What is a film poster?

What is a film poster?

A film poster is used to market a film during the distribution process. They tend to correspond to the visual film that has been made through synergy. Colours, font and images should relate to the film to promote ideas such as genre, cast and narrative.

Codes and Conventions:

Font:
The font on a poster can have a huge impact on how the audience perceive it.
For example, 'The Hobbit' uses gold font that corresponds with 'The Lord of The Rings' font. This instantly links the two films together as 'The Hobbit' is a prequel to 'The Lord of The Rings'. Also, the font is in gold, this represents the colour of The Ring which is the centre of the narrative. Moreover, the font it quite old reflecting not only the stylistic writing of J R R Tolkein but the time in which the book was written and set.

Another example of the font would be on the 'Herbie Fully Loaded' poster. the font is curved around the edges resembling the Volkswagen Beetle. The font also has a red glow around it, corresponding with the colours of the car. Moreover, the font is quite cartoon-like which will please the audience as it is a film aimed at children.

Main Image: 
The main image is the biggest picture on the poster. It can represent the genre, narrative, cast and more if used cleverly. Here is an example:

The main image for 'Gravity' is of the astronaut and an explosion. The darkness on the left of the image, suggests isolation for the character as he is on the opposing side of the earth. The explosion/light also suggests that something has went wrong due to the broken chord emphasised by the bright light.

Institution:
Just like a trailer, a poster may mention the institution. Usually it can be written in the small print at the bottom, however it can be written elsewhere on the page.
For example, 'The Great Gatsby' poster has the distributors and producers 'Warner Bros' written within the small print unlike 'Monster's University' which has 'Disney Pixar' written fairly big above the title. This could be because 'Disney' wants their audience and parents to know it is a children's film as 'Disney' is often associated with a 'U' or 'PG' certificate.

Cast/Crew:
The cast and crew tend to be written within the small print if they are not major roles or well known actors/actresses.The director's billing may be mentioned somewhere else on the poster, however it is not essential as it may not help to sell the film in anyway.  Famous celebrities such as 'Keira Knightley' and 'Brad Pitt' may have their name written at the top of the poster (A-list positioning) as it may be the film's USP (unique Selling Point.)
An example of this would be 'Les Miserables':
Actors/Actresses such as 'Anne Hathaway' and 'Amanda Seyfried' are placed at the top to help promote the film.

Reference: 
Sometimes, references can be used on a poster. For instance, a poster could say 'From the Director of...' or 'from the producers of...' . This can include audiences who have seen other films by the same director or producer and influence them to want to see this film.

Title:
The title has to be clear and readable on any poster. Titles are often thought out for many connotations and meanings that can relate to the film's narrative, ideas or  genre. The title is vital to any poster as it lets the audience know what film they can research, look for or go and see.

Release Date:

A film poster tends to have a release date that is easy to read. This is for people who may drive past the poster and only get a glance at it. Depending on the poster, the release date can vary from dates such as 'This Autumn' to '22nd October' as it corresponds with the type of poster: teaser or main. A teaser poster uses a vague date as it wants to 'tease' the audience by not giving much away. However, a main poster will usually say the exact date as the poster will be released closer to the time.

Here is an example:
 The poster, on the left, for 'Star Trek: Into Darkness' says 'coming soon' whereas the other states the exact date. This could be due to the time of each release. One may aim to tease where the other gets straight to the point. The date is obviously vital for nay poster as it lets the audience know when it is going to be released.

Genre: 
Just like a trailer, the genre can be shown through many things.This could be due to things such as:

Cast- The cast can show the genre as certain actors/directors can work in a specific genre. 
E.g 'Johnny Depp'  tends to act in fntasy and family films, and voice in thriller/animation films. This could show the genre as he is associated with those sub categories. 

Colours:
A film poster should use colours that correspond with the visuals of the film, to help to promote ideas such as the genre through connotations. For instance, a horror film may use the stereotypical colours of black and red to represent blood and darkness. Black can suggest fear as children tend to be afraid of the dark. Also, red could represent danger and lust as Gothic texts tend to have romance within them. However, a red coloured poster could be used for a happy Christmas or romance promotion. Red can symbolise Santa Clause or romance. Here is an example:

The 'Love Actually' poster uses the colour red to represent both Christmas (it is a bow like a present) and love as the word 'love' is too coloured in red.

Colour can also be used to suggest character traits and personalities. For instance, two characters may be on a poster but one could be on a black background and the other on a white. This would suggest that the one surrounded by black is the antagonist whereas the one placed on the white is the protagonist as white suggests innocence and purity.

Reviews:

Sometimes, a poster can show reviews to promote the film; this tends to be used in the main theoretical rather than the teaser poster. This is to promote how good the film is as the audience may believe professional comments from places such as 'The Sun'. 

                                                                                                                                   

Tag Line:

Film posters generically have a tag line. A good example of this would be the 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2' posters. Many posters were released for this film, each with their own character and tag line. For instance, the poster on the right (with Sam Sparks) uses the pun 'Fruit Loose' as apposed to 'Foot Loose'. This will portray the genre of comedy and make the audience laugh as it is aimed at children.

 Moreover, the colour of the font is white. This could be to represent innocence. However, the poster is rather colourful so the white font helps it to stand out. It is also quite a plain font. This is effective as it stand out from the chaotic image and colours.

Age Rating:
Sometimes, the age rating is shown on a poster to tell the audience what the film may contain and who the demographic is. This is useful a it advises people whether they are old enough for the film and how strong the gore, violence or sexual content may be.It is often very small on the poster, if on the poster at all, as it is not as important as other codes and conventions. Also, if a poster does not have an age rating, it may be because it has not been decided yet or they do not want to tell people yet as they want to draw in a larger audience than their film is aimed for. This could be so word of mouth is used to market the film.

Two types of posters:
There are two types of posters, both are released at different times and for different reasons.

Teaser Poster: 
A teaser poster is released before the main theatrical. It generally  tells small information such as the title, a vague release date such as 'coming soon' or 'this autumn' and the institution. The aim of the teaser poster is to 'tease' and let the audience know that a film is coming. It is often released to compliment the teaser trailer through synergy.

Disney's 'Tangled' has a great teaser poster:

Disney is a very popular institution and their iconic characters, colours and images sell their films well as they are popular to their audience. This teaser trailer for 'Tangled' does not show the characters (Rapunzel and Flynn) fully, their faces are the only things visible. The well known big-eyes, pretty faces and animation already suggests that it is a Disney film. The institution is mentioned very small at the bottom, as the poster already sells itself as a Disney film. The release date is almost mentioned very vaguely. It states, 'thanksgiving' to briefly give the audience an idea when they can see it. This teases them and causes word of mouth to market the film. The title 'Tangled' is big and bright. This is useful as people will remember that if they pass the poster briefly when driving in a car. The gold also represents royalty suggesting the film will be about the usual princess and that the film is in high quality. Moreover, even though the film is not called after the Princess (Rapunzel), the long hair wrapped around them both suggests that this is based off the original fairytale Rapunzel. Also, the hair wrapped around the characters suggests that they are trapped, corresponding to the narrative of the film (Rapunzel is trapped in a  tower.)

Main Theatrical Poster:
The main theatrical poster is released closer to the film's release date. It gives much more information than the teaser trailer using codes such as a title, a clear release date, tag line and more of an image. This is so taht the audience knows the exact details about the film so they can see it when it is released and gather more of an understanding about the film.

Here is Disney's 'Tangled' main theatrical poster:

This poster shows much more than the teaser trailer. The characters are fully shown so it is clear that the film is about the fairytale princess Rapunzel (due to her hair length and the tower in the background.) The tag line 'They're taking adventure to new lengths' is a pun that refers to Rapunzel's hair. This is funny and will appeal to the audience: younger children. The release date states 'see it in 3D only in cinemas' suggesting that the film is already out or soon to be released. Moreover, there is now a horse within the image, which will relate the audience as younger children can often relate to animals. More colours are shown within this poster and they are bright and vibrant, once again pleasing the audience and reinforcing the idea that this is a Disney film. Actors and crew are not mentioned, possibly because it is an animated film or due to the fact that this is a children's film so the audience will not be interested in the actors/directors. The title is the same as the teaser trailer , corresponding to each other. This helps to link the posters and allow the audience to see a similarity and remember the upcoming film. The institution logo has moved for this poster; it is more central suggesting that Disney wants to be recognised within this poster. The poster also focuses on two main characters (Flynn and Rapunzel) which also compliments the trailer for the film as that too revolves around those two characters.

Here it is:

The colours, characters and font all correspond to the posters, creating a successful marketing process for the film.