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

When briefed on our A2 project we were instantly aware of the importance that surrounding the ancillary tasks and specifically their relationship with the trailer. ( initial powerpoint - click here)

Ancillary Tasks:

- Website Homepage

- Poster

Fig. 1

There was a definite awareness in our group surrounding the necessity of creating a successful, transferrable ‘brand’. Initially the idea was to use the main character, 'The Lycan', as the transferable image between our products (see fig.1), but after consultation and peer evaluation we felt able to create a more unique, modern identity. During the research and planning phase of our work we came across a known piece of symbolism for the ‘Lycan’, which can be seen in the poster idea, (fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Although our research had seen that the ‘brand’ when considering werewolf movies (such as ‘The Wolfman 2010’) was the image of the werewolf its self, our technological limitations of CGI, and need to show our diverse creativity meant we were drawn to using symbolism. We also felt that semiotics has become a product of the modernization of advertising, and something that would be understood and associated within our target market (15-24). The poster, our first ancillary task was where we created and developed upon our brand identity, we had to find a balance between the image of the protagonist and the use of semiotics, which is where our final idea (fig. 3) originated from.
(for applied textual analysis of Posters - click here) (for creation of poster - click here)

Fig. 3

The poster confirmed different elements from our trailer, therefore reinforcing it as a product of the ‘brand’. Carrying the brand image throughout the rest of our texts made sure our work had an effective combination of research into the websites that originate from our chosen genre. We found that there were definite criteria we had to stick to:

- The main image on the website was either the werewolf 

As seen in ‘The Wolfman’ (see fig 4)

- Or the protagonist

As seen in ‘Van Helsing’ (see fig 5)
(for applied textual analysis of Websites - click here)
Also, the repetitive writing of 'LYCAN' on the wall really reitterates the fact that the character cannot escape his inner beast or creature. This also ties in with branding.

As our trailer gave no obvious protagonist, we felt it unwise to use a given protagonist in our ancillary tasks, and therefore planned to use the image of the werewolf instead.

During the website creation  we felt we could strengthen the relation and combination of our products by replicating the poster image onto the website its self. The back image of the website was created from a cropped version of the poster. The colour and contrast levels of the image were decraesed during editing so that the image (although still effective,) did not draw attention away from the typography and trailer, promoting clarity of our text (as seen in fig. 4).

By using the same image across our media texts gave us a strong, reinforced brand. The image of of protagonist and the Lycan symbol were used in both the poster and the website, whilst also featuring during the trailer.

During the feedback stage of our project, this sense of branding across all three media texts were commented on as being one of the strongest parts of our coursework. This meant that the relation we created between our media products were being acknowledged and supported the meaning that there was strength within our branding.

As well as the ‘brand’ image, our products were related to each other in different aspects. The colours we used throughout our poster and webpage were of a gothic convention, mostly shades of red and black. This was a intention from our group as these colours were typical conventions of the horror genre (A History of Horror), which we knew from our research and planning phase of the project. Due to the ‘historic’ feel to our text we wanted to reflect the archaic nature of the genre and the werewolf myth and traditions.

The typography of our text (see in fig 3 & 4) had a formal, historic appearance and featured throughout examples of product  (see fig 5 & 6). As well as fitting the conventions of the genre, this reinforced aspects of our text that could not be done in filming alone, this was also seen in the music choices.

This historic typography influenced our music choice, which had a mythical, traditional feel - LINK. We decided to have this music playing automatically when someone enters our website to again, link our trailer to our website and add to the sense of branding.

 By using a reinforced and successful brand image, we felt that the combination of our work supported and created a familiar identity surrounding our product that was supported by research, and peer review.

Fig. 4



Fig. 5



Fig. 6