The document discusses conventions of film posters and magazine covers. It analyzes the poster for the film "Billy Elliot" which uses few fonts, empty space, and a decent sized background photo that doesn't give away the plot. The document then compares conventions for genres like horror, rom-com, and war films which emphasize characters. Finally, it examines magazine covers from "Total Film" which feature large character images and supporting stories, and evaluates how the author's own poster and magazine cover follow conventions through techniques like limited colors, fonts, and placement of title at the top.

1. Film posters – what were their conventions?
When designing my film poster and creating my film trailer I looked to other social realism films and posters to try and pick
out certain convention to that genre that I could use in my own work. ‘Billy Elliot’ was the film I took most inspiration from
and here is the poster. What are its conventions. When you look online for Billy Elliot film posters there are many different
ones that have been produced.
• Very few fonts used. Only two or
three in this case with simple
complementary colours.
• With fewer fonts it keeps the
poster looking tidy and
professional
• Quite amount of empty space
• The title and picture is clearly the
largest part of the poster so it’s
the first things the audience pick
up on.
• Decent sized picture that
doesn’t give to much away, but
relates to the film.
Main character at
the edge of the
poster
Reviews or
quotes, star ratings.
Eye catching
words in larger
fonts or centred.
Large title in the
centre of the
screen
‘credits’ including
producers directors and
authors name and
music titles.Tag line immediately
underneath, so people read it
straight away after the title

2. How much does my poster match
the conventions of
‘Billy Elliot’?
Decent sized
background photo.
Not of the character in
my poster as I didn’t
want to give anything
away. However it does
relate too the film.
Used
credits, including
the names of
characters
producers artist's
and directors.
Extra names. These are the
names of the main
characters. Added my own
feature.
Title is the
largest text
that stands
out
Not so much as
tag line, but a
valuable piece
of information
relating to the
trailer and film.
Within my poster I kept to a
simple colour theme of black
white greys and a slight hint of
blue. I think this makes it more
professional as I haven’t tried
to juggle around with to many
confusing colours. I chose to
stick to these colours as it
follows the conventions of
‘Billy Elliot’ poster with simple
colours and fonts. On my
poster I used the same font
names and sizes as I did in my
actual trailer. The free space
around the writing and photo
compliment the genre of
social realism as the genre is
also known the be quite
hollow and empty.

3. Other genres
Although I am focusing on social realism I thought it would be a good idea to look at an evaluate other film posters and
their genres, for example there is horror, rom com, war film, comedy etc.
Rom com Horror War
Firstly my poster only have a photo of
dancing shoes so an object, however
these posters include characters. In that
sense my poster challenges the
conventions of a traditional film poster.
This may be due to the fact that these
posters are going to be used for billboards
or bus stops for example. Distribution
companies aim to get their film
recognised by as much of their target
audience as possible, which involves
creating supporting media products such
as film posters available in a rang of
environments.

4. CONTINUED
Secondly there is much more emphasis on the actual picture than much of the supporting
text to try and attract more of an audience, contrasting to my film poster where he picture I feel isn’t as necessary in
attracting an audience; that is left to the reviews at the top and bottom of the page. Again, this is another difference in
conventions to the wider spectrum of film posters.
There are some similarities however; both my poster and 2 of the other posters have ‘credits’ underneath the main title
heading, and use a minimal range of fonts and colours. The rom com film poster however has stars and reviews to attract
potential audience members, I did not use star or reviews as I feel personally it is kept more professional with little writing.
Although my film posters does challenge most conventions of traditional film posters, but seems to fit quite feel with my main
inspirational text. If I knew what I know now I maybe would have included a photo of the main character in order to match
more conventions of traditional texts, but I feel my created works quite effectively for the genre as it gives a general idea that
the film will be about dancing but doesn’t show who the characters are.

5. Magazine covers – what were their conventions
When designing my magazine cover I decided to look at a popular magazine
company called ‘Total Film’ here are two posters that I can analyse to see what
their conventions are.
Largest font again is
the Title. Even
though its behind
the characters.
Issue number and
date of release
One single large
image of a
main character
Supporting stories at
the side. So its not just
about one film. As it is
a magazine
Barcode

6. My magazine cover – how does my magazine
cover match the conventions of others?
Big title of the
magazine, this time it
just over laps the
photo.
Suitable barcode and
date of magazine issue
The release date of the
film, including credits
about the film.
A good use of colours and
fonts, stay the same not to
confusing
Other stories on other
films to keep the page
looking busy and
interesting.
A good size film
title. Using the same
font colour and
style through out
my poster and
trailer.

7. After comparing my magazines cover with that of published magazines, I have
noticed that it fits in particularly well the conventions.
From analysing the conventions of traditional media, I feel that I can confidently say that my own magazine cover
fits In with these conventions quite comfortably. Technical conventions such as the placement of the photos on
the page and the titles have bee met, for example the title of the magazine had remained at the top it takes up a
reasonable amount of space but it doesn’t hid anything.
I have also used a limited range of colours texts and font, I stuck with the navy blues greys and blacks so its
corresponded with my film poster. However the background picture of the main character was white which I feel
contrasts very well, by keeping the fonts and colours the same in my poster and magazine it gave my work
continuity and hopefully that came across.
The stories around the outside of the character are there to try and entice readers to buy the magazine, which is
why I added information about other films that are available to see as they might also be interested in them. I
didn’t meet the convention of having more than one photo on my cover, if I could go back I would probably add
some more photos to surround the main image to make it look realistic.