Evaluation - Ancillary

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

Postcards
I had in my mind already the idea of objects related or seen in the film being the background of the postcards, with simple text which doesn’t distract from the background image but simply informs of the name of the film and the actors. I avoided taking a shot of anything which revealed too much of the plot of the film as it would take away the suspense created in the film.
Bucket

The first shot of the movie is of a bucket. I really liked this shot and liked the bucket. I used a high-quality camera to take a picture of the bucket at the scene as found in the film. Although it’s at a different angle and doesn’t have water I think the message get’s across. Another reason why I choose to use the image of the bucket was because it is closely associated to the job of Paul Bison. I didn’t add too much detail with texts and I left it quite simple. I wanted the quality of the image to stand out and for there to be emphasis on the title and main character.
Better-days
In this postcard there is the quote of the film which stood out to me. It’s what Paul says at the end of scene 2. I feel as though this quote captures the whole message of the film. The full quote being “...sometimes if I finish early I get to pick the kids up; those are some of the better days.” This quote encapsulates the message of the film, that in the end it’s all worth it for the kids.
Dettols
When I took this photograph I didn’t expect it to look this good. Due to the quality of the camera, every detail is captured and this enhanced the overall presentation of the postcard. I used three shots of the blue bottle of bleach for the backgrounds of the postcards because they turned out so good. The reason I wanted a picture of bleach was because it featured in the film and Paul himself uses it as a prop as he shakes it and says “...dettol actually...” This is also the reason why in one of the blue bottle bleach postcards it has that quote.
Gloves & Sponge
These gloves feature in two scenes and the sponge features in the introduction. I chose to take the picture of them for the same reasons as I did for the bucket and dettol. They were both props used and seen in the film and hint towards the “job” that the film title is talking about but without giving it away. With the sponge postcard, at first it is hard to tell what it is. This reflects the plot and feel of the film as you it’s hard to tell what Paul’s job is at the first until it is revealed to you.
Only-a-job
This postcard features the beginning scene of the scrubbing and the end quote of “...it’s only a job...” I felt that bringing these two together created a good postcard. This poster hints towards the “job” that the film title is talking about but it doesn’t give it away.

Film review

(this is the written version of my commentray)

Hello, this is my auditory commentary on my review.

I have based my review on film review magazines like Empire and Total Film. In these magazines you’ll find an image attached to each review which is normally a shot from the film or somehow related to the film. They always have a slightly witty comment with them which is related to the image, the film or the actors. For my review I have wrote “More than just a bucket”. This was demonstrating that this film has a lot more to offer.

I have followed the conventions of a film magazine layout. The title is a bigger font than the rest of the article. I have a witty play on words sub heading which says “no scrub” which is referring to the song “No scrubs” by TLC and the other meaning to the word scrubs of beginner. I have below this, key information about the film such as the director, cast, running time and a brief explanation of the plot. The first sentence of the review is in bold which is another convention found in film magazines. I have also ended the review with a “verdict” which sums up the review in a sentence. Underneath that is the 5 star rating where I gave it 4 stars.

I tried my best to match the same style of an Empire or Total Film article. I’ve done this by keeping an upbeat tone to the review. I avoided using the highly intellectual wordplay used in a review such as the Sight and Sound magazine and also avoided using the simple language used in reviews found in magazines like heat. Finding a balance in-between Heat and Sight and Sound is where the review style of Empire and Total Film stands.

I understand that magazines like Empire are for mainstream blockbusting films. However they do feature the smaller films from time to time but give them smaller spaces on the page. So if they ever did do a short film special edition my review would fit in comfortably. Especially if it’s suggests for readers to visit online to view the film. The audience that would purchase a short film edition of Empire is the kind of audience that we want to appeal to.