Research of Posters

1. RESEARCH OF POSTERS

2. WHAT IS A POSTER?
• A poster is a form of advertisement used to promote a film. Before technology
became accessible, posters were the primary source of endorsement for a film with
the first poster in 1895 for L'Arroseur Arose (Dir. Louis Lumière, 1896) printed
several times for various markets.
• Also posters contain a main image of photographs of the main actors as well as: a
tagline, the name of the director, names of characters and the release date.

3. AN EXAMPLE OF A POSTER OF THE MARTIAN
(DIR. RIDLEY SCOTT, 2015). WITH THE KEY
FEATURES ANNOTATED
TaglineMain image
Name of
the film
Name of
actor
Release Date
Additional cast
and director The production
and distribution
companies

4. WHY ARE THESE KEY FEATURES ARE
IMPORTANT?
• These key features are important to any poster, so that the film can be successfully
endorsed to the target demographic. However if features like the: Name of the film,
actors and slogan are not present, it can lead to the poster being disapproved by the
audience because of the interest some may have towards certain actors/actresses. In
addition, it may lead to the audience becoming confused as some may want to view
the film because they may like Science Fiction films or are interested by the plot of
The Martian.

5. HOW THE AIMS OF A POSTER ARE MET
• Fundamentally, a poster’s success and impact on the demographic is dependant on
the key features of a poster. It may sound simplistic and easy to include, but if the
information is partially misleading or the image/slogan does not have a influential
impact, then the audience will lose interest of the film, meaning less profit for the
companies.

6. CONCLUSION
• To conclude, key features are the foundations of a poster as without them, the
audience would be confused as to the message of the poster and disappointed as they
may view the poster as being boring and not reflecting the film properly.