Film Poster - Codes & Conventions

For my project, as well as making a short film I need to make some ancillary tasks, one of these is a poster for my short film. Therefore I feel that I need to understand the codes and conventions of film posters to be able to create one of my own. This will have to be predominantly primary research that will focus on me finding and analysing 15 posters and concluding what elements they all have in common therefore I can use these common elements in my own creation. I also will be taking part in second dairy research into understanding the different types of film posters and any other information I can find.

Primary Research into the Code & Conventions of film posters.

Film Names:

Position: Centre at the bottom or lower third of the poster

Font: Conventionally a san serif font that reflects the genre of the film.

Size: Larger text on the poster

Colour: Contrasts the background colour and standout as the most dominant part of the poster

Actor(s) Names:

Position: Either around the actor head on the poster or above/below the title of the film.

Font: Conventionally a san serif font that matches the title font.

Size: The second largest font on the poster with the surname being larger then the first name.

Colour: White or matches the colour of the title.

Main Images:

Objects: The majority of posters contain floating heads of the main character/actors which key scenes/landscape or props that revealed the films genre.

Represented: The majority of posters are represented photographically instead of graphically, or illustratively. However older film poster are illustratively or graphically represented.

Tagline/Slogan:

Position: The conventional position for the tagline is at the top of the poster in the centre.

Font: Conventionally a serif font that is like the font style Trajan.

Size: Is the smallest size font on the poster apart for the cast and crew at the bottom of the poster.

Colour: White or matches the colour of the title.

Cast & Crew:

Position: Positioned at the bottom of all posters and centre to the middle of the page.

Font: Conventionally a san serif font.

Size: Is the smallest size font on the poster.

Colour: Grey or a dark colour that does not distract from the main content.

Secondary Research into of film posters.

Types of posters:

Teaser poster - This poster contains basic information to whet your appetite. It often does not indicate much about the plot, but may have a picture of the stars, and the name of the film.

Main theatrical poster - This contains information about the production personnel, the stars, and the distributors.

Video/DVD release poster - This one comes out when the film is released on DVD/video and often has all of the above plus short, one line reviews from relevant publications.

Genre poster - eg an action film will nearly always have images of guns/weapons, a Romance will always have the 2 lovers in very close physical proximity... etc...

Character poster - this one features the main character. Remember that the posters could be a combination of two types.

Teaser Poster The Hobbit (2012) Peter Jackson

Main Theatrical Poster Angels & Demons (2009) Ron Howard

DVD release poster The King's Speech (2010) Tom Hooper

Genre poster Hot Fuzz (2007) Edgar Wright

Character poster Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) David Yates

Unconventional Film Posters

The Truman Show (1998) Peter Weir

True Grit (2010) Carter Burwell

The Social Network (2010) David Fincher

The Matrix Reloaded (2003) Andrew Paul Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

Font for Film Posters

Reflection

After researching into film posters I have now been able to understand and gather together the main elements of film posters, that when combined together will create a recognisable advertise meant for a film. I can now take these elements and create my own poster for my short film that audiences will be able to engage with and hopefully interest and intrigued them about my short film. 

However I do not feel that my research is finished with as I don't have a full understanding of the  conventions for film posters as each genre had it's own conventions. Therefore I feel that I need to choose the genre that my short film will take and therefore again research the codes & conventions for a short film poster based around the genre e.g. Comedy.

References:

Websites:

Ferguson., K. (2007). Trajan is the Movie Font. [Online] Youtube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8&feature=player_embedded [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Portchester School. (2011). Film Posters. [Online] Youtube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSTzM8p4tVE [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Dogberry. (2007). Analysing Film Posters. [Online] Blogger. Available from: http://asanda2filmstudies.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/analysing-film-posters.html [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Dogberry. (2010). How To Analyse a Film Poster. [Online] Blogger. Available from: http://asanda2mediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/how-to-analyse-film-poster.html#uds-search-results [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Wilson., K. (2000-2011). Analysing Movie Posters. [Online] Media Know All. Available from: http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/bbustermovies/movies.php?pageID=posters [Accessed 11 August 2012].

(2011). Top 10 Movie Poster Artists. [Online] My Favorite Waste of Time. Available from: http://myfavoritewasteoftime.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/top-10-movie-poster-artists/ [Accessed 11 August 2012].