When I had to design the posters for my film I had to keep in mind the genre and key themes so I could accurately communicate this to my target audience. I researched existing films relative to my genre of film to see how they managed to get across the message of their film. One of the posters I researched was for the film “The Other Guys” and here I found that the film is a comedy and this was portrayed through the image of two men frozen in the frame, firing their guns and being blown away from an explosion in the background.
This helped me to come to the realisation I needed to balance comedy with the essence of a mobster movie; just how “The Other Guys” balanced comedy with action. In order to do this I constructed a campaign using three different pictures I took at an organised photo shoot, and edited them to become my posters, representing different themes of my film in each one. The first one illustrated a car with two men standing in front of it exchanging a briefcase. The headlights are shining behind their legs and the way I have positioned the frame only reveals the characters from the waist down. This is to uphold the mysterious mobster element as you haven’t been introduced to the characters through the poster. 
In addition to this, I knew that the whole point of the film was for the double act to get money to buy this car. So I believed it to be vital to include the car in the poster. I used this to my advantage by editing the word SWITCH into the license plate of the car. This really influenced the gangster feeling as opposed to the funny side of the production. However, I created another poster that has the double act leaning on the car that is positioned central in the frame, with the prop of the briefcase in between them and you can see their facial expressions. Frank looks smug and confident as he is the man with the plan whilst Charlie’s face demonstrates his shock at how much money they now have. This focuses more on the comedic element of the film. Both of these posters portray elements of our film and I think they would gain audience appeal for those interested in my genre. In addition to this, there is a clear house style running through my posters as this indicates to an audience that although the posters are slightly different images, they still belong to the same production. Both posters show the car which is an essential aspect of our film and both posters have two characters and a briefcase in the frame. It’s more the way I have staged each element that makes them clearly different. The first poster I didn’t show the characters faces; just them exchanging a briefcase with their other hands in their pockets – hence the gangster feel. The other poster I showed their facial expressions which demonstrated comedy. This was vital in communicating to the audience that the film has different aspects to it whilst clearly demonstrating a thread between them. When constructing my review I had to consider the purpose of them generically and then I apply this to my own production. I had to highlight what worked well or not so well, highlight the actors in the film, refer to technical aspects and give an overall rating. For audience purposes, I had to inform them of what the film is about so that they can get an idea of whether or not they’ll be interested in going to watch it. I praised the casting of the double act and compared them to existing double act “Laurel and Hardy” so the reader could relate to an existing example. I also commented on the clever narrative of the film that is nonlinear. This indicates to the reader/future audience that the story is told in chronological order after revealing part of the ending at the beginning. I researched existing layouts of magazine reviews before formatting my own and decided to use Empire Film Magazine as my inspiration. I did this because I know that Empire Magazine is highly credited and popular for film reviews and when looking at a copy of it I saw a review that reminded me of my own film. It was a review for “Due Date” starring Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis as a kind of double act trying to get home via a long road trip.
This influenced me to use an Empire magazine layout because my film is similar to an existing one that features in this existing magazine. I used a snapshot image from my film as the image to accompany the review and this shows the double act trying to sell cookies during Day 1 of “Switch.” This immediately communicates humour to the reader before they’ve even read the review. Furthermore, the language I used was informative in light of the film however it was typical review wording with clever phrases and taglines. I did this to stick to the conventions of a review as well as inform the reader of the clever concepts in the film. As well as this, the actual page layout I re created for my own film had four other film reviews on it. So I successfully pasted them into my own review to format the page in a way that looked realistic to Empire Magazine. The actual film itself is an effective marketing tool as without it there wouldn’t be a purpose for a campaign! The film consists of themes such as comedy, gangsters, money, and friendship. The posters illustrate these themes thus proving their relationship. The combination of the film and ancillary tasks compliment each other to sell as a package and entice the target audience. Furthermore, the institution uses this campaign to generate a fan base. In the same way Hollywood Blockbusters produce posters, reviews, merchandise etc. they create an interested audience that will become loyal to the film. By creating posters that portray the film successfully, I have created recognisable images that an audience will always associate with my film. Even after they have seen it, fans will want to purchase a poster as merchandise, just how the real and existing industry works. This is how the film and ancillary tasks work together.
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