For this year's project I needed to create a main task with two ancillary pieces that go with it to create one overall production. I chose to create a short film as my main task with my two ancillaries being a radio advert and a poster for my film. There are many ways in which these three pieces of my production can be compared. To show this I will be creating a subtitle for every commonality to summarise the main point and below I will talk about how I think they are effective with one another. Here are all three of my products:
The Room (2017) - Short Film:
The Room (2017) - Radio Advert:
The Room (2017) - Movie Poster:
As you can see/hear David Jones is in all three of my media products. I made this creative decision early on as I thought it would give the audience a chance to find something familiar across all of my texts and allow them to become more invested with David's story. I think this was effective as David (at the time of me writing this) was named by most people as the favourite character in my short film as you can see my results of my audience feedback questionnaire below.
It seems this creative decision was beneficial to the production as it allowed the audience to sympathise with David and it made them become interested with my project. This shows that getting David to be in all three of my tasks allowed my marketing of the film to be effective in getting people wanting to watch the film so personally I think the combination of these three tasks which span across three different media platforms: written, radio and film, was highly effective when combined.
Use Of The Same Outfit:
David in both the poster and film can be seen wearing the exact same t-shirt. I thought this was a good decision as it also allows the audience to link images they've seen to one another. This is effective as it means the audience can see David wearing the shirt in the film and think back to seeing the poster allowing them to remember certain secrets that might be revealed in the film. This use of similarity is helpful when trying to interest an audience member as it lets the audience reflect upon what they already know and gain knowledge to help them figure anything out the initially had questions about.
In both my short film and radio advert you can hear the line "I'll be the one asking the questions around here" being said by the two narrators. I decided to write this line into both scripts as I thought it was an interesting way to link the two pieces of work. I thought that if an audience member were to hear the two narrators using the same type of dialogue it would make them think something is going on in the world this film takes place and make them ponder and dissect my movie more by making them as questions like "How are they doing what they are?", "Are there other narrators?" and "Do these two narrators know each other?" to name a few. I believe this was a smart technique for me to use as it meant that if this were a real life film getting released it would get people talking about my film more and increase the interest in the film.
Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk":
For the start of my short film I use this song to introduce David's character with a montage of him getting ready for school but, I also use this song as a backing track to the conversation between the radio presenter and the new narrator as well. I decided to do this as I wanted to use the song as way of taking advantage of cross media convergence and synergy. By this I mean I thought that if people hear the song being played in both pieces of text they'd then associate it with my short film. This would mean that I could get a free way of promoting my film as people would remember it whenever they hear the song and would likely talk about its use in film. I think this is an effective link I have created between the two pieces of text as it would be a way the audience is able to enhance their enjoyment of the main production because if they remember the use of the song in the radio advert they can take pride in the fact they noticed the song being used in the marketing campaign. This is also a very popular song with the generation I am looking to target my film towards so the use of it helps create a positive experience for the viewer the second they hear it as they're able to sing along hopefully making the film more fun as a result.
The Type Of Comedy:
I used sarcasm a lot across my short film and radio advert. This is because I believe this sort of humour is very popular and commonly used by my target audience. This means they are able to relate to what the characters are saying and can better understand the situation they're in as they would likely react in the same manor. This is effective as it allows the audience to feel empathy for the characters as they're portrayed in a way in which people think they can think they're similar to a certain character, allowing them to identify with a particular one and making them their favourite. I also used dialogue heavy humour rather than props or reactionary humour in both my short film and radio advert. This was because I wanted to make sure my comedy was more than just a toilet humour film and it actually made people have to think a little in order to understand the joke and it didn't rely on cheap tricks to make them laugh but instead it relied on mine and Josh's writing skills. This effectively meant the audience could have a better experience as they'd be able to rewatch/listen to each of my tasks and be able to find new jokes they didn't the first time which allows them to have a repeated good experience with my productions.
Teases About The Plot:
I wanted to make sure I let the audience have a rough idea about what the film is about through the use of my ancillary tasks but I didn't want there to be a lack of surprises in the film so in my poster I included secrets that might be revealed but others that won't be allowing the audience to keep guessing the plot details. Then, in my radio advert I made the presenter ask "Aren't you the voice in the film?" meaning that the potential audience members were able to release that the movie has a narrator and get a feel for this personality. These two tasks get the audience wondering what the actual film is about but don't give the true plot away meaning the audience can be 'hooked' into wanting to find out what the short film includes meaning the mystery surrounding my film until it is released would let their imagine run wild with ideas allowing them to create their own excitement about my short film.
Multiple Narrators:
I thought that using two separate narrators across the two media projects, the short film and radio advert, would allow the audience to create their own theories surrounding my film. This would then allow them to generate mysteries for them to solve on their own which the theorist: Roland Barthes says this is important as every narrative should contain multiple codes that the audience should want to find a solution to by viewing the product, in this case my short film. This basically means that the film, poster and radio advert should make the audience want to find out the answers to their own questions and questions others have about the three pieces of media. This is an effective use of a basic idea as it means the narrators become a narrative hook the pulls in the audience in the first place and should make them want to watch my main task.
The Simplicity:
Although this sounds like an obvious thing I decided to make sure the design of my poster and my radio adverts conversation were simple to match the simplicity of the movie. This is because I didn't want to falsely advertise the movie and make it seem like something it's not. By making the poster have a plain background it meant the person looking at it shouldn't expect much and this is the reaction I want as I don't want them to think my comedy set in a school will be full of explosions and other things. The effectiveness of the radio advert being simple is basically that the plot isn't revealed, it gives the listener a chance to understand the theme/style of the movie a bit with the reveal there's a narrator and it allows the people to become excited to see what the film is actually about. These both help my main text as it allows the audience to not have to overthink the movie and I won't deter anyone from watching it as it's an easy going comedy that doesn't require much thought meaning you can sit down and watch it at any time.
Themes/Messages:
I decided to make a theme of my radio advert that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I showed this by the narrator eventually being persuaded he should go watch this movie after initially being against the idea. I think this was an effective use of narrative as it shows the audience anyone can change. This idea links in nicely with the fact at first the narrator is horrible but after he gets what he wants he becomes a nice person again by freeing the people he trapped. He also reflects upon what the film has taught us and says "So what did we learn from this wonderful experience. Well I think the obvious thing is that everyone has secrets and they should probably stay that way. But if they don't stay secret, are you willing to justify them" allowing the audience to get a sense of morality as they ponder whether they are a good person and if they were the narrative would they abuse their powers or just keep what they know to themselves.
Now that I've completed this post I believe I have successfully identified that both of my ancillary tasks are important to benefiting my main production. This is because I've managed to pick some common aspects that link the task together and analysis how they benefit one another in an effective way. Upon reflection I am very happy with how all three of my tasks turned out and looking about at my plans for each the poster, radio advert and short film I have realised each has turned out the way I'd hope and I'm pleased with the success each piece got reaction wise from my target audience and questionnaire participants. This portfolio of work has also given me a better understanding of what it would be like to work in the movie industry as I would have to think about every aspect when it comes to creating posters and adverts to match a movie as without clear links my film could receive the attention it doesn't deserve for being falsely advertised so I'm glad I've learnt this now through the use of these tasks being effective to one another in multiple ways.
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