Film Poster Research

Film posters often have 9 unique factors that are key to make it stand out for audiences and make it suitable for advertising. Posters are used to give hints to the audiences what the overall film is about without giving it all away and also other information such as age rating and release date to cinemas and or DVD.

Genre:
One of the main points of a poster is to give the audience a easily identifiable genre which should be used in conjunction with all the other key elements of a poster which we will go into later. An example of this can be seen in horror films where the main focal points of there poster will feature many horror conventions such as dark colours or blood, so it makes it easy for the audience to identify that it is of the horror genre. Whereas in for say, an action film, the poster would feature a serious overall tone and may have images of guns or cars, as these are the general connotations of the action genre. These features can be seen in posters for First Blood and scream.


















Typography/Fonts
The type of font used in a poster can convey different feelings within an audience. For example if a more childish styled font is used it may suggest that the film will be targeted at children whereas if darker colours and a more serious toned serif font is used it would suggest it would be for more mature audience and would feature things only suitable for adults.

Colour
Colour is an important feature when creating a film poster. Which is also complimented by the lighting in the poster as well. Colour is used to present the films themes and overall ideas and is also used to convey different emotions and moods that it wishes to evoke in audiences. For example if a poster uses lots of saturated and high toned colour it would convey a sense of happiness or love so would suggest that the poster is for a comedy or romance. Whereas if the colours are darker toned and unsaturated it may present itself as having a darker and more depressing mood. So would suggest that the film is for a thriller or horror as they are known for featuring darker tones and colours. Many colours have different connotations as well, such as the colour red, as it can mean anything from love to danger with the way it is used, whereas the colour browns would be used for nature or decay. So colour can be used in multiple ways.


















Lighting
Another important feature of film posters is lighting. Lighting is used to convey different mood and to present the films genre similar to how colour is used in a poster.  For example a darker lighting/low key ,would suggest the film having more serious undertones or featuring horror so would present the poster as advertising for a horror or thriller film. Whereas if high key lighting was used it would convey a sense of happiness for the viewer so would suggest the film poster is advertising for a comedy or children film. With posters even featuring both high key and low key lighting so would suggest it would be a crime or mystery film similar to how Black Mass is.




















Actors, items, narrative points and Unique selling point
Many posters features the cast and directors names on or near the title as it adds a sense of star power to the poster to draw in fans of the actors, similar to how if a film is based from a book it will say so on the poster to draw the fans of the book to the film. This is a main marketing ploy into making films be successful at the box office. Many posters will features images of the actors but can also feature main narrative objects from within the film to give interest for the audience, companies such as Disney do this with there remakes as it has an established brand and narratives in place. A unique selling point is something that is unique to the film such as it having a niche genre of it being about a historical figure. An example of this is the Iron Lady which is about the British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher. This poster features both a USP and star power.