Film Poster – Codes and Conventions

Introduction• This task is about looking at posters from previously released

films and analysing them for the elements that they have within them, and that are seen similarly on other film posters. This is to help understand the conventional elements seen in film posters so that I have an idea of what to include when making my film poster for our production. Understanding the conventional elements will allow me to decide whether or not to include them to follow/break convention in order to advertise/persuade my audience to go and see the production in the most successful way, since the purpose of a film poster is to advertise the film to the audience, inform them a little about it and ultimately persuade them to go and see the film in order for the film to be successful, since the film poster would be apart of the marketing campaign.

Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows (2011)

Star Appeal/Image of star actor

Date

Title of film

Picture of actors

Organisation information

The Walk (2015)

Title of film

Selling line

Date

Selling line

Tag line

Striking image to attract the audience

Picture of actor

Organisation information

Summary• Both posters that I analysed shared a lot of elements that are conventional to a film poster. These two examples share

elements like the title of the film, possibly the most basic piece of information about how the audience may be able to find out more about the film. They also share pictures of the characters that will feature in the film, which perhaps gives the audience a viewpoint for the poster, and helps tell a story in an image, with the audience being able to relate to the character, perhaps wondering what they are like and what their journey is, and if they have star appeal, like Robert Downey Jr., this may appeal to the audience more, wondering what the popular actor may be like in this new character.

• Both posters share a date somewhere for when the poster will be released, and this also provides the audience with a greater piece of information about the release of the film. The date tells the audience when they should expect to see the film, and it helps market the film more effectively, allowing the poster to fulfil its purpose.

• It also includes institutional information, which is another form of information being given to the potential audience. This may convince the audience to go and watch the film or at least find out more because they may have seen other films from this production company, so this form of marketing would depend on the reputation of the production company. However, these are very small on the poster, and for the poster for The Walk, these institutional logos are very small, and the colour and opacity used makes them blend in very well to the poster, making them less visible. So the production logos are perhaps more necessary from a legal point of view (perhaps the poster is required to have the production logos on the poster), and not as necessary from a marketing point of view. Nevertheless, this element is conventional on the posters I analysed and others, so this would be necessary to include on my film poster.

• The selling lines are not seen on the Sherlock Holmes poster, however, this may be because there is star appeal. But the selling lines are seen on the poster for The Walk. Perhaps this shows a balance on the posters, since the picture of the actor on the poster for The Walk is too small to recognise the actor, nor does the poster advertise the actor starring in the film. So this could mean that there is a certain conventional balance of elements to make a film poster successful. It is good to include some elements, but perhaps not all, which could distract the audience from the actual film. Also, too many elements on the page could easily crowd the poster, which would make it less visually appealing. However, considering this possible balance, varying the number of elements included on the poster could also make it less conventional, standing out more and perhaps drawing more attention to it amongst other posters, therefore making it more successful. But this would have to be done appropriately, perhaps making the poster less conventional when advertising a less conventional film, like The Walk, which is no unreasonable to think considering the obvious subject/setting of the film as shown by the main image that fills the poster, and how this main image is shown.