2. Title
A common convention of short film posters is
that they have white font for the title. This may
be because it is simple and stands out, catching
the eye of the viewer, especially when it is on a
dark background.t
Another convention is to have bold typography
so create an impact and get interest from the
viewer.
4. Subject
We found that some short film posters don’t
have the face of a person in but instead either
their hands or feet.
This could show the importance of said hands or
feet within the film or to not reveal the identity
of the character as it a major part of the plot.
6. Facing away
A common convention of short film posters is
that the characters in the poster is facing away
from the camera.
A reason for the lack of direct mode of address
could be that the character in the poster is
trying to prove something in the film, like a
journey of discovery.
8. The main image of this poster is screaming
romance. From the tree in the convenient
shape of a heart with a teenage male and
female (stereotypical, hegemonic film
couple – young, heterosexual and romantic)
as well as the beginning of a sunset with
warm colours with has connotations of love
and romance. The framing of the shot also
speaks about the film. Both male and female
are taking up the same space suggesting
they are equal however the tree in the
centre of them both splits them up showing
there will be a conflict of sorts between
them both. A stereotypical romance which
seems to be the preferred reading of the
poster
9. A typical convention a short film posters is to
not have anchorage in a tagline.
Like in examples such as Call Me Home, Sevilla
and Fable
10. The tone and register of short films can vary
dramatically as they cover all subgenres,
however we are trying to focus more on the
seemingly romantic tone with a light degree of
formality, like young adults.
11. Previous credits is also a
convention of film posters and is
used a a form of guarantee and a
means of prompting audience
expectations. This couples with a
positive quote, something a
newspaper, similar demographic
or respected critics write and give
stars for the film, which again is a
big form of advertisement for the
films and can reference aspects
of the film which are not shown
within the poster
12. Barthes and Short Film Posters
The Proairetic Code is the idea that little actions that do
not particularly raise questions creates tensions and
builds suspense for audiences to guess what happens
next. This could be used in short films posters, as little
parts of the poster may not straight away raise questions,
but may have an impact on the film as many short films
contain a plot twist at the end.
When a text is not being fully explained, it is considered
to be a Hermenutic Code, as audiences want to find what
happens as so far everything is a mystery. This is very
common in film potters, as the viewer does not have the
whole story, so they are curious to find out more.
13. Two other codes from Barthes are the Enigma
Code; which pushes audiences to ask questions
about the films plot, which they can do by trying to
read the plot from the posters, and the Semantic
Code; which looks at symbols and connotations and
the meaning of these and what they imply
This poster has an example of
Hermeneutic Codes. As the only thing
in view is a computer screen and a
chair. The audience wants to know
what it has to do with the film and
what is on the computer screen.
It also has Enigma Codes as a computer
could have connotations with sharing
and lack of privacy which couples with
the title to suggest the plot to the
audience
