Film Poster Research

1. Give evidence of a range of film posters you have researched

2. Put your posters into film genre categories and identify some common

icons in each genreHorror :• The conjuring • Dead Silence• Carrie• Final Destination• MAMA

Action:•Fast and Furious•White House Down

Comedy:• Neighbors • Vampire Academy•The Other Women • Zombieland•22 Jump Street

Drama:• 12 Years of Slave • The Fault in Our Stars•If I Stay •Heaven is real •The Impossible

One common thing that all of the horror posters are dark in the background

One common thing that the action film posters have is a dramatic landscape behind the characters.

One common thing that the comedy film posters have is all of them have bright colours to give it energy and happiness.

One common thing that drama film posters have is that they seem pure not only by the colours chosen by also by the facial expression for example If I Stay.

3. What are the different TYPES of film posters

• Video/DVD release poster – This one comes out when the film is released on DVD/video.

• A Teaser poster – This poster contains basic information to get the audience attention. This often does not indicate much about the plot.

• The main poster - This poster is more detailed and contains information about the production personnel, the characters, and the distributors.

4. Where do film posters get shown and why? Give examples (even if not your

chosen posters)

• Film posters can be shown anywhere especially if it’s a high budget film. We see posters on:• Buses• Bus stops • Billboards• Cinema’s • Theatre’s• Film Magazines • Public walls • Tube stations

Here we have “The Hobbit” on the bus

Here we have “The End” on a bus stop.

Here we have the “Skyfall” poster on a billboard

5. What is the typical size for posters?  (can be more than one)

• A typical poster would be the usual one you would see in film premieres , most of those posters are landscape.

• A bit bigger one are the ones you would see on the hallway of a cinema.• Posters that are on a tube station are similar size to the ones on the bus

stops. • The biggest posters would have to be the ones on a billboard.

6. How are posters appealing/attractive to the audience?  Does the appeal/attraction differ than that of the poster?  (is it aimed at same target audience as other advertising such as

trailer?)

• The posters may attract different audience than the trailer itself, because the poster may have different context that the trailer doesn’t show.

• For example in the poster from Final Destination it looks like a gothic horror film as shown by the dark colours and the skull so therefore it will attract audience that enjoy actually enjoy a gothic horror film. However looking at the trailer it shows a different side of the film and has an impression of a more slasher thriller.

8. What is the difference of conventions between different subgenres?

• Drama romance posters are more likely to contain Quotes rather than a horror/thriller type of poster.

• Action films are more likely to have a tagline to make the film more exciting.

9. What are the similarities of conventions in similar subgenres?

• One big similarity is the big title that has the catch the audiences attention. Especially in the genre comedy and action.

• Another similarity is that most posters contain the directors name. If the director is well known then this will help to attract more audiences. This occurs with all type of subgenres.

10. Priorities: What do some poster prioritise?

• The first main priority of a poster is the title as most film (especially action) make it bold, big and a certain bright colour to stand out.

• The second priority are the characters because well known characters will get the audience attention. Also, If the film is successful people will remember which characters acted in that film.

• The third priority is the directors name because some people refer to to films by the director and its the first thing they will look for it see if the film is good or not because they will remember the previous films.

11. Summarise how your film posters reinforce conventions  (reinforce stereotypes) 

• From the poster ‘Carrie’ we see blood which reinforces one of the conventions of horror as it represents evil and/ or the devil as well as death.

• In action films such as Fast & Furious or White House Down we see the landscape and the location in which the movie takes place this reinforces the convention of action posters as most of them show part of the film and what the ‘action’ is all about. .

12. Give examples and explain how some film posters challenge the conventions of film posters

(they do things different than most)This film poster (12 Year a Slave) challenges the conventions of any type of poster

because the title doesn’t stand out compared to the typical ones. They want the audience to focus on the character more rather than the title.

The poster ‘If i Stay’ also challenges the conventions of a film poster because it exposes the film by showing scenes. Other film posters would avoid this and keep it restricted to show as less possible so it would not give away too much detail and manage to get audience interested by the time its released .