Film posters are a form of promotion just like a film trailer, they are a physical piece so can be used in far more places unlike a film trailer.
Posters within the film industry can be used to promote the film in number of different ways and places; common places for film posters include: billboards, bus stops, on buses, underground stations and around cinemas to publicise future releases. Because film posters area physical thing, there is no limit on where they can advertise films. A poster would need to be eye-catching in order to catch people's eye, the aim is to get a large audience to watch the film and therefore the fact that the poster can create attention will result in a larger amount of people being interested in the film.
Understanding the type of genre Icons have an important role in film posters as audiences want to be able identify the genre of the film by the poster to determine if they would be interested in actually watching the film. If the genre is not clearly shown on the poster, there could be a risk of losing the potential audiences interest.
Conventions of a film poster
There must be a focal picture that will draw in the audiences eye
The title is displayed in a large, eye-catching font
It clearly defines the film’s genre
The poster should be designed to attract the largest audience possible
There is usually an indication of when the film is being released – either a date or ‘Coming Soon’, although they are sometimes less specific, for example they might say ‘In Cinemas This Summer’
Information on the Directors and Production Company is often displayed in a billing block at the bottom of the poster
There could be reviews or titles of other films that the company has made
Image Film posters always contain a main image which is what audiences, passer- by and people see when the poster catches their eye. These can be either stills from the film, character shots but they always contain some type of iconography to reveal the film’s genre and something about the film. Images on posters portray the narrative of the film, so they have to be clear.
Title Film posters nearly always have the film’s title on it, because if not, no one will know what the film is called and wouldn't be able to find out more information. There are a few expectations of this when it comes to teaser posters (when the film hasn’t been made yet but the film has already generated a lot of talk) or because the film is so well known, that it doesn’t need the title
Directors, producers and actors Usually the director and producer of the film is displayed, especially if the director and producers are well known and are the main selling point of the film (eg. big name directors like Steven Spielberg or producers like Tim Burton). If it is a big name director/producer, then the name is big on the poster, if not then it is still visible but not as obvious. The actors of the film are listed either at the top or bottom of the poster, or at random points of the poster if the film genre can get away with random arrangements. If the film has a small cast, then only the main actors are on the poster, but if the film has a well known cast, then usually all of the big names are on the poster to sell the film.
Quotes, ratings and recommendations Once a film has been screened to critics, the promotion team of a film can re-create posters or re-cut trailers to include positive reviews, ratings, feedback and recommendations. This also helps sell the film to its audience as people will see these quotes and rates from.
Awards Similarly to reviews and positive feedback, if a film is still be advertised during awards season when the team or actors are nominated for awards, the trailers and posters can include these details. If a film is nominated for an award, it must mean is a considered a well received film so audiences would be more interested in seeing it. Like wise, if an actor in the film or a member of the production team has previously been nominated for a prestigious award or even won, this could be included in the promotion.
Taglines In film trailers, posters and other promotions, taglines are used within them all to emphasise a point about a film as well as hint to what will happen in the film for audiences. Examples of this are Alien ‘In space no one can hear you scream’. Taglines aim to be memorable for audiences, so that when they think of the tagline, they therefore think of the film.
Dating and extra information Film posters need dates on them so that audiences who see the poster know when they can see it in the cinemas (or buy it on DVD if it is a DVD poster). There are different types of dates posters can use, they can be precise and use the exact date, or put the month, season or a simple ‘coming soon’ if the film is still in production. The dates of film depends on how well known the film is before it comes out and whether or not the promotion company will benefit from releasing posters months prior to the film’s release or only a few weeks before. One of the most important parts of a film poster is all the small print information which contains the name of the director, producers, actors, soundtrack, production company, screenplay, and much more, as well as the rating, a website link to find out more and sometimes images of the production companies of the film. The information on posters is very small, so attention is not diverted from the image and other parts of the poster.
Film theories and film posters Roland Barthes: Media Theory
The Action/Proairetic Code is the idea of little actions that do not particularly raise questions, but creates tension and builds suspense for audiences to guess what happens next. This can be used in film posters, as little parts of the poster may not straight away raise questions, but could have an impact on the film.
When a text is not being fully explained, it is considered to be Barthes Hermeneutic Code, as audiences want to find out what happens as so far everything seems to be a mystery. This is very applicable to film posters, as audiences do not have the whole story, so they are curious to find out more.
The Enigma Code pushes audiences to ask questions about the films plot, which they can do from seeing sneaks of a films plot in film posters.
The Semantic Code and Symbolic Code look at symbols and connotations and meanings of symbols, so if lots of symbols are on a film poster this will allow the person to identify what the film is about through the use of props or colours.