So to start with we thought it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves, the production team officially rather than just ugly stills of us! Instead you're going to have ugly moving versions of us...just kidding! Right then, so this is an evaluation of the effectiveness of our short film. Basically does it work and how. Here we go:
I know, yes, we're a bunch of nutters but if you look past this, there are so many elements within the film that have been chosen through research and planning as well as experimental but most of the time it was researched and found within existing films. This video basically shows the laments within our film that have been effective and how.
Film Poster:
So we've got the opinion on how the three products work together, but how do the ancillary products work by themselves to promote the film. Lets start with the poster. Lets break down the poster into sections to see how effective it really is.
What's the purpose of the poster?
The purpose of the poster is to advertise the film to the audience and grab their attention before they have even seen the film. The poster needs to have a lasting impact but at the same time it can't give too much away about the film. There is no point in having a film if you're just going to give it all away in the poster...
Who is its intended audience?
From this film poster, our audience is romance fans. This will be predominantly females however there will be a wider age range due to the storyline being understandable to a large audience group. People who are into supernatural films will also be interest in this due to the hints at an unnatural storyline through the title choice and the subtle tagline underneath it. However, by the poster the main audience will be romance lovers due to the positioning of the two characters (affectionate stance) and the tagline mentioning love.
Is the film poster effective?
The Poster contains features that are considered conventional to a main poster. This poster needed to give the audience an idea of what the film poster was about as well as hiding elements of the film so that the audience aren't give too much information. Then it would just be pointless the audience going and seeing the film really wouldn't it? So there are different elements within this poster that make this film poster effective especially when compared to the film itself. So I'm going to take you through some of the features within the poster, and how effective it is in achieving its purpose of being a main film poster for our short film.
So some of the main features within the poster that made it effective include the images, the tagline and a few more things I'm going to mention now. Right then first up is the main image within the poster.
This image represents the characters within the film. We have Mallory; a fragile girl who needs protecting from the world holding onto Peter who seems to be looking away from her. He isn't holding onto her as if he can't be trusted and isn't really in love with her as we find out in the film. the image shows there is romance but doesn't tell the audience the true identity of Peter.
The tagline is a subtle hint at a plot twist within the storyline. The audience can only fully understand the tagline if they watch the film. By having this tagline the audience know its a romance film so we've attracted our audience with a typical romantic comment. By having a subtle hint at the storyline, the audience are made to watch the film before they can understand what the tagline is referring to.
Now we move onto the magazine review. We're going to do the same as we did with the poster with the review to see just how effective it is.
The purpose of our film review is to give another opinion upon the film. In some ways it does promote the film however, due to the magazine review being produced by a different company (a magazine reviewer), the film review really has the purpose of giving a professional critical opinion on the film and what it's like.
Who is it's intended audience?
So for the review, the intended audience is rather wide. It will obviously be for review lovers.This will be people who are obsessed with empire magazine because this is where the review has been designed for. Due to this, it won't just be our target audience that read the review, it will be general film nerds.. I mean lovers, who read this magazine every month. This film will have a specific audience who will want to read it in some aspects and that will mainly be females as romance films aren't really big burly men's kind of films!
Is the magazine review effective?
Overall I think the film review is effective. It does the job of giving a professional opinion on the film as well as giving the audience an idea of the film plot and the behind the scenes work that went into the film making. It also enables us to grab the attention of a wider audience due to it being put in a larger franchise magazine such as empire. Film lovers will read anything and everything that is within those magazines and so it enables us to attract a larger audience to take an interest in our film. The poster is opinionated yet positive which give the audience a positive impression upon the film, making them want to watch the film for themselves.
The elements within the film review when put together create the components of a conventional film review. For example the furniture within our review such as the red lines were a typical convention within the Empire magazine we had taken a look at. We effectively followed the furnituring within the Empire magazine so when the audience took a look at it, they could see by the colours and the elements within it, that it was designed to go in empires magazine.
Another element of the review that makes it effective is the choice of image. The image introduces the main character to the audience as well as giving the audience a glimpse at a potential character in the background but not actually knowing whether he plays an important role within the film. By having an image such as this taking up most of the page the audience have been grabbed by the image rather than the text underneath which shows the magazine being effective. The audience are attracted to the image rather than the text as we found out in the feedback sessions we had so this serves its purpose of showing the audiences elements within the film without giving much away about it.
The pull quote enables the audience to see elements of the text before they actually think of reading the main body of the text. It follows the typical conventions within the empire magazine to draw the reader in with the more juicy comments and quotes within the review.
Film and Ancillary Tasks Combination:
Well I think this was a success! Our target audience clearly understood the film even before we had published the actual film to them. They understood the genre of the film through the design of the poster which then became clearer when they watched the film after. The film in relation to the poster then enabled the audience members to go back and understand things such as the tagline and the relationship between the two characters on the actual poster.
The title for the audience as you will have heard was a big discovery for them. The title didn't give much away about the film but once they had watched it, it all made sense that it was about the male within the poster not actually existing. This for us is a positive as it provides the audience with a sense of mystery but when they see the film they come out going 'ooooo so thats what the title means'. Its the idea that they have a eureka moment the moment they finish watching the film. The main point is the elements of the film that are hidden from the audience in the poster.
The idea that the 2nd male isn't included in the poster meant that when the audience watched the film, they were given a surprise when they find out that Mallory could not be heartbroken any longer. This boosts the audiences feelings (Todorov theory) in that they know that she has ended in a happier position than she began due to the meeting of this male. This then leaves the audience feeling much better knowing Mallory has found the one....we think!
As for the review, although it would not be published by the same company, it complements the film well. The image doesn't give too much away about the film so that if someone hasn't seen it before they read the review, it doesn't tell them much at a quick glance, the actual text was complementary to the fim and did the actual production of the film justice. It picked out different features of the film within the review and made a critical evaluation as well as emphasis on the different roles within the production team. Within the film, you obviously don't see the crew (unless the do a whoopsy and end up reflecting in a mirror!) so with the film review, it complements the crew and shows the elements and flare they added to the final produce. The review is rather positive which again is a positive to show that professional critics also think it is worth watching or was worth the watch. Often people watch films based on reviews and so with this positive review, I think it does the film justice in attracting larger audiences to see the film.
The elements within the film review when put together create the components of a conventional film review. For example the furniture within our review such as the red lines were a typical convention within the Empire magazine we had taken a look at. We effectively followed the furnituring within the Empire magazine so when the audience took a look at it, they could see by the colours and the elements within it, that it was designed to go in empires magazine.
Another element of the review that makes it effective is the choice of image. The image introduces the main character to the audience as well as giving the audience a glimpse at a potential character in the background but not actually knowing whether he plays an important role within the film. By having an image such as this taking up most of the page the audience have been grabbed by the image rather than the text underneath which shows the magazine being effective. The audience are attracted to the image rather than the text as we found out in the feedback sessions we had so this serves its purpose of showing the audiences elements within the film without giving much away about it.
The pull quote enables the audience to see elements of the text before they actually think of reading the main body of the text. It follows the typical conventions within the empire magazine to draw the reader in with the more juicy comments and quotes within the review.
Film and Ancillary Tasks Combination:
Next up, we decided to gather some feedback from members of our target audience. We showed them the three texts in the order the media industry releases them (Film poster, Film, Review) to see if each product did justice to one another before seeing other elements of the film stages.
At each stage this enabled us to get an idea if the audience actually understood what they understand about the film and the ancillary texts in relation to each other as well as being on their own.
So here is our interview with people within our target audience reviewing all three media products we created:
Well I think this was a success! Our target audience clearly understood the film even before we had published the actual film to them. They understood the genre of the film through the design of the poster which then became clearer when they watched the film after. The film in relation to the poster then enabled the audience members to go back and understand things such as the tagline and the relationship between the two characters on the actual poster.
The title for the audience as you will have heard was a big discovery for them. The title didn't give much away about the film but once they had watched it, it all made sense that it was about the male within the poster not actually existing. This for us is a positive as it provides the audience with a sense of mystery but when they see the film they come out going 'ooooo so thats what the title means'. Its the idea that they have a eureka moment the moment they finish watching the film. The main point is the elements of the film that are hidden from the audience in the poster.
The idea that the 2nd male isn't included in the poster meant that when the audience watched the film, they were given a surprise when they find out that Mallory could not be heartbroken any longer. This boosts the audiences feelings (Todorov theory) in that they know that she has ended in a happier position than she began due to the meeting of this male. This then leaves the audience feeling much better knowing Mallory has found the one....we think!
As for the review, although it would not be published by the same company, it complements the film well. The image doesn't give too much away about the film so that if someone hasn't seen it before they read the review, it doesn't tell them much at a quick glance, the actual text was complementary to the fim and did the actual production of the film justice. It picked out different features of the film within the review and made a critical evaluation as well as emphasis on the different roles within the production team. Within the film, you obviously don't see the crew (unless the do a whoopsy and end up reflecting in a mirror!) so with the film review, it complements the crew and shows the elements and flare they added to the final produce. The review is rather positive which again is a positive to show that professional critics also think it is worth watching or was worth the watch. Often people watch films based on reviews and so with this positive review, I think it does the film justice in attracting larger audiences to see the film.
Conclusion:
Overall I think that the three products work well and effectively together but also on their own to give an all round good impression of the film. Each of the three products bring something different to the table which when put together ensures all aspects of a film are covered to increase the number of people who wish to come and see the film and widen the target audience.
