Evaluation Part 2

How effective is the combination of your main product an ancillary texts?

The ancillary products of the text have to boost awareness and also promote the best aspects of the main text whilst maintaining the

‘brand identity’ of the product. I have taken the antagonist from the narrative within our trailer and placed her as the main focus on the poster. I chose to do this because when I was doing my research for posters I found some that I deemed the more successful to have the antagonist as the central focus. Films that have used this technique for their posters include Friday 13th (2009) and Nightmare on Elms Street (2010).

MY POSTER

I have taken a close up image of the antagonist’s face as this puts her directly into the viewer’s view and this makes them feel uncomfortable, claustrophobic and threatened. This also

removes the wider mise-en-scene of the image as the audience has no idea as of where this person is only that they are very close. This is very similar to the style of mise-en-scene that horror trailers use as it acts as a

form of restricted narration.

I also used low key lighting to enhance this unsettling feeling as people are naturally scared of what they don't know. The face is bottom lit, which only highlights elements of the face and because of the make up this distorts the features. This makes it seem even more mysterious and ominous to the viewer. This is similar to the way that the poster for evil speak (1981) was lit, it creates a ghostly effect but is also makes the viewer feel as though they are looking up at the

antagonist. Making them feel vulnerable.

The colours that are visible are muted earthy colours in greens and browns this has

connotations of earth and nature to link to the woodland

diegesis of the film. My image is intentionally very dark which suggests through connotation to the viewer that the nature is evil or dangerous. I have used white text for the tagline 'She is coming' as the white suggests the purity and innocence of the victims, but the

typography that I have used which looks like the text is being disrupted. This suggests that the innocence in being blown away and the darkness or evil is taking over. This technique with the distorted text was used in the poster for The Culling (2013).

MY MAGAZINE COVER

For the other ancillary text, the magazine cover I also used the same antagonist to push the narrative of The Hanging Tree. Yet in this case I have placed her in a way that she is as her 'celebrity self' this

encourages fandom and suggests that this is a more

mainstream movie with mainstream actors. The magazine is a 'special' issue (“FEAR ISSUE”) this would make people more likely to pick it up as they think that they are getting more value for money. This also allowed me to showcase the film more, as with the cover for Total film with their sci- fi or super hero specials.

I have made the issue about the

antagonist actress and suggested that she is a veteran actress much like Judi Dench. Theatre goer magazine used Judy Dench as their cover image in their February 2004 edition for the same reasons. I have shot an

expressionist low

angle long shot of the actress as this empowers her much as her dress-suit does.

Finally, I have used the

iconography of the blood splatters over the mast head of the magazine to re-enforce the horror factor of the magazine. Scream magazine used a similar technique for their REC issue with lots of blood splatters and dripping blood from the title. I also

included a free incentive to the buyers with a free film poster as this also encourages people to go and watch the main product. I think that the 'exclusive content' that this magazine gives to them allows them to fulfil

come of the uses and gratifications of this media text.

I feel that the style of my

magazine gives fans of the genre the feeling that they are able to

identify with the characters that they like and are interested by in the films that they watch, this is a technique that was used in the empire magazine cover for the issue of Sin City (2005). Ultimately I think both the magazine and poster successfully sell the style of my film.

Our trailer is a

psychological horror but with a grand emphasis

put on to the stylisation of the filming of the horror, with costumes and makeup as well as location being very important in the making of the film. In terms of an advertising campaign

strategy, using the poster as a teaser catches the audience’s attention but does not give much away about the film, not even the name. This relies on the style and the effectiveness of the makeup and the image to draw people in to look for more information about this mystery film. Friday 13th (2009) also released a teaser trailer similar to this one.

The magazine reveals a little more information, but also sells the

auteur/star nature of The Hanging Tree. Readers gain a greater insight into the film by buying the magazine. This is very similar to the total film cover on harry potter which suggests it gives the audience more than any other magazine

The type of audience that go to watch a blockbuster film and this stylised physiological horror

fits into the media hype that would attract this kind

of audience. Our film is a 15 so it is more about the montage and the suspense than the gore this makes our film more

Hitchcockian in style than other horrors and this also would draw in a more

mainstream audience. Film that use this technique include: Insidious (2010) and woman in black (2012).