Film posters are a form of advertisement for upcoming movies and are used all around the world. Unlike film trailers, posters are physical items and can be incorporated into the real world. This is a great opportunity for producers as the posters are able to be seen by a large demographic. Including buses, magazines, billboards and a cinema themselves; film posters are able to educate a demographic on the film and also create advertisement through word of mouth.
Layout
- Picture
The poster usually includes the main protagonist or the two main characters. This is mainly done to show their importance within the film and also indicate that they will have a lot of prevalence. Along with this, the poster may include other images to hint at the setting of the film or include minor characters surrounding.
- Lighting
The lighting within a thriller poster is meant to create a mysterious and tense atmosphere for the viewer, these posters tend to use low key lighting as it can be related to shadows. Shadows are known from audiences as the unknown, using this on a poster pushes the demographic to find out who/what could be hiding.
This poster from 'Shutter Island' does this beautifully. The image of Leonardo Dicaprio is entered within the middle of the poster with use of low key lighting. It is shown that he is holding a lit matchstick, this is an object that individuals use to see the light within a dark and scary situation. Due to this image and the low key lighting used on it, audiences are led to wonder why he would need to do this. This then, again makes the audience want to watch the film.
- Colour Schemes
Thriller film posters tend to use either a mixture of warm colours (Red, yellow and orange), a mixture of cold colours (shades of blue) or black and white.
The text used within a film poster are typically clear to read through use of capital letters and bold fonts to attract a wider demographic. Depending on the genre of the film, the font on the poster may vary. For example in a horror film, the font may possibly be rough, complementing the genre of the film. This is simply done for effect and to enable audiences to understand what the genre of the film is. Usually, the text on the poster is a contrasting colour to the images on it, this is again used as it creates the effect where the "words jump out at you".
- Taglines and Reviews
Thriller posters usually have a tagline and a review on them. Firstly the tagline is used on a poster as it indicates discretely to the demographic what the narrative is about. Due to not giving away the full story, audiences then feel like they want to find out what happens and go to watch the film. Reviews also have the same kind of impact on the audience, this is because people recommend the film, therefore making audiences want to find out for themselves.
The poster below from 'The Woman in Black' includes the tagline 'what did they see' below a picture of children with their eyes scratched out. This combination of imagery and text contributes to the audiences emotional response, making them feel uncomfortable yet intrigued. This then makes the audiences debate on the subject and therefore persuade them to continue to watch the film.
- Directors/ Producers or Actors
If a Director or Producer is well known to audiences, they will more than likely be included on the poster. This also is the same with Actors as audiences usually follow popular film stars and then watch following films that they appear in. These actors names are usually seen at the top or bottom of film posters as they are significant and need to be seen by audiences.
An example of this is Daniel Radcliffe after being in Harry Potter. The BBFC confirmed that six seconds of "strong violence" and "horror" had been cut and other scenes darkened and sound levels reduced to gain its 12A rating. "This work was cut," the board confirmed. "The cut(s) were made at the request of the distributor to achieve a particular category. "To obtain this category cuts of 0m 6s were required. Distributor chose to reduce moments of strong violence / horror in order to achieve a '12A' classification." This was done as Harry Potter already had a fanbase of children under 15, making the cuts needed to the film enabled the director James Watkins to gain this fanbase.
Within these posters you can see the significant difference of Daniel Radcliffe characters and the narratives in which he acts spectacularly.
- Date
Posters most of the time include the date which the film will be released. This is necessary information that audiences need to know in order to go and watch the film. Posters on the other hand may also include 'coming soon' along with the month to again excite the audience.
Analysis of film posters:
Within this poster from the popular film Shutter Island certain attributes have been included in order to convince the audience to watch the film. Firstly the main protagonist is centred within the middle of the poster, this is done so that audiences can understand that he will have a lot of prevalence within the film. This is also paired with an island beneath him, showing the audience where the setting of the film will take place, on 'Shutter Island'. As said before, the lighting used on this poster is low key lighting as it signifies that within the film something is hidden. The matchstick which the lead protagonist is holding could signify that it is a dark place and something as small as a matchstick must be used to see.
The colour scheme of this poster includes a mixture of both warm and cold colours. This could have possibly be done to confuse the audience of the situation which the main protagonist is in. Where the poster includes a lot of blue hues to signify sadness, it is juxtaposed by the text used. The colour of the main text is red, which people associate with danger. From looking at the colour scheme of the poster, I believe that the wide range is used to confuse the viewer.
Much alike any other poster, the text used is easy to read and stands out due to its font. Leonardo Dicaprio's name has also been included above the title as he is a well known actor due to his outstanding performances, this creates a wide demographic who may possibly wish to see the film. Finally the date 'October' is included at the bottom of the poster in a bigger size and a different colour than the text surrounding it, this is done as it is important information that audiences should be aware of.
Within this poster of the film 'Seven' the two lead protagonists are included within the centre of the poster using a mirrored effect. This signifies that each character has the same level of importance within the film, leading to the suggesting that they have a strong relationship with each other. The lighting used within the poster is again low key, only allowing the audience to see the faces of the two protagonists. This could indicate that there is a deeper meaning within the film and a lot is hidden.
The colour scheme of this poster is specifically orange and creates the effect of a burning fire. Fires are seen as dangerous to everyone and I believe that this effect was included within this poster to indicate that there is a lot of danger within the film itself.
The title of the film is written in a contrasting font to the rest of the writing as it needs to stand out. This is done so that audiences are able to read it clearly. The colour white is used on both the title and the actors names, again juxtaposing the colour scheme of the poster in order to grasp the viewers attention. Within the centre of the poster we are able to see the list of seven words, these are centred as they play a big part within the narrative of the film and they enable readers to play out scenarios in their head as to what they mean.
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