Research: Poster

When I was researching into film posters I found that they all had a similar structure. There is one main central image, this usually shows the main characters in the film and possibly a scene from the film, as shown in the ‘Star Trek’ poster above. Also, obviously on the poster it would have the name of the film that it is advertising, clearly shown here with ‘Star Trek’, this is so that the audience knows exactly what it is, this is usually followed with a short tag line underneath which is usually something you remember.

Posters also have the release date of the film, so that the audience can know when this film is going out and they can see it, if the advertising has done its job and made the audience want to go watch the film.

There is a piece of text underneath the title, this shows all the producers, directors, studios, actors, e.t.c. that are in the film, this is so that hopefully the audience will see big names, or big studios and think that this will be a good film.

Also, depending on the director along the top of the poster it will have the directors name or awards this film has won. It will have the directors name along with some successful films that they have made so that the audience know the style of director that they are, and would allow them to identify whether this film is for them.

Also, usually from the film poster you can clearly identify the conventions of genre, so that the audience know what sort of film they are going to go see. For example, in this poster you see some of the alien characters as well as in the background having a space ship, these are stereotypical conventions to suggest that this film would be a sci-fi. Also, the name of the title could also imply the genre.