Purpose
The purpose of this blog post is to research in to film posters to allow me to have an insight as to what conventions I should include and follow on my film posters. This will also allow me to have a greater understanding of the use of film posters in the marketing of a film.
The main use of film posters is to advertise and brand a film, they are used in publicity blitz in order to catch the attention of the public so that more people will go to see the film, the posters are displayed everywhere; on the side of buses, on billboards, In cinemas and anywhere else that they can be put. They will often include information about the film such as; release dates, actors, director and reviews, these will enable the public to see vital information about the film so that they know more about the film. Sometimes film posters will have limited or no information on them, but still manage to effectively portray the genre and cause an interest for the public.
Bourne Identity film poster.
The title/text: The title is big, and easy to read against the background meaning that it stands out and is easy to see and read for the public therefor more people will see the posting causing more people to see the film. The title also conveys the genre well because the 'O' is in the form of a sniper rifle scope which identifies with the action genre.
Image: They key protagonist is shown very clearly in this poster, this is good because the character is Matt Damon who is a very well known film-star so this will entice the public and make people who are a fan of this actor want to go to see the film. Most film posters won't feature the key protagonist on their own unless they are a very well known film star.
Conventions: This poster effectively follows the conventions of an action film, it doesn't stray away from the typical expectations of an action film poster, for example there is no blood stained writing to represent a horror or a pink background to represent a romance or a chick flick.
Paddington bear film poster.
The title/text: For this film the title is less important than the image because almost everybody knows who the key protagonist in the image is. The title is good because it is the biggest text on the poster so the public can be aware of what the name of the film is. There is a comical theme to the text so we can identify that it is a comedy through the title, it also is positioned effectively underneath the image, as the audience sees the image of paddington causing chaos and mischief and then can see the title of the film which communicates to the public the genre of the film. The text shows a large amount of information; the release date, characters and also entices the public by the mentioning of the fact that it is 'from the producer of Harry Potter'. The use of pun in 'A little bear will make a big splash'
Colour: The colours are very bright;yellow and light blue, this follows the key conventions of a comedy film poster because they are light hearted and funny they use light colours to convey this factor.
Image: The image shows the well established character Paddington which enticises the audience because people that are aware of Paddington will potentially be interested in seeing the film.The image conveys the comedy genre very well because it shows a shot of the film where Paddington is up to some mischief and antics which would be expected to be seen throughout the film.
Conventions: I've mentioned how this film poster covers the main key conventions using colour and text, but it's important to be able to recognise how it has identified the key conventions of a comedy poster. The colours and text probably target a younger audience, also the use of text 'A little bear will make a big splash' may be patronising for an older audience but for a younger audience and parents it may appeal as a good family film.
There tends to be a number of similarities when it comes to film posters, here are some examples of how film poster genres follow the same conventions.
Action film posters
Action film posters follow the similar conventions in that they normally show the key protagonist(s) in the film on the front of the poster with a dramatic facial expression, holding a weapon against a dramatic background. They usually use darker colours and tend to have explosions, fire, wastelands etc as the background to add that aspect of action.
Comedy film posters
Tend to use natural and bright colours to convey their genres. They usually convey the genre through text and the actors in the film; The text is normally bold and colourful and if the actors are linked to comedy, the public can identify that the film is likely to be a comedy.
So it is important that film posters follow the conventions of their genre in order to properly market their film and ensure that they are attracting the right target market, if they fail to do this in their poster designing it is likely to impact the level of people that will go to see and buy the film because it is unclear as to what type of film it is that they are actually going to watch.
Key learning points
This blog post allowed me to look at all the different conventions of film posters that enable them to convey their genre effectively; for example, comedy films tend to use more bright or naturalistic colours whereas horrors will use more dark and sinister colours, so film posters will normally follow the typical use of colours within their genre to effectively convey their genre to its audience. This is something I will need to consider when I am creating my film posters because if I follow the conventions of a film poster that has a similar genre to mine, I should be able to effectively convey my genre to my audience.
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