towards the film, so it helped
convince people that the film was worth watching. I
decided to use this approach for my own film poster.
The title “Precious”, was made to stand out in a
unique way . The typeface was simplistic and linear
unlike those used within many film posters,. However,
unlike the rest o the font on the poster the colour of
the title was orange. The use of orange alone made
the title stand out. Again I took this aspect aboard and
tried to apply to my own work.
Lastly, I liked how the main focus of the poster was the
face of a girl, as it suggested that the girl was a major
character or component of the film. It also gave an idea as
to what the title “Precious” stood for suggesting the two
were linked and it was probably her name. Moreover,
with sole focus of the poster being on the girl, the
seriousness and feel of the film’s genre was presented to
the audience. Also it portrays the seriousness of the film
via her facial expression.

6. How My Poster Follows the Forms of Drama Film Poster:
How I used the highlighted areas in my own film poster
I decided to replicate the use of accreditation in my
own poster. I however did not use quotes but
instead awards that the film had won, which were
not spread across the poster as the accreditations
for precious was positioned on the poster. I instead
placed the accreditations in a orderly fashion.
As you can see I did use the idea of a single
character focus. Reason being I thought it really did
when done properly, conveyed the basis and
ideologies of the film as well as the emotions that
were reoccurring themes within the film
I then also decided to include the idea that the title
of film was to stand out from the rest of the poster
as it was the only text in yellow. I did not however,
follow the aspects through, as I thought that the
release that was also an important component of a
film poster as it informs passers by of the release
date of the film. Also I the typeface I used for the
title was not linear.

7. Text Used in Poster
Nyala Regular Bold: was used for the release date, tag line and film
website. The font wasn’t of a usual choice for a drama film poster
however it was unique and I wanted to put my own spin on a typical
drama film. The font also had a certain eye catching edge to it.
Another reason why I chose this font is because it didn’t draw
attention away from the main title which is the most important
component of a film poster.
Steel Tongs: was a formatted billing
font, meaning that it was pre-coded to
allow me to enter certain pre-set
words and phrases such as “Directed
by” in the style that would usually be
used on an actual film poster’s billing.
It was simple to use once
understanding the coding. It also
stands out but not enough to black
attention away from the title.
KG Tangled Up In You: a bold font that looked rough. I thought it’ll be great for
this poster as it wasn’t too bold and blocked for a drama film poster nut it was
just enough to stand out more than everything else when paired with the
colour choice of yellowish orange. The texture of the font also reinforced the
nature of the film’s title of being shady.

8. The Film Review
For my film review I wanted to achieve a simple and clean
look that kind of followed the same simplicity that was
achieved in the film poster. It wasn’t easy and many trials
did take place however it was eventually achieved to a
standard that was good enough to present. To keep with
simplicity I opted to used the basic but effective colour
scheme of black and blue. Blue usually triggers the brain to
experience emotions of relaxation hence why it’s used in
so many social networking sites. Therefore I took that idea
on board along with black as the colour black is standard
simple and easy to read.

9. I included a summary box within film
reviews to give the reader a quick summary
of the film’s plot. The box is used within
many film review articles. Another thing I
adhered to was the use of a star rating
system to state how good the film was.
Footer containing page number, magazine
issue, magazine name and website follows
the conventions of a magazine.

10. Fonts Used for Review
The text I used in the film review may have been a
different type face from the one I used in the poster but
it still follows the simplistic theme that I tried to achieve
in the poster. Like the poster the title of the film was the
largest text used in the review .
The font I used for Century Gothic Bold a Sans Serif
typeface. I chose to use the type face as Sans Serif type
fonts are used within magazines and articles.
For the articles main body, the typeface was different
from the rest as I wanted it to stand out but in a way that
was subtle way so I used a different font instead of
making it bold. Unlike the stand out quotes, which I’d
decided to make bold and blue in the steps of following
the conventions of film articles. Another reason why I
chose the font is because it was easy to read which is an
important factor for text within article.

11. Images Used within Review
Lucy’s costume choice contradicts the costume choice for the poster as in the poster she’s in a
white shirt to portray innocence. However in the film review she is in a black top to suggest that
somewhere within the film her innocence is taken. Dark black clothing portrays darkness and evil
within an individual, so this choice for Mr Wicks would hopefully convey him to the readers as a
dangerous and dodgy character. Also the body language of the character causes him to seems
threatening and controlling specifically towards Lucy.

12. Images Used within Review
In relation to the poster, the image used within the review portrays the film in a darker
light and instead of focusing on the female character instead focuses on the male
character. This then could suggest to readers and viewers that both characters carry
importance within the narrative of the film.

13. Images Used within Review
The image in the film review portrays the dynamics between the two characters;
how Mr Wicks is shown in a darker light literally as the image had been edited
around Mr Wicks to heighten shadows. Where in contrast Lucy’s seen in a lighter
view. The image is great in promoting the film and unlike the poster it shows two
characters but it gives an insight as to why Lucy on the poster seemed sad.

14. Using the Internet to Promote
For my poster, even though when looking at actual examples it was common to see
the use of a Twitter or Facebook page for the film also being promoted, I did not want
to add it to my poster as I thought it took away from it’s simplicity. Therefore I only
added a website address.
For the film review I did not deem it to be appropriate to use social
networking promotions within the review as it would’ve come across as
unconventional and professional. I therefore stuck to what I had seen in
examples of real highly regarded film magazines such as “EMPIRE” and just
used yet another simple web address in the footer.

15. How the Poster and Film Review
Contribute to My Film
Posters are used by production companies as a marketing strategy to advertise their
films to the masses. It does so by using imagery to summarise the plot of the film. By
doing this when people see the poster and it is appealing they’re most likely to spread
the news of the film being released by word of mouth. Therefore when creating my
poster I kept this concept in mind and tried to use the best picture that depicted all of
what the movie was in one image.
On the other hand, film reviews are meant to give those who my be interested in
seeing the a film an analytical perspective of the film as it gives them more of an
insight to how well the film was executed. A review is also used to help people decide
whether the film is something they’d enjoy watching it or not.
However both film reviews and posters are great marketing strategies.

16. Conclusion
To conclude I think that both my ancillary task work well together as they complete
each other. A one portrays the film in one way but the other presents the film in a
another light that finishes what the other was trying to complete. Both follow the
theme of simplicity, I do however believe that I could’ve done better to link the two
products together but I am pleased with the final outcomes and think it’s great that
they’re rather different.