1. Auxiliary Products
Webpage
Film poster/newspaper advert
DPS listings
Film magazine front cover
Film magazine review
Radio trailer

2. The Briefs
• 1. A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options:
• a website homepage for the film;
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• a poster for the film.
• 2. An extract from an original documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of
the following three options:
• a radio trailer for the documentary;
• a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary;
• a newspaper advertisement for the documentary.
• 3.A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a
combination of both, together with two of the following three options:
• a poster for the film;
• a radio trailer for the film;
• a film magazine review page featuring the film

3. Role of film posters
• Posters occupy a space between art
and advertising.
• They have a clear commercial purpose -
to promote an event or product - but
they also have artistic value.
• People buy them and hang them on
their walls.
• Museums have whole galleries
devoted to poster art.
• When analysing a poster it is important
that you evaluate both how well it
fulfils its purpose (ie promotion) as well
as its aesthetic value. ("aesthetic value"
means their value as artistic creations.)

5. • You see them everywhere. Film posters are
prominently displayed on billboards, in the
lobby of cinemas, in magazines, on the
Internet, and even on the sides of buses. But
how often do you stop and think about the
effects movie posters have on you?

6. • It's important to remember that
movie posters are advertisements.
The goal of a poster essentially is to
"sell" the movie—to make you want
to see it.
• How does it do that?
• The poster may have the movie title
in a big and bold font. Images of the
movie's attractive actors are usually
featured. In addition, the actors'
names are probably included
somewhere on the poster to remind
you that the movie has big-name
stars.
• Designs, colours, and fonts are used
to appropriately reflect the mood
and tone of the film.
• The poster probably includes a
catchy sentence or slogan that piques
your interest and makes the plot
seem intriguing.

7. catchy sentence or slogan
attractive
actors
actors'
names
movie title
movie title

8. • The visual elements on a movie poster can
convey powerful messages. representation
• The best posters may make you anxiously
anticipate an upcoming release.
• The worst ones may not have a persuasive effect
at all.
• By analyzing movie posters, you can gain a better
understanding of the elements that effectively
grab the attention of movie-goers and sell the
movie's story—even before viewers see it for
themselves.
audience

9. Film Poster for 1 & 3 & newspaper
advert for 2.
• Types of Poster:
• Identify which type of poster it is:
• The Teaser poster -This poster contains basic information to whet your appetite. It
often does not indicate much about the plot, but may have a picture of the stars,
and the name of the film.
• The Main Poster:
• This contains information about the production personnel, the stars, and the
distributors.
• Video/DVD Release Poster:
• This one comes out when the film is released on DVD/video and often has all of
the above plus short, one line reviews from relevant publications.
Many of these
• Character Poster: aspects are
• this one features the main character. relevant to
• Remember that the posters could be a combination of two types. newspaper
adverts too, so use
the checklist.

10. Which kind?

11. Language
• •Images of the key settings and the main characters. What is the title of
the film?
• What can you say about the way in which the title graphics have been
written?
• Who is starring in the film? Where are the stars’ names placed on the
poster? Why?
• Describe the key images on your poster. Why have they been chosen?
• Talk about what images are used - stars, setting, colours, symbols, (mise-
en-scene).
• What do they suggest/signify? What other pictures can you see? What is
their purpose?
• What are the most important colours on your poster?
• Why do you think these were chosen?
• What do you think the film will be about?
• Who is the target audience?

12. • •What clues are there to the
narrative?
Narrative
• What can you tell about the
genre of the film and the
types of characters from their
facial expression, body
language, stance, appearance
and position on the poster?
• What makes you say this?
What impression do you get
of the character/personalities
from their expression,
clothes, props.
• Is there an enigma being
presented.
• Is the poster composed of a
series of images (montage,
lack of perspective)
• Is the key image a still from
the film?

13. Colours
• What colours are used in the posters?
• Are they relevant to the genre eg horror
posters generally use dark strong
colours especially black and red to
represent death and evil.
• Romance films tend to employ lighter
pastel and warm colours such as pinks,
purples and other warm shades.
• Are the colours on your poster
important? Why?
• What clues do they give about the
genre, and how do they attract the
target audience?

14. Connotations of
colour?

16. • Talk about how the images are
laid out.
• Are they are blended in without
any concern for real perspective Layout
or size relationships between
people and setting.
• Why do you think they are laid
out like that?
• Do you know what the plot,
genre and/or theme of the film
is? If so, how?
• Most posters are Portrait or
Landscape in shape. What
shape is yours?
• Describe and discuss the title,
font, typeface and graphics on
the poster.
• What style are they in, where
are they positioned etc? has the
poster been painted and printed
or produced using DTP (
mention how improvements in
technology have changed
production values)

17. 1967 2006

18. • Is there a catch or tagline?
• What does it tell us about the
Written Text
action, genre and attitude within
the film?
• Who do you think is the target
audience for the film?
• How has the poster been made
attractive to these people?
• Discuss the billing/credit block.
• What information does it include
about credits and information?
• Do we get information about
who is in the cast, who directed
the film, which company
distributes it and promotes it
etc?
• Where is the certificate?
• What does it indicate about the
target audience and the content
of the film?
• Does the poster list a website? If
not, why not?

19. • •Finally,
what is the
USP (the USP
unique
selling
point) in
each
poster?
What
makes it
different
from other
films? The
plot, stars,
themes,
setting or
characters

20. What you need to do
• One of the things you NEED to do is analyse at
least three types of trailers and film posters.
Here's some advice and a checklist for
analysing your film posters. Remember that
representation in posters can vary in different
countries as the audiences and cultural
preferences are taken into account.

21. First steps
• When analysing a poster, you should consider the following broad questions before
you start to focus on the details:
• What are the main colours used in the poster and what do they connote?
• What symbols are used in the poster? Do you need audience foreknowledge to
decode the symbols?
• What are the main figures/objects/background of the poster? Are they represented
photographically, graphically, or illustratively?
• Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?
• Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster?
• Given that all movie posters have the same purpose - to get audiences to go see a
movie - what persuasive techniques are used by the poster?
• Which genre conventions are referred to?
• Is a star used as a USP (unique selling point)?
• Are "expert witnesses" (ie critics) quoted?
• What pleasures (gratifications) are promised by the poster?
• How is attention gained (humour, shock, surprise)?
• How does the tagline work? (humour, pun, alliteration etc?)

22. Production Constraints
• The poster can also give you
important information about the
production context of the movie:
• How much does the poster tell
you about the institutional context
of the movie's production?
• How important is this information
on the poster (think about
information hierarchies)?
• How important a part of the
whole marketing campaign is the
poster? Where is the poster
placed?
• How expensive was this poster to
produce?

24. • Finally, you have to pass judgement on the poster.
• Is it an effective poster? Why?
• Does it communicate effectively with the
audience?
• Are there any alternative readings which might
harm the message of the marketing campaign?
• Is the poster offensive in any way?