Evaluation Question 2

 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

To create a successful combination between our main product and ancillary texts we needed to ensure they all had a central theme that enabled them to link together in a way that made it clear they were promoting our film. To make this effective we used several motifs throughout our poster, website and trailer.

To start with we used the same typography on both our poster and in our trailer. The font was important to our poster as we felt, although our poster is a good representation of our film, it did not fully fit the conventions of a social realism poster and perhaps signified a drama more; However the typography we chose is faded and cracked, we thought this showed corruption and fragmentation which helped to portray social realism more as it connotes hardships. We used the same font on a shot in a film trailer, however we struggled to put the font onto our website because of technical difficulties.

This is our second to last shot in our film trailer. It is clear from the juxtaposition of our poster and this shot from our trailer that there is a strong link and the two combine well. Not only have we used the same font but also the colour scheme is very similar. The use of oranges and yellows resonates throughout our texts. We used the sunset and it is a memorable shot in our trailer as it stands out against the dull colours of the rest of the shots. We used the sunset to create the image of hope, but the action of our protagonist walking as a silhouette into the sunset and away from the camera evokes emotion and leaves mystery in the ending such as the ending in Fishtank, this connotes the social realism genre as there is not a happy ending, in fact there should be no proper conclusion as it needs to convey real life and reality as best as possible. We also used the silhouette in the poster using our protagonist however he remains unidentifiable so our film does not come across as a film about a singular boys 'sob story' but about a type of boy that many people can associate with.

On our website we used the colour orange to link it to both the poster and the trailer even though we used a blue font in the trailer the sunset creates the orange colour scheme. We also placed the Jury prize on the right hand side making the website look more professional, advertising the award even more and creating another link between the trailer and the website as we place the award in our trailer.

We placed the credits shown above on both the trailer and the teaser trailer. These credits are exactly the same on the both and include the same information successfully combining the trailer and the poster. These credits give information such as indents, certification, actors and directors etc. They also contain the website thus linking all of our texts together. This makes it all seem professional and works as a marketing device.

Our website uses the picture to left as its background. Once again we have used our protagonist as the focal point. Although he is a silhouette on our poster which hides his identity and in this picture we see him front on, the hood acts as a barrier and the idea of blurring his identity is continued. It keeps the character as an enigma.

Shows same costume to what is
being worn in website photograph.

The website probably has less correlation to the other two texts purely because the poster and trailer use almost identical images and we were able to use the font. However they still work as a combination because we have used the same costume in this photograph and in parts of the trailer and we have continued the idea of our protagonist wearing a hood which we were inspired by after watching Fishtank and deconstructing the poster.

 A tagline is important in the advertisement and marketing stages of film. A tagline is a form branding slogan in which the aim is to create a memorable phrase that will attempt to epitomise the product, in this case our film. The tagline, if successful should reinforce the audiences memory of the film and in some case a tagline can be so successful it is used as a saying in popular culture, for example 'Be afraid. Be very afraid." (The Fly) and "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." (Star Wars). Our tagline is, "It takes a lifetime to gain an old friend" referring to the unusual friendship formed between our protagonist, Jacob, and the old man character. We placed our tagline underneath the title on the poster in a slightly darker colour, we also put the tagline on our website underneath the title also. This should make the tagline more familiar and acts as a marketing device.


                  

To combine our ancillary texts and main products together not only do we create the same tone using colour, typography, actors and a tagline but we used Facebook and Twitter to act as a form of advertisement. We placed Facebook and Twitter links on the website which allows for audience feedback and participation, we also put these links on our blog. We also used YouTube to circulate our finished product and put links on the website also, this allows for feedback to so we can learn what we did wrong and what bits we did right. The blog also contains these links and the website links back to the blog also, this is important for our media project as it allows people to understand our direction and see the planning and research behind our finished product.

Conclusion:

Overall the combination of our main product and ancillary texts seems to work effectively. The poster and trailer are clearly linked as they use the same font and colour scheme, this is important as it sets the tone for our film, the poster picks out a aesthetically pleasing part of our film but it also subverts the social realism genre which why at first we debated whether to use it or not. We finally decided to chose the poster as we felt it was a good signifier of our narrative that did not give too much away but set the tone and mood, it also attracted our audience and after asking people to pick their favorite poster they were drawn to our final one. Our website does not fit in with the theme of the sunset as much however it does include a picture of our protagonist and the costume remains the same. I believe we effectively created a combination however we would have liked to have carried more elements through onto the website and the blog such as the font.

Fishtank poster deconstruction

• Heroic- proportionally she is filling the majority of the poster, this suggests a need to overcome her background and economic struggles. small buildings in the background: tower blocks, flats connote council estate and working class.
• Weather behind is blue sky and clouds as well as sunshine gives a sense of hope and happiness, however, this is contrasted with her serious and distant expression, suggesting this happiness is faced with trouble and disruption.
• The font/text is bold- orange font contrasts with blue sky. this represents the girl contrasting with her lifestyle in society.
• The light shines from the left creating shadow on her face, connoting a side of darkness and unhappiness within her character.
• She is wearing a hooded jumper, portraying the "hoody" stereotype- associated with having to act tough and stick up for herself. The media represents "hoodies" as intimidating and are typically referred to as ASBO's. Her hood acts as a form of identity, the wind appears to inflate the hood as if to show her true identity.
• Small white font informs the audience of actor names, awards, success of the film and ratings. This text is positioned at the bottom of the poster because is it a social realism film and so actors are not famous.
• Fishtank as a title demonstrates the idea of captivity and a sense of claustrophobia within society. This shows the idea that we are all fishes trapped in society and cannot escape however hard we try.

Origami Cranes

This is a picture Maria took in japan. The picture shows hundreds of colourful origami cranes which are traditionally a symbol of honour and loyalty, they also say in japan that if a person folds 1,000 cranes they will be granted their greatest wish. We wanted to include this symbolic feature in our film as it implies the hope and desperation for a better life. In our trailer we want the central shot to be of our protagonist and the antagonist walking into a room (in the antagonists house) exposing hundreds of cranes hanging from the ceiling. This shot will represent hope in the old mans life and showing it to the boy is the passing on of hope as he tries to rebel against his working class upbringing. 

History of British social realism

Social Realism

Social realism, also known as socio-realism, is an artistic movement where life struggles such as racial and social injustices and economic hardship are portrayed through the visual. The subject depicted is often showing the working class and their activities as heroic. In the artistic movement, the image depicts a scene that would usually convey a political and social protest and would typically be edged with satire. This was reflected in the social realism movement in the cinema with Britain adopting it as its main cinematic style. The idea of working class hardships was portrayed in films taken from Dickens and Thomas Hardy. One of the first film makers to establish the change from pictorialsm to naturalism was James Williamson. His films are considered innovative as they offer a narrative which was not common in earlier films from this time, in 1902 his films became available in America and influenced other film makers to construct a narrative through a number of shots.

The social realist films typically show working class struggles and how they are dealt with in early day life. Mostly set in the north films such as ‘Kes’ and ‘Billy Elliot’ show the struggles of young boys from a working class background.