Evaluation: Question 2

How effective is the combination of our main product and ancillary texts?

Ancillary texts such as posters and reviews are primarily created and distributed to advertise the main product, such as a film. With this in mind, I created a poster and Benjy made a review using the same style to advertise and express the films forms and conventions.

The film, poster and review have been created to intertwine with each other. The poster was created to effectively give the reader an understanding of the film's genre and narrative. The review then specifies what did and did not work in terms of our intentions, it also gives the opinion of the film as if from an outside source. The combination of these three products helps form an overall summary of what to expect from the film, and whether our target audience may or may not enjoy it.

As you can see, I used the same font for both the film and the poster's logo, this adds consistency between the themes of both texts. However I used a different colour for both font, this is due to different colours making sense and working based on the images surrounding the logo. Using the same logo gives viewers of the poster a better understanding of what to expect with our film.





The poster addresses the audience as a form of reaching out to them. This is done by Callum looking toward the camera, so the audience can empathise with him. The review then addresses the film's mistakes alongside the humour that worked. Both of these together help the reader understand what to expect when going to see the film.

As you can see to the left, the poster is using an image taken specifically for the poster as opposed to using an image directly from the film. This is a convention used in most Blockbusters and Romantic Comedies. However as you can see from the image below, the image was designed to resemble a scene directly from the film. This was done to communicate the themes and conventions of the film through the poster. The picture from the film is then to be used in Benjy's written review of the film.




















The following review was made by Benjy Cohen (www.clapperboardcreations.blogspot.co.uk).

The review was deigned to communicate the films aims and conventions to readers. The image used is the section of the film that the poster is based on, this was done to link the three Ancillary texts together. As you can see, the review focuses on the good and the bad points in the film while displaying the Genre, this gives readers a strong understanding of our film's forms and conventions while also being used a good advertising.

Evaluation: Question 1.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film; Happily Ever After, is categorised within the Romantic-Comedy genre. This means we had to look into the general conventions of a Romantic-Comedy film (often referred to as rom-com), however at the same time we wanted to give our own spin on things. So in terms of following general conventions of a rom-com, we begin by introducing the characters subtly, with multiple comedy-specific sequences. We also have a romantic montage which is seen in many rom-coms. Similarly, we challenge the conventions of rom-coms by using a comedic meeting of the two romantic characters as opposed to over-exposing the romantic side of the film.

Through the montage, we develop upon the general conventions of a rom-com. A usual montage will be a simple compilation of romantic scenes, while ours includes different scenes in a transparent fade playing simultaneously, we did this as we feel it conforms to the forms and conventions of real media products, while also adding to them and developing upon them.
Our film was very much inspired by "Vicky and Sam". This short film uses similar shooting styles while also varying comedy types; they use subtle humour while also using obvious and over-exaggerated humour. The music used in the film goes for stereotypical love sequence music, however we decided to steer clear of that as we wanted to be less manipulative with our films micro-features. "Nightwalking" is another film that inspired our film, while focusing on the comedy as opposed to romance, the film uses many tracking shots to keep the audience following the main protagonist.

This image shows the comparison between our film and "Vicky and Sam", both shots are from the romantic montage, however we use cross fades between shots and light hearted music. However "Vicky and Sam" uses simple cuts and overly dramatic music. By opposing these conventions, we are challenging the forms of large budget blockbuster films.




For the poster, it mimicked other Romantic Comedy Posters such as the poster for "Win a date with Tad Hamilton".

Both posters feature two characters enticed within the narrative, while the other character is seemingly out of the loop. The thing we decided to do differently is not have the couple be the enticed characters, instead it is the protagonists best friend and 'girlfriend'. This was done to give the audience a fair understanding of what to expect.

Benjy's Final Review

Benjy has finalised the review by altering the picture used. The new image better convey's the narrative genre using a wedding sequence.

Benjy's Review Draft

Below is Benjy's first draft of the Film Review, the picture need to be changed however.

Happily Ever After - Final Film

Here is the final product of Happily Ever After, the changes listed below have all been made.

Final Poster

Having looked back on more feedback, I needed to change the font colouring for the actor's names. So now that has been rectified, here is my final poster:

In this new poster I have changed the quotes to match a real-looking quote that would be taken from a professional review. I have also added a "Working Title" logo as they are the company we decided would distribute our film. The choice to have a simple white background was made based on other Rom-Com posters I have analysed previously, with Callum looking at the camera as he is the person we empathise with. Also, Callum is the person we follow through the story, and he is the only one that understands the absurdity of Benjy's chat-up lines.

New Poster Draft

I recieved feedback on my poster:









So I took this feedback and created a new draft:

Happily Ever After - Poster Draft

Here is the first draft of my new poster.

Photo for Poster

I have chosen this photo for the final poster:

The reason I have chosen this image is because it explains the story in one image. Benjy is acting like a puppet-master between Callum and Poppy, while Poppy looks happily in a relationship. The placement and pose also resembles a wedding, relating to the relationship. Callum is addressing the audience as we empathise with him and follow him throughout the story.

Final Changes To Be Made.

Beneath is a list of changes that will be made to my final outcome.

• The font will be changed to our new font.
• The opening will have background noise.
• The "Do you want a girlfriend?" Short scene will be removed as it provides no significance to the film.
• Poppy's reaction shot will have background sound added to it.
• The pan as Benjy says "See I don't think it's that bad" is shaky, and the tripod makes a noise, this will be rectified.
• When Benjy says "Look her straight in the face, and say..." I will cut straight to the line as opposed to watching Callum catch up with her.
• The fade to black after Poppy says yes to Callum will be lengthened.
• The montage will be shortened will less jumpy cuts.
• When Callum says "I've got to go to the bathroom", there is no background sound, this will be fixed.
• Benjy's appearance in the bathroom will have faster cuts, and I will shorten the shot where Benjy bumps the camera.
• Other shots will be shortened where there is too much silence.
• There is no sound when Poppy puts the ring on, this will be changed.
• The credits font will also be changed

These changes will be made and uploaded shortly.

Budget Report

I sent Benjy the figures of our budget, how much was spent etc. And he put together a budget report.

Benjy's Budget Report:

Callum and I decided from the very beginning that we would put everything into the final shooting of our film. As a result we spent hours talking to people, either on the phone or in person, to acquire the perfect locations. We also spent money on this film to make the film as professionally as we could. 
Previously, every film we have made has been 100% free, so because we spent money on our film, for the first time, we had a budget which was previous an aspect of the media industry which was not applicable with films Callum and I have produced.

We decided our budget would be £10

Callum (as expenses manager) gave me the figures so I could write up a budget report.

Things we spent the money on:

• Wedding decorations - balloons, confetti, and streamers
• banqueting roll - to make a white carpet for the wedding
• food for the restaurant date scene
• Tiara

In the rough cut we wanted to get an idea for how we would set-up a wedding sequence so we bought balloons and confetti. We did not buy food for the restaurant sequence because we knew it was a rough cut.

 Rough cut expenses

Balloons = £1

Confetti = £1

Total = £2

In the final shooting of Happily Ever After we bought more of the same wedding decorations and we also bought some streamers for £3. We also bought McDonald's for food during the restaurant sequence. We wanted actual food for three reasons:

1. to give the impression it was a real date
2. to make our film more professional
3. to give our characters something to do on their date and to add to our montage

The McDonald's we bought cost £2.18 for two medium fries and £2.98 for two cheeseburgers. We also got two packs of ketchup which was free and we bought plates from home.

Final Cut Expenses

Balloons = £1

Confetti = £1

Streamers = £3

Medium fries x2 = £2.18

Cheeseburgers x2 = £2.98

Total = £10.16

Overal Expenses

Rough Cut Expenses = £2

Final Cut Expenses = £10.16

Total Expenditure = £12.16

As you can see from these figures, we went over our budget by £2.16. We decided at the time that we would put in the the extra money because for the sake of £2 it was worth it in terms of the quality of our final outcome.

Benjy's rough cuts

These are Benjy's versions of our film thus far.

New Title

The opening has been changed to reflect the new font.

Font Feedback

We have recently received feedback on our font dilemma.

The feedback suggests that the original font is more suitable for the film. However some of these suggestions are out of our target audience. Me and Benjy have decided that the new font is better fitting with our film.

Font Comparison

Here is a side by side comparison of the old and new fonts.

Using our original font would challenge the conventions of a high school romantic comedy, but is used effectively. We will use facebook to get feedback on the two fonts as our tutor feels that the new font is institutionally correct.

New Font Suggestion.