Question 2

2. How effective is the combination of your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

As part of the A-level Media course we were given a task to create a series of three different products that were based on a genre of our choice, we choose to use the action/thriller genre. These Media Products were a Poster, Website and Teaser Trailer. We found continuity to be incredibly important in the design of each media product, as an overall cohesive look adds to the effectiveness of the promotional package as a whole. I believe the following three products were successful due to a consistent use of the same features and also by sticking to the conventions of action/thriller it enabled us to focus on the Genres theme. 

• Symbolism 

Firstly, it was important too our group that the characters starring in the film trailer be portrayed in all three of our media products. This was a technique we used as a promotional method, and as means for an audience to identify the characters faces and names with the film, a technique which is similarly used by iconic movies such as Rambo.  It also had the effect of making the protagonists and antagonists symbols of the trailer, and was an effective way of ensuring continuity. 

• Editing

In the editing stages, we adjusted important settings such as brightness, saturation and hue of the characters images and film footage on a series of photo editing sites i.e. ipiccy, in order for the lighting shown in the film poster to be similar to that on the film poster and website. This meant that their was no disparity between the images used, and the film footage, as some of the images had been taken on different days and under different weather conditions.

• Typography/Colour scheme

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Another key feature of Akeldama's representation was the typography we used; the particular font we chose was called BLOODY IMPACT, and we found it from researching different online font companies. 

By using  a bold, textured typography we hoped to grab the audiences attention by making the title on our poster, credits and website  eye catching and appealing. By using the same typography and having limited variation in the colour scheme across all three media products we hoped to emphasise this effect, and make the link between our  typography and film as strong as possible.

 For the colour scheme we used, gold, grey, red black and yellow, as they in kept with the conventions of our genre and also reflected aspects of our film we were eager to portray. This distinctive combination of colours meant it was even more important to use continuity as too many colours would have given the media products an unprofessional finish, and would not clearly represent the industrial theme running through our storyline.

• Iconic scenes

On the website we decided not only to use shots of our cast as we did with the other two media products. But also to exploit a convention used in many action/thriller films and films from other genres by showing shots that represent the most memorable scenes shown in our film trailer. For example on the website which used a slideshow format of each character's picture I.e. there is a medium shot of our character Nyla, and the prop of a hand gun wielded in her hand, as well as an agitated facial expression, this is based on a scene taken from our film trailer. By using the same location to shoot our film trailer as we did to take shots we would later use in the poster and website we again kept continuity high.

• Planning

Before filming had began we had created a detailed storyboard of the shots we wanted to include in our film trailer, this meant we had a wide range of different shots and scenes we already planned to use. We also created shooting schedules before each shoot which listed who would be filming that day and what equipment to take. By planning to take extra equipment such as an additional camera or props we were able to both film and take images simultaneously, this meant that instead of having to recreate poses for our film poster we had actual images from the  shooting day. 

So the mise in scene, across all media products including costume and makeup such as wounds or injuries would be identical over all three.

• Overlapping

One of the most effective conventions we exploited, was embedding our film trailer directly on to the film poster. This means the trailer plays automatically upon opening our website, directly reminding the viewer that they are connected to the same film, and again enforcing a sense of unity between all products.