A presentation I made for A2 Media Studies, about the layout and composition techniques film posters use.

1. POSTER
COMPOSITION
& LAYOUT
Georgina Gilbey
A2 Media Studies

2. CLOSE-UP
Close-ups as main images aren’t used very
often because they leave little room for other
features and don’t give a lot of information
about the narrative. However, with this poster
for The Purge, the close-up of a masked man is
effective because it conveys a sense of the
invasion of space, with the sinister smile and
stare causing the viewer to feel
uncomfortable. This is suitable for a horror
film such as this because it clearly shows the
genre and so not much information besides
this is necessary, besides the release date and
taglines to further entice the target audience.

3. TWO PERSON CLOSE-UP
(ROMANTIC)
In the romance genre, the two person close-
up is very common for posters, as it
immediately conveys intimacy and love. This
poster for Blue is the Warmest Color is no
exception, with profile views of two women,
presumably about to kiss, which makes the
nature of their relationship very clear to the
audience (this is important because two
person close-ups can be used in other genres,
and so unless it is obvious, it can be
misinterpreted by the viewer).

4. TWO PERSON CLOSE-UP
(OTHER GENRE)
After Earth’s poster also employs the two
person close-up technique, except the tone
is very different. The two protagonists are
staring directly forwards, giving the poster
the element of direct address which makes
it eye-catching, and their expressions
appear determined. This expression is
usually associated with the action genre.
The tagline, “Danger is real – Fear is a
choice” reinforces this and suggests an
intense theme (rather than romantic, like
the previous poster).

5. ONE PERSON LONG SHOT
In this poster, the one person long-shot is
used both to make it clear who the
protagonist is, and to show all costume and
props (additionally, it uses star appeal
through Zac Efron, who starred in the
popular High School Musical franchise). The
protagonist is wearing a leather jacket, a t-
shirt and a tie, jeans and sneakers. The
props he carries are a rucksack, books and
sunglasses. Professional wear is strewn on
the floor around him, which helps to
explain the title ‘17 Again’; he is going back
to school. The rhetorical question as a
tagline reinforces this theme also (”Who
says you’re only young once?”).

6. TWO PERSON
MEDIUM LONG SHOT
The two person medium long shot can be
used for almost any genre, as long as there
are two significant protagonists. The Theory
of Everything uses it to communicate two
themes; one of romance, shown through the
intimate pose of the couple we see, and one
of a biographical nature, as the audience
would be aware that this film centres
around Stephen Hawking’s life, and we can
see multiple equations and calculations
written across the sky above them.

7. TWO PERSON LONG SHOT
This two person long shot is similar to
The Theory of Everything’s in that it
uses it to show two main protagonists.
However, Divergent’s poster also uses
it to show a background of a
futuristic-looking, but possibly
decaying, city. Similarly, it shows
props such as guns to communicate
an action theme, although the film is
of a dystopian science-fiction genre.

8. THREE PERSON
The three person poster style is essentially
used to show three main protagonists or
significant posters. This poster is advertising
Men in Black 3. As this is an already established
series, it can be assumed that the audience
would already know what to expect in terms of
plot and narrative, so they wouldn’t need a lot
of information besides this.
The poster also makes use of star appeal,
mainly through Will Smith who is in the
forefront, while having three characters also
matches the film’s title of being the third in the
series.
The three characters appear identical in terms
of costume, while the costume itself, a black
and white suit, connotes professionalism and a
typical, agent-like uniform.

9. ONE PERSON
DESCRIBING BACKGROUND
The one person describing background style is
quite self-explanatory in that it primarily aims
to show a background in order to convey its
genre, theme, narrative, etc. This poster for The
Dark Knight slightly breaks conventions
because it shows the antagonist, The Joker,
rather than protagonist. The background is of
the fictional city of Gotham, and fire, ashes and
debris are falling around the antagonist. He has
one fist clenched and the other holds a gun,
which suggests he is inflicting the destruction
and ruin we see.

10. GROUP NON-DESCRIBING
BACKGROUND
The layout of a group with a non-describing
background, in this case, is used to emphasise
the characters, while other features such as
the pink colour scheme suggest the genre and
theme. The protagonist is at the front,
surrounded by text, while the three
antagonists or disruptors of the narrative are
behind her. The fact that the protagonist is
surrounded, almost boxed in, by text connotes
she is feeling trapped, while the costume of
the antagonists, the title Mean Girls and the
tagline (“Watch your back”) convey the
teenage drama genre.

11. GROUP DESCRIBING
BACKGROUND
Conversely, this poster for Need For Speed
has a group with a describing background.
The background shows obviously very
expensive sports cars on a road, with the
main characters (a mix of protagonists and
antagonists, with an added love interest of
the main protagonist) and a helicopter
above them. With the film’s title and the
cars etc, we can assume that the film’s plot
is about racing, while the helicopter
looming above connotes the film is of the
crime genre because of its association with
the police.
Essentially, this style of poster is used to
convey information about the characters
and other elements such as the plot.

12. TRIANGLE LAYOUT
The triangle layout is used to draw
the eye to the centre of the image.
In this case, the ‘focal point’ is the
two main protagonists, and the eye
is then led upwards to the disc Sam,
the man on the left, is raising.
The other elements such as the
futuristic-looking planes are placed
around the triangle, meaning they
are the last feature the viewer
notices, enclosing the main feature.

13. GRID LAYOUT
The grid layout is quite an organised, but
complex structure for a film poster and helps to
make it more visually interesting, but they can
also carry deeper meanings. In this case, the
small squares are used to imply a separation;
we immediately see that besides the one
portrait of the main protagonist, there are
snapshots of happy moments (see the top right
image of a couple) and tragedy (third row, third
column). The grid layout used here is both
enigmatic and telling in terms of genre; it is
clearly a drama. Instead of having the whole
poster composed of square images, the bottom
section is empty and instead has the title and
actor/director credits, along with the release
date. This helps to stop the viewer from being
overwhelmed with visual material and makes
the poster appear neat and professional.

14. RULE OF THIRDS
The rule of thirds is a grid which is split into
9 equally-sized rectangles. It has four
intersectional points which can be used to
place certain elements. In this poster, from
the red lines, we can see that the top row of
boxes is allocated to the main protagonists
from the shoulders up, the middle row to
their torsos and finally, the bottom row to
the title, actor/director credits and other
general information about the film. The
protagonists aren’t placed in the columns
respectively, as the woman is in both the
second and third columns, but this is also
according to the rule of thirds because it
helps to keep the image balanced.

15. CIRCLE/OVAL LAYOUT
The circle layout is used to lead the
viewer’s eye around an image – in this
poster for Hot Fuzz, the circular shape is
used as a type of symmetry; both of the
protagonists are dressed identically and
even the toothpicks in their mouths are
symmetrical. They are separated only by
the gun between them. The circular
shape is made by their heads and shirt
collars, as you can see from the red
outlines. Additionally, the circle is on a
rectangular poster, which makes it stand
out more.

16. THE ‘Z’ LAYOUT
In the ‘Z’ layout, text is placed at the top
and bottom of the poster with the main
image in the centre. The text at the top
leads the eye downwards, so the viewer
can appreciate all elements of the poster.
In this poster for The Dark Knight, it may
be slightly different because the Batman
logo illuminated by fire is such a bright
orange, which contrasts with the blue
tone of the rest of the image and makes
it the most noticeable, but the ‘Z’ layout
can still be seen clearly when outlined in
red.

17. HORIZON LINE LAYOUT
The horizon line layout is another grid
layout, except it is in quadrants. This poster
doesn’t strictly use all quadrants to place
its elements respectively, but the horizon
line (middle line) roughly marks where the
two images seem to separate (the top
image of the main protagonist and the
bottom image of the island).
In this poster, the layout is used to show
both the protagonist and the main location
of the film that the plot is centred around,
and also helps to draw the eye to the main
protagonist first, because the text is all at
the bottom and not crowding his face.