4. How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

By Charles Ballard

When devising my horror trailer, my magazine front cover and horror poster, I wanted to create a clear link between the three products that the audience would be able to pick up on. The main link between my three products is the use of the woods, for example the woods is used as the main setting in my horror trailer and in the background of my horror poster and magazine front cover.

I believed that the woods are an integral link between my three products as the woods are where the dead bodies, who are victims of the antagonist, keep being found.

I wanted to portray this common link in all three of my horror products as I wanted to ensure that the audience was able to establish that my products were of the horror genre.

I believe that the woods were representative of the horror genre for many reasons. Firstly, the woods provide plenty of low key lighting which is a convention of the horror genre. I ensured that this convention was visible in all three of my products. For example, low key lighting is visible in my trailer, magazine front cover and horror poster. What is more, woods appeal to a primal fear that humans have, as woods are surrounded in mystery. It is this mystery which often generates fear, and it is this fear that I used to my advantage when creating my horror products.

Another reason using the woods as a common link for all of my media products is that the woods conjure up many enigmas which is a convention of the horror genre. This presents the audience with enigmas such as, ‘what relevance does the woods have?’

Another way in which I tried to establish links between both my main task and ancillary tasks was through the use of typography. In both my poster, magazine front cover and horror trailer, I used the same typography for my film’s title, Relic. I implemented this as I wanted audience members to be able to establish a common link between all of my products and so that they were all instantly recognisable.

I also wanted the audience to be able to make a link between the typography and the horror genre in all of my horror products. For this, I used typography which looks similar to dead tree branches as this represents the woods that I filmed at. Trees and haunted spirits often feature in horror films as they are surrounded with an aura of mystery.

I believe that my two ancillary tasks add a further dimension of mystery and horror to my main horror task which may provoke the audience to want to go and see the film to understand and solve the mystery surrounding the woods, the amulet and the dead bodies that keep appearing.

I believe the amalgamation of all three media products is very effective in attracting my target audience and I believe that I used the right amount of horror conventions to make the audience feel unsettled and scared by the horror aspects of all three while encouraging them to either purchase or view my media products.

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