Question Two: How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

     The combination of the main product (the horror movie trailer) and the film website and poster made the promotional package seem professional and somewhat effective.

to view the trailer, click here.

THE POSTER

the poster.

     In terms of the film poster, I think the promotional package works well with the main product of the horror movie trailer. This is because I aimed to make sure that the poster followed the conventions of other movie posters and at the same time related to our actual trailer itself.










     I chose to focus predominantly on the eye because they appear often in the trailer and this implements a sense of continuity throughout the promotional package. I made the eye darker during editing so that it stands out and green is further shown in the release date. I thought that the green worked well because it connotes jealousy and because the character has two personalities, they are often in competition with one another - it plays around with the saying "the green eyed monster." In this sense, the combination of the main product and this particular aspect of the ancillary text is effective because it is has a sense of continuity.

      When it comes to the lower half of the poster, I ensured that I followed the typical conventions of any genre poster, though I did pay particular attention on horror film ones. The main poster I looked at was 'Orphan.' I followed the layout of the lower half to make it seem more professional. 

                  

     In terms of the tagline, I was originally going to opt for something along the lines of "there's something wrong with her," however, I thought that this was far too similar to 'Orphan'. My chosen tagline was therefore "the last person you can trust is yourself" because I thought it built suspense and created something that the audience could relate to - the questioning of the self.

     Overall, when it comes to the poster and the main product, I think that the combination is effective because there is a clear sense of continuity and its evident that both the poster and the trailer are part of the same promotional package and for the same movie. 

THE WEBSITE

link to website

     On the right are screenshots of my website for the movie. 1 and 2 are of the home page (check out the link above for the full page). The home page features the release date and trailer as well as brief reviews and nominations. I would argue that the home page of the website does not suggest that its a horror film and is probably the weakest part of the ancillary texts. Therefore, although it's clear that the website is for a movie, it does not do justice to the genre and is not effective when combining it with the main product and the poster.

     3 is the 'about' page which features the poster, summary and images below. Despite the images below and the poster, it again does not demonstrate the fact that it is a horror movie website.

     4 demonstrates the 'screening' page. I personally haven't seen this on other horror movie websites but decided to challenge this convention by adding exclusive cinemas in which the audience can watch the movie. I took this inspiration from the promotional package of 'The Blair Witch Project' - the movie was scheduled to be released at the same time as Hollywood Blockbuster 'Eyes Wide Shut' and they therefore had a limited screening to create the buzz among other things.

     5 shows the backstage pictures of the movie which I think fans would enjoy as backstage images often cause a buzz among the fans and they are more likely to talk about it and therefore, through the word of mouth, they are likely to cause further 'hype' in regards to the film.

     Overall, considering the poster, trailer and the website, in some parts it is effective while in others, the product is evidently weak. I would argue that the poster and trailer work very well together because they conform to the genre as well as being professionally presented. However, the website is not effective and while its clear that the website is for a film, it does not demonstrate it being for a horror film and therefore is the weakest part.