Film Posters

The exact purpose of a film poster depends on the view of whether you are the business or a person viewing it. For the film producers it would be made to advertise the film so that the public will be able to know about it. The pubic therefore, rely on posters to get knowledge that the film is going to be released and know little information about it. Film posters however, will not always feature all of the technical codes. By having some technical codes instead of all of them it will have a different affect. For example, if the name of the main actors was not there and had no tagline, or name of main actor(s) it could be said that it is a teaser poster, only being there to tell the audience that the film is coming. Film posters usually have a number of conventions that make them a film poster:

• Name of the main actor(s)
• Background Images
• Billing Block
• Picture of the star(s) of the film
• Film Title 
• Tagline

It could be said that the billing block is an important part of the iconography of a film poster as it is a key symbol of the media type. Pictures of the stars of the film are not always present in the film such as in the case of horror or thriller films. This is usually done in that particular way not to reveal any of the characters initially and to try and get the audience to watch the film. Film posters usually appear in several places around a particular town. Posters usually appear on the train platforms, on the bus, or passing by it on the street on a billboard; they are viewed quickly and often on the move. Therefore, it is essential that the creators of the film posters create it as eye catching as possible to be able to get the attention of potential audiences in the hope of trying to grab them in to watch the film. 

Over the years film posters have changed dramatically with the ones in the earlier last century being vastly different to the ones of today. Film posters in the early last century were used outside of just the cinema. The posters unlike now were not distributed as widely as they are nowadays. Film posters such as the Sound Of Music also have a major difference in terms of how they are actually made. Posters before as shown on the left were drawn onto and copied to be hung up to view. They would usually have to be given back to the distributer after a certain amount of time has passed. The film posters usually then would have something to do with the film or usually have a key point that takes place in the film. 

Film posters nowadays differ drastically from their earlier counterparts. Unlike earlier posters which would be made from drawings posters in the modern age are made using the actual actor on the poster. For example, for the poster on the left Will Smith is featured as a sort of image which was edited there onto the background of the poster. This is the major difference where digital technology has evolved. Digital technology such as Photoshop allows image manipulation and the layering of images which has changed film posters dramatically over the years. The tagline is perhaps the most memorable feature of posters which people are most likely to remember. They are usually short and to the point as there is not enough time to see a lot of detail. 

There are a different variety of movie posters that exist nowadays all aimed to grab the attention of the audiences by standing out through the use of colour primarily. Normal film  posters are seen from some of the film posters above. However, another type of film posters that are present are teaser posters. Usually there for a film series that is already well known and is likely to continue past one film. 

The teaser poster for Skyfall for example is just one example of the many teaser posters that are available. The purpose of teaser posters is to let the audience know that the film that they want is being produced and that it will be coming to cinemas eventually usually within a year unless postponed. This is why teaser posters are produed and usually little to no information besides a possible year or month of the release date. For our groups film poster a teaser would not need to be needed due to it not being a series and only being a short film. 

Another type of poster that is used depending on the type of film is character posters. These posters are extremely effective in the case of trying to reach a broader range of audiences. By presenting female posters in the film Thor. It might help draw in some of the female audience who might realise that the film is not dominated by an all male cast. Character posters are usually distinct for that one single character having the poster to themselves, a release date to the film and then something which relates to that character. As you can see on the left Loki is "The God of Mischief" which is what his character is.