How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary tasks?

In order to promote our film and market the product successfully, we produced a cadhesive campaign, just as all media companies do when distributing a new film. We created a magazine review as well as a film poster in order to work together to help promote and support the success of our film. Firstly, the audience would see the film poster as the purpose of a film poster is produced to incite awareness and create a general hype for the film. Our film poster works extremely closely with our short film as they both imply the theme of revenge, through Alfie's intense expression which is his clear motivation throughout the film itself. The dark, dull colours used, such as blacks and greys, create a sense of mystery and suspense, which is again parallel in our film especially in scenes 2 and 5. This similar mood is reflected in the dark lighting used. However, the contrasting high key lighting on Alfie’s face suggests him as the protagonist of the film and the main focus. The extreme close up of Alfie in the foreground of the poster also suggests him as the main focus of the film. In our film poster, Alfie’s costume is a hooded jumper, which is a key trait in the short film, as Alfie always wears his hood up. This can also reflect the mystery and darkness of Alfie’s character. The setting of the corridor in our main film poster represents isolation which is essential to the film, as the relationship between Johnny and Marie does leave Alfie feeling this way. With the setting only being visible in the background of the poster it implies that the setting doesn’t hold a central role to the film. I think the poster gives away a certain amount of detail about the films plot, because if I was to see the poster without seeing the film, I would think that the main character is jealous of the couple in the background who are obviously flirting. The body language of Marie and Johnny is very united and engaging towards each other. Their facial expressions show they look content and pleased to be in each others company and the fact they're in the background would make me think they are being secretive which supports the plot of our film. However the poster doesn't give the main plot twist away which is what we intended, as the audience will still be surprised when they watch the film. The unity and close proximity of Johnny and Marie in the background really emphasises the physical relationship between them in this image and therefore is really effective in my opinion as it causes a stark comparison with Alfie's expression. The second version of our film poster is the only film poster which holds a significant prop. The prop of the petrol can is the cause for biggest plot point of our film. However, without seeing the film this wouldn’t be clear to the audience, and therefore acts as almost a teaser. Therefore, I think the magazine is extremely successful in supporting the film as there is a house style across both the poster and the film which is visibly clear as I feel the mise en scene of the film poster is reflected in the cinematography of the film.
The next step of promoting the film, after the distribution of the film itself, is the magazine film review page we produced. The purpose of a film review is to let the audience know a bit about the film, whether it’s a blockbuster or an under the radar independent movie, and most importantly to give an opinion on the films watch ability. In order to work as cadhesive campaign it is essential to place the review in a magazine which has the same target audience as the audience of your film. As Independent Critics has a wide target audience we thought this works effectively alongside our main product. Independent Critics features a variety of different reviews, from Saw to Wallace & Gromit, therefore we are aware it is read by a wide varied audience. Therefore as an independent film we thought this would be a clever way to create an interest for the product as it can be read about by a wide audience, as well as our own target audience. The layout of the review almost mirrors the layout of an Independent Critics page except our magazine review has the “film of the week” feature. The initial fact the film is "film of the week" alone also works successfully in promoting the film as it draws the audiences attention to that part of the review, again sparking publicity for the film. The language of the review reflects the style of the thriller film as the relaxed language makes the target “teenage” audience comfortable with the film. “Hooded psycho” is slang language the audience can relate to as well as a phrase which relates to the thriller genre! The review reveals the typical thriller themes of the film, such as jealously, yet it doesn’t give away the surprises of the plot, which is key of film reviews! Therefore, I think overall the combination of our main media product and our ancillary tasks work very effectively in order to create a cadhesive campaign.