A level media studies Ancillary product research

1. FILM POSTERS

2. What are they?
■ Film posters are a form of promotion for upcoming films.
■ Because a poster is a physical piece, it can be displayed in various different places,
giving the film maximum promotion.
■ Places film posters are often seen are; billboards, bus stops, on buses, underground
stations, and in cinemas.

3. Genre
■ It is important that film posters allow the audience to understand
what the genre of the film is.
■ This will then determine whether they think they want to see the
film or not.
■ For example, the poster for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(2002) shows Harry holding a sword, which suggests the film
involves elements of the action genre.You can also see Dobby, who
is a house elf (a mythical creature), in the corner.This implies the
fantasy genre.

4. Image
■ Film posters always contain a focal image which is the first thing audiences will
see, therefore it is an important aspect of the poster.
■ These can either be stills from the film or character shots, but they always
contain some type of iconography to suggest the film’s genre.
■ Images portray the narrative of the film, so they have to be directly relevant.
■ There are a variety of different posters for The Perks of Being aWallflower (I
have chosen two).
■ The first one is very bold with the three main characters in the centre.The
image takes up the majority of the frame therefore making it prominent.
■ The second one uses an image which fills the whole frame. It isn’t as bright and
bold as the other one but it shows more of the characters and a location from
the film.
■ In the first poster it is more obvious that the film is a romance because of the
way the characters are stood together.
■ The second poster doesn’t reveal as much about the film’s genre but it does
introduce more of an idea of the type of locations used.

5. Title
■ A title is an important part of a film poster because it tells the
audience what the film is called.
■ It is often quite large so that it stands out.
■ However, some film posters don’t include a title.This will only work
for film franchises/companies that are incredibly well known.
■ An example of this some versions of the film posters produced for the
final installment of the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter & the
Deathly Hallows Part 2.
■ The placement of the title is important because it needs to be
obviously visible.
■ The most popular placement seems to be at the bottom of the poster
so that the image is the main focal point.
■ However this isn’t always the case; sometimes the title is placed at the
top.

6. Title (cont.) Title above image

7. Credits
■ The names of actors, production/distribution companies, or directors
are often displayed on film posters.
■ This will either be because they are well known so are a way of
enticing audiences; or they are lesser known and want to get their
names out.
■ If actors’ names are displayed they will either be in quite large font at
the top of the poster (this would be for well-known, popular actors);
or listed in small font at the bottom of the poster for people to read if
they are interested.
Actor’s name

8. Credits (cont.)
Director’s name
Production company
name
General credits
(actors, producers,
etc.)

9. Ratings
■ Once the film has been screened to critics, the promotion
team can re-release film posters to include positive reviews,
ratings and comments.
■ This shows the audience that the film is worth watching
because critics are recommending it.
■ For example, this poster for BlackSwan includes a quote from
the prestigious UK film magazine, Empire.
■ As the quote is from a reliable & well-known source,
audiences are more likely to believe it.

10. Awards
■ Film posters sometimes include the awards that
actors/directors/films have won/been nominated for.
■ If a film is nominated for/has won an award, it shows it has
been well received by audiences.Therefore if a new film
involves one of these actors/directors etc, audiences can
expect it to be just as good, if not better.
Academy Award
Nominee Natalie
Portman

11. Tagline
■ Taglines are often used in film promotion to hint as to what
might happen in the film.
■ They aim to be memorable so that the audience think of the
upcoming film when they think about the tagline.
■ Sometimes there will be multiple taglines for one film that are
used to different types of promotion. For example, the most
highly-used line from Forrest Gump is, ‘life is like a box of
chocolates…’, but the tagline on the poster is, ‘the world will
never be the same again once you’ve seen it through the eyes of
Forrest Gump.’
■ The tagline for the poster hints at the narrative of the film
whereas the popular line, ‘life is like a box of chocolates’ is more
about the idea of a part of the film sticking in the audiences
heads.

12. Release Date
■ It is important for film posters to include the date that the film is being released in
cinemas (or DVD).
■ Some posters will show a specific date, whereas others will just show a month, season
or simply ‘coming soon’.This is often used if the film is still in production or to create
enigma.

14. Rating
■ Ratings are quite rarely shown on the film poster unless it is being displayed in a
cinema.
■ However ratings are important because it tells the audience from the start, who can
watch the film.

15. Extra Information
■ The small print at the bottom of the film poster details the director, producers, actors,
soundtrack, production & distribution company.
■ There may also be a web address or social media links so that the audience to follow
the find and find out more information.
■ It may also show what types of cinema it will be shown in, e.g. 3D, 4D.
■ This information is very small and in a pale colour so that it doesn’t detract from the
image.
■ It is usually at the bottom of the poster however some subvert this.

16. Distribution
company logo
Website
Social media links
Small print

17. Putting it all together
Large, bold title
‘Critically acclaimed’-
persuasive language
Film tagline-
‘We Are Infinite’
Small print
Actors playing the
main characters
Images takes up
whole poster
Affectionate pose-
suggests there will be
a romance between
these two characters