By Samah Raja

1. CODES &
CONVENTIONS OF
FILM POSTERS

2. Taglines are common code and
conventions film posters have.
They can be placed anywhere on
the poster but are typically near
the title of the film or near the
central image/focus of the
poster. Taglines create a specific
effect for the film, for example
for a horror film the tagline
should create a
creepy/discomforting effect,
whereas a comedy would have a
humorous tagline to set the
atmosphere of the film.
CONVENTION 1: TAGLINES
The Purge
Finding
Dory
The
Shallows

3. Most film posters will have a display of actors and/or
directors names on them. The names presented on the
poster are usually the A/B list popular celebrities
featured within the film, and the main characters in the
film. The reason for displaying actor/actresses names on
the film posters are effective because it is a great selling
point when trying to attract an audience base, especially
if the celebrities/directors are well-known.
CONVENTION 2:
ACTORS/ACTRESS’ NAMES
Nerve Poster Batman V Superman Poster

4. DIRECTORS NAMES
Don’t Breath poster
Lights Out poster
The director of ‘Evil Dead’ is mentioned
on the top of the ‘Don’t Breath’ poster
because the movie ‘Evil Dead’ was
extremely successful in cinemas, with a
box office of 97.5 million USD. This is
effective to mention because the
audience is likely to think that if the
same director was in the making if this
film, then ‘Don’t Breath’ may be just as
successful as ‘Evil Dead’. This attracts
more people to want to watch the film.
“From producer James Wan director of The
Conjuring” is displayed on the top of the
‘Lights Out’ poster. This would be attractive to
audiences because James Wan is known to
be a very successful director of multiple
horror films (Saw, Insidious, Annabelle, etc.)
The Conjuring was one of his most successful
horror films, with a box office of 320.1 million
USD, so mentioning the film title on this new
horror movie poster would attract audiences
to want to watch “Lights Out” because they
would assume that this film would be as
successful as all his other ones.

5. As well as having a
display of actors’
names on film posters,
it is equally common
for the main character
of the film to be on the
cover of the film. It is
more likely for the
character to be
featured on the poster
of they are A/B list
actors as this would
attract the general
public to be more
interested in the film
itself and want to
watch it.
CONVENTION 3:
CENTRAL IMAGE
Emma
Roberts
Dave
Franco
Mila
Kunis
Taraji P.
Henson

6. For example
films such as
Don’t Breath,
Nerve, Bad
Moms and
Hidden Figures
all present the
main
characters of
the films on
their official
movie posters
because all
these films
contain well-
known actors
that audiences
would easily
recognise.
An image of the main characters within
the films are typically presented on the
poster. This is effective because it attracts
more people to watch the film because
they assume that if the film contains
successful actors then the film itself must
be successful too.

7. The colour scheme of a film poster is a very important code and convention because
this convention is responsible for setting the tone of the entire movie itself. The
colours used for the posters always match the colour pallet of the trailer as this
creates synergy between them and makes it easier for audiences to identify that
specific film.
CONVENTION 4: COLOUR
PALETTE
The bright colours used
to present the ‘Nerve’
film poster consist of
neon blues, pinks and
purples. These colours
set the atmosphere of
the film to be quite
futuristic and creates a
digital type of tone to
the film, which is
effective because this
is an important aspect
to the film.
The dark colours used on the
poster for ‘Batman v
Superman’ presents this film
to have a gothic atmosphere,
as the colours grey & black
connote darkness, death and
mystery. This is effective
because it links to the
storyline of the film and where
it is set, which is “Gotham”.
The word “Gotham” itself
sounds gothic so the use of a
dark gothic colour pallet
makes it all link together.

8. A key convention that a film poster has is the Billing Block
located at the bottom of the poster. It contains information
about all the parties involved in the making of the film and
their roles.
CONVENTION 5: BILLING BLOCK

9. The title placement is usually situated in the lower third of the
poster but sometimes can also be placed on the top third. The
title is also the largest font on the poster and stands out the
most compared to the rest of the information provide.
CONVENTION 6:
TITLE PLACEMENT

10. Posters and trailers are created to have synergy between the
two different media platforms so that the branding of the film
is established. Ways in which this is done is through fonts,
colour palettes, main characters/actors, taglines and the film
title. Synergy is effective to have when marketing and thinking
about brand awareness because it allows target audiences and
the general public to recognise the film and identify with it
more easily because it creates a link.
SYNERGY

11. SYNERGY –LINKS BETWEEN TRAILERS &
POSTERS