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

I wanted my ancillary products to link stylistically to my main product and for my ancillary to support my main. The theme I was going for was one of contrast, my poster and review were to promote the product as a sort of idealistic 'war is good', standard action film, sort of what would have been seen back in the 1960s. This was to contrast with the actual product which has very little of that, how it's a simple story of a man trying to escape being hunted. I achieved this by creating a clichéd image for my poster, one that can be seen in both film and reality, a soldier proudly holding his flag, in comparison in the actual product the same character is on the run, not proud or defiant but trying to escape the war. The review was done in a way to also reinforce the message of the poster and create contrast, with it being described as a standard action film and reflecting through its words and imagery the same feel the poster was trying to get across. I did however try to hint towards the real message of the product in the tag line featured on the poster, 'war comes home' trying to emphasize the fact that the character can't escape it.


My second piece of ancillary work, the magazine feature, links into my main product by incorporating screenshots of the product and adding sections of description which describe the product. These work as teasers for the main product and increase the likelihood that a reader would want to view my product.

From a technical standpoint, I linked my main and ancillary products through the use of the same visual themes, prominent use of militaristic imagery, camouflage and weapons primarily. To use any other imagery would have disrupted the tone of my product and also constituted a major continuity error between what's seen on the poster and what's in the product which are supposed to be around the same time featuring the same character. I also used similar fonts and the same logos across all related products to maintain continuity and easily identify and unify the products through shared imagery and themes.