Ancillary Tasks Research

The conventions and purpose of an ancillary product is to promote and market the main product and to more importantly promote the creator of the main product. These products often take up the form of magazines, posters, websites and other types of promotional platforms. The conventions of a film poster are that it has to be eye-catching and captivating to the audience. There must also be a focal picture that draws in the eyes of the audience. Furthermore, the title has to be displayed in a large and eye-catching font. There also has to be an indicator of when the film will be released. In addition, the information about directors and the production company is usually displayed in a billing block at the bottom of the poster. On top of this, there may be reviews or titles of other films that the company has made.

The conventions of a film magazine front cover are that it has to have a masthead, which is usually at the top of the page and indicates what magazine it is, and an image that must reflect the audience and the style of the magazine. The main image is normally a mid shot and should reflect what the film featured is about. This would usually involve the main actor from the featured film. A further convention of a film magazine front cover is that they have to have buzzwords such as 'free' and 'exclusive' in order to capture the attention of the reader and make them want to buy the magazine. Another convention of a film magazine front cover is the anchorage text; this is the text that often overlaps the image to tell what the story inside the magazine will involve. This could be a quote taken from a interview inside the magazine. The next convention of a film magazine front cover is the banner, which gives overall information about the magazine and what will be found inside. The final conventions are the barcode, date and issue number, something that every magazine front cover requires.

For my ancillary tasks, I will be producing a poster and a film magazine front cover featuring my film. I have chosen to do a poster because I have had experience of making posters at a previous school during Year 7 Media lessons. Therefore, the previous knowledge that I have gained will allow me to produce a higher quality poster to promote my short film trailer using similar or more advanced software such as Photoshop and InDesign. Another reason for choosing to do a film poster as one of my two ancillary products is that a lot of posters that I've seen have attracted my attention and resulted in me watching the film it was promoting. I chose to do a magazine cover as my second ancillary task to promote my film trailer because I've seen many magazine covers that have promoted blockbuster films successfully. This is what I want to do with my second ancillary product because I wish to produce a high-quality and professional poster that effectively promotes my film trailer.