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

Our film is unique in the way it looks at drug problems among middle classed teenagers and its use of editing which allows the audience to see through the eyes of our main character without using point of view shots for example, by doing this the audience feels as though they are experiencing the same hallucinations the character is witch allows them to relate and empathies with her. The tagline for our film (‘Euphoria can only go on for a certain amount of time, eventually reality wins out’) suggests towards the inevitable misfortune the character Ruby brings on to herself due to her reckless usage of dangerous substances. The tagline creates a sense of anticipation amongst the audience as they know something is going to go badly wrong and makes them want to find out how and why. I think the unusual editing will appeal to our target audience as many will be quite artistic and creative making the postmodern element of our film very appealing to them. The explicit drug use within our film creates a sort of excitement among the audience, not necessarily because they can relate to the feeling, but because they empathies with the character and feel the same sort of emotions experienced by the character.

We would firstly release our film in selected independent cinemas and online on sites such as iTunes and Netflix and then once our film becomes more popular we will begin to release the film in more mainstream cinemas and on TV. By firstly releasing the film in independent cinemas we are able to draw in our niche audience, giving the film an exclusive feel to it which is what our primary audience attracted to. Because our film is an indie hybrid with challenging concepts and postmodern editing, our target audience would be quite quirky and creative, someone who would understand the concept of post modernism and appreciate the challenging nature of our film. Our film’s target audience would be in the age range of 15-23, appealing to both male and female. Our audience’s media consumption pattern would tend to be independent, following news on Vice, film reviews in the magazine Little White Lies, and watch TV series such as Skins, Breaking Bad and Fresh Meat. The classification for our film would be a 15 as it contains mature content and violence but portrays the drug taking and illegal activity in a negative way and therefore can be opened up to slightly younger teenagers (15-16 year olds).

The film posters help to promote our film to a much wider audience compared to our trailer. The posters would be positioned mainly in cities; on the sides of buses, billboards, outside cinemas, in train stations etc, our trailer is only accessible to people who watch certain channels that we are advertising on or who go on sites such as Youtube or IMDB, but posters can be seen by anyone, be it our target audience or not. The image of our posters is the main character of out film, her costume and expression gives a sense of the atmosphere and genre of the film. In my designs I have made the title of the film the main focal point, which obscures the face of the character adding a sense of mystery to the posters. I used a pattern I created which I used for all my poster designs to add continuity and make the posters recognisable as a series. The posters will appeal to our target audience as they convey the main theme of drugs in our film which is a subject matter that interests them. The posters portray the genre of our film through their ominous aesthetics and how they have a sense of mystery. The drug theme is suggested through the psychedelic pattern featured in each design. The colours of the pattern suggest towards the euphoric high felt by the character in contrast to the black and white image which conveys the bleak reality eventually faced by the character. The font used has a lot of impact and has a sort of rough and distressed look to it which reflects the ambiance of our film.

By promoting our film through the magazine Little White Lies, we are able to share with our audience a more detailed view of our film and allow them to associate with it. After reading an article on a new film an audience member is hopefully likely to want to go and see the film if it is the sort of thing they would be interested in or enjoy watching. Feeling as though they have some inside knowledge about the film and having been intrigued by the article may make them want to see the film in order to answer some questions they may have. The cover image has a very mysterious feel to it and the subtle colouring of it suggest towards the hallucinations seen by the character. The expression on the character’s face is very piercing, looking directly at the camera which addresses the audience, and her eyes look slightly glazed over as if her mind is in a different place. The cover design conveys the themes and ambiance of our film as it has quite a dark feel to it and gives a sense of the editing within the trailer and film itself. The muted colour scheme conveys the sort of dismal atmosphere of the film and the unusual positioning of the title suggests to the uncomfortable feeling to our film. The readership of the magazine Little White Lies would be similar to our film’s overall target audience as they would be looking for an independent and alternative view point compared to mainstream media products. Little White Lies has an website featuring articles of films taken from the physical copy of the magazine. The online version could appeal to a wider audience range as readers can share reviews and features on Facebook and Twitter using web 2.0. The magazine also has a Tumblr, Youtube, Instagram and Pinterest account which opens up the companies products to an extremely wide audience range.

Our two ancillary products will work together to create a sense of intrigue and excitement around our film; The posters which are intended to make the audience about the film and want to find out for themselves the details of the film, and the magazine cover and article which gives the audience information about the film, making it appealing to our target audience. The posters make the audience ask questions about the film, the magazine should answer a few of their questions and add even more intrigue, and finally the film answers questions and hopefully leaves the audience satisfied. Another way we could promote our film is through organised events such as club nights with the theme of ‘Euphoria’ where promotional leaflets and stickers (for example) are given out and the whole night is based around the promotion of our film. The different websites that could promote out film include; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and IMDB. These sites allow the audience to access images, short clips and additional information about the film and it’s release. All these sites are interactive and pages and information can be shared through other social media websites and s, many of these sites also have mobile applications, this means our film’s pages are easily accessible from anywhere. Club promo sticker Another marketing strategy we have considered is teaming up with the drug help organisation ‘Talk to Frank’. We thought by associating our film with the Talk to Frank company we could highlight the anti-drugs theme and promote their work within our advertising and have our film promoted on their website.