Q. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
My main product combined with my ancillary tasks has been quite successful. After the film was finalised I produced my version of a film review for ‘empire’ magazine. The reason I chose to use Empire magazine was because it is one of the most renowned magazines around. It’s famous for its film reviews so I thought it would be ideal to include our film as a feature in there as the audience will be very aware of ‘Empire’ and trust its reviews. Therefore, trusting the review written for ‘Light Through Darkness’ and being drawn to read more and have an interest in our film. Also, I tried to replicate my review to ‘Empire’ as well as I could. Again, allowing the audience to feel a sense of trust with the magazine and be interested in reading the review and going further to watch the film. I used phrases such as ‘a tear jerker’ to make the audience feel as if they were already familiar with the magazine.
The main image I used on the review was of our main character sitting on the bed. As we can see from his position in frame, the camera is looking down at him while he is looking upwards. This shows he is quite weak and unconfident. It portrays him as being vulnerable and defenceless to his situation. Also, he is wearing a white shirt which represents him as being a simple and straightforward character. This again, relates to his loss of sight as he isn’t dressed up in fancy clothes and such, he appears basic and minimal. His facial expressions immediately show him as being slightly agitated and perhaps even slightly hostile. Again, showing his un-confidence and weakness. This image is related to the film as the first half of our film represents Kieran as being a very unconfident character. When the audience see the image they will immediately feel sorry for him and want to know more about the narrative.
With the text, I read quite a few reviews from Empire magazine and looked at the way they spoke to their audience. It seemed as if they spoke to them in a formal way yet spoke as if they were well acquainted with each other. I tried to replicate this as well as I could but as our film had such a different and unique story line it wasn’t easy to get the same tone across to our audience. I say this because it was quite unusual for a blind person to be saving someone from getting hit by a car. The combination of the two are complete opposites, so when making them fit together was quite tricky. With this combined with our film, the narrative will attract the audience to the unique story line as it is a rare one that hasn’t been done before.
The only image on each poster is a screen shot of the main character. From this the audience get a sense of what the film will be about and its narrative. I chose not to use loads of images from the film and over whelm the poster but to keep it simple like its narrative. In the billboard poster two images are blended into each other. The left with Kieran and his friend shows what he used to be like before he lost his sight and the one on the right shows his struggle through everyday life due to his blindness. This image combined with the narrative gets across the films message very well. It shows what Kieran was like before and how he is after the accident. The image blend represents him overcoming a journey, which of course is the main message of the film. Also, it sums up the film in just two images. As the narrative begins showing what happened before the accident and ends with how he is after his confidence is regained.
The image I have used on poster number three is of Kieran opening the door and about to step out. Again, from this image the audience are able to see that Kieran is about to go through a journey, and the opening of the door symbolises this – as if he’s walking out of one chapter of his life into another. Again, a direct link to the narrative itself as the narrative is about him overcoming a journey.
The image I chose to use on poster number two is the image of Kieran sitting on his bed. This is the same image to the one on the review. I chose to use this as it is a very prominent image and I feel it portrays the character very well. Like I have mentioned before, it shows his vulnerability and weakness. This is what the film tries to get across in the first half. We tried to show his weakness as much as we could and this picture does just that. Therefore giving the audience a sense of what the character is like without giving away too much of the narrative.
You can see that in every poster I produced Kieran is in the centre. This is because he is the main character and by centering him shows the audience three different insights into what the film is about. It gets across the point that he is without a doubt the main character and obviously the narrative is centred around him.
The font I chose to use on my billboard poster is almost transparent. This is a play on the narrative of the film as it shows his transition from the time of the accident to now. By portraying it like this is a clever touch on the idea of blindness as it is almost like the title is appearing out of darkness. This is similar to the title on our actual film. It appears letter by letter as if an actual light is behind it making it stand out on screen. They are both a clever pun on the title of our film which come across very well to the audience. It’s as if the titles are ‘coming through’ the screen. Similar to that of them ‘coming through’ Kieran’s life showing he is going through a journey.
I have used star ratings in all of the posters and ‘expert witnesses’. By doing this the audience will feel as if the film has been prior approved by expert critics that have given it a high rating. Therefore the audience are being reassured that the film is one to watch and will want to go to watch it. I used the phrase ‘A REAL TEAR JERKER’ – ‘Empire’. This was the quote I put in my ‘Empire’ magazine review so I thought it tied in very well with the film and the review. Also, the audience will be able to link both together.
The main colours I have used in all my posters where black, grey and white. These colours are very minimal but do stand out to the audience. I chose to use black because of the narrative. I thought it matched the narrative very well as it was quite a sad, disheartening one so I thought the connotations of black would suit that very well. This is also linked to the film as we have included a few black fades as transitions from one shot to the next. So this tied in very well with the film and and created almost a ‘house style’ but for the film. I chose the grey again, because of the situation he is in. Grey represents uncertainty, and misfortune which originates from his loss of sight and un-confidence. And the white represents purity and overcoming a journey. This is the most significant colour as that is the basis of the narrative. The character Kieran is overcoming a journey which definitely needs to be portrayed to the audience beforehand. Also, in the film, each flashback has been made to have a grey light over it portraying it as black and white. So the grey is able to be linked to that of the film and again, create almost a ‘house style’ for the film and its advertising schemes. As you can see, each tagline is written in white with a glow outline. This is so that it stands out and so that the audience can note that as one of the most important element in the poster. It also shows importance as it has been highlighted so the audience can see that a journey is definitely taking place within the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment