Film Poster Research - Isaac Hodgkin

Film posters are used in order to create an attraction for the intended audience of the specific film. They are an important and useful tool for advertising and creating awareness/interest about the new release. Film posters are designed to be eye-catching and engaging, in order to get them noticed by people passing by. They are often shown on billboards, buses, bus-stops, cinemas and some magazines. Film posters are designed to suggest themes and genres of the film, without revealing too much of the plot. They can also be used to show of certain actors featured in the film.

Some common conventions of film posters are:

• Film Title (this should be the largest text on the page, and usually takes up one third of the poster.)
• Key Image (often showing the main characters, especially if the actors are particularly well-known. often shows some setting)
• Billing Block
• Critical Acclaim
• Cast Names (depending on how well known they are, bigger stars will be written in bigger fonts)
• Tagline
• Film Website
• Film Festival Logos
• Sponsors

For example:

I have anylised two film posters below, making notes on genre, representation  audience and narrative. As my own film is a British low budget short, I will be focusing on indie British films, found on the BIFA website.

'Sightseers'
Directed By Ben Wheatley

Genre-
When first looking at the poster, the bright colours, the couple in their knitted jumper and their little dog suggests an up-beat comedy or family genre, however upon closer look, the tagline 'Killers have never been this close-knit' suggests something different. The mention of killers suggests a thriller or horror, however the 'close-knit' phrase plays on their knitted jumpers, suggesting comedy involvement  This is also supported by the critical acclaims referring to the film as "Funny as hell" and "Laugh-out-loud funny". From this is think that the film is ultimately a comedy, with some violence thrown in.

Audience-
Similar to genre, the bright colours and bold fonts of the poster suggest a family audience. However this is dismissed by the tagline, mentioning 'Killers', as this is clear that it wouldn't be suitable for a young audience. I think that the audience would be teenagers 15+ to adults similar to the age of the characters on the front. (certificate 15)

Representation-
Gender is represented in this poster, as both male and female characters are shown. I feel that this is a fairly modern representation  as there are no signs of male dominance. Both characters are of equal size in the frame and they are dressed in very similar outfits. The tagline suggests that they are both probably the killers, it does not suggest that the woman is the damsel in distress.
Social class is also represented in the poster, I think that the characters are represented as working class, as stereotypically we would expect working class to go on a caravan holiday rather than middle class.

Narrative-
The 'Sightseers' poster reveals some aspects of the narrative without ruining the film. For example, from the tagline we can tell that the narrative will involve killing of some sort, possibly murder or maybe an accident. This suggests to the audience that the killing will be the main aspect to the narrative. The critical acclaims also reveal that the narrative will have comical aspects as well. We can also tell from the costume, title and caravan image that the narrative involves a caravan holiday, and the background of the poster suggests a rural setting.

'The Sweeney'

Directed By Nick Love

Genre-
The dark, low key lighting and grey colours featured on the poster, suggest darker themes and a genre or thriller or horror. It is not the design we would expect to see on a poster of a comedy or romance. One of the characters is holding a gun, this has connotations of violence and death, once again suggesting that the genre of the film is thriller. I don't think that the genre of 'Sweeny' is a horror, as there is no sign of extreme gore or super-natural goings on. 
Both the characters are dressed in black, and are both wearing leather jackets. These outfits do not suggest comedy or romance, they much more suggest a thriller genre.

Narrative-
The poster gives away some clues as to what the narrative is based upon. For example  the tagline: "Act like a criminal to catch a criminal". This suggests to the audience that the two characters featured on the poster are some sort of law-enforcement workers, however they be corrupt or slightly violent. This is also makes the audience question whether the Sweeney are good or bad. Once again the gun suggests violence in the narrative, as do the characters facial expressions.

Audience-
The poster displays an aged 15 certificate, however I feel that the films most targeted audience will be teenagers aged 17 to adults aged 35. I think this because of the violent themes throughout the film, young children and elderly adults will not enjoy the film. In addition, the film starts Plan B (Ben Drew), who is extremely popular with young adults, therefore he may attract people to see the film.

Representation-
You could say that age is represented in the poster as the two characters are obviously of different age groups. However i think that the dominant represenation featured on this poster is gender, as both characters are male and they seem very 'boyish', the type of masculine figure we would expect to see in a film of this type. It would be a lot less common if a female was featured on the front of the poster, holding the gun or wearing the action costumes. The men look stereotypical to a film of this type, and traditionally this is what we would expect.