This document analyzes and summarizes four film festival postcards. It discusses the visual and textual codes of each postcard to understand what they convey about the films. Key details highlighted on the postcards include titles, nominations, directors, and subtle visual clues. The document examines design elements like layout, images and text placement that make for effective advertising. Overall, the postcards are assessed on their ability to intrigue audiences and draw them to watch the short films.

1. Film Festival Postcard Research.
By Richie Batey.

2. An Introduction To Film Festival Postcards.
• Film Postcards are a small
advertisement containing
information and details about A
film. One side would be
presented with images about
the production whilst the other
side will be presented with film,
contact and screening
information. I will be analysing
5 different short film festival
postcards. Here are some
examples of Short Film
Postcards. 

3. Analysing A Film Festival Postcard.
• Before analysing A short film festival postcard, you should
consider/ask yourself these things:
What are film postcards designed to achieve?
Why are film postcards useful?
What is key to a successful film postcard?
• Once you have got the answers to these questions you can make a
proper judgement on whether a film postcard is effective/ineffective
or successful/unsuccessful.

4. What Is On A Film Festival Postcard?
• Title.
• Nominations/Selections.
• Director/Producer/Actors Name(s).
• URL of the films website.
(This is an example from
another short film postcard
as Spinosaurus didn’t show
its Website URL.) 

5. Visual Codes:
There are minimal hints as to what
this short film could be about mainly
because the picture used is a still
from real CCTV footage so it was not
edited to give hints, but we can get a
feel from what we can see. The
single character in the middle of the
shot implies that this man is the
main focus of the short film and the
way he is gripping his plastic bag
makes him look slightly panicked and
isolated. Also the fact that it is a real
CCTV footage still shows that it is a
true story which would help draw in
an audience.
Textual Codes:
The title of this short film is placed
in the middle under the feet of the
only character shown, it almost
looks like he is about to walk over it
and this could be implying that the
mass (weight) of certain men may
be crushing. There is credits to the
creator of the short film under the
title in a smaller font. There is a
quote from Henry David Thoreau in
the top left which says “The mass
of men leads lives of quiet
desperation” he said this quote in
1654 and this gives the audience
an insight into what the themes of
this short film could be.
Short Film Title.
Nominations And Selections:
The Mass Of Men was the winner of two awards and these are both
largely advertised in the top left of the poster, the two tags are big
and this helps draw the audiences attention to this section of the
poster and will also draw them into watching it.
Design And Layout:
This short film is based on a true story and the
designer of the postcard used this to their
advantage because they have made the
postcard a still from real CCTV footage and this
is an exciting and unique technique as a lot of
short films would not be able to do this on
account of being based on a non-true story.
Name of Producer.

6. Textual Codes:
In this postcard we can see a tagline and a
short description of what the film is about.
The tagline is placed at the very top of the
poster, it says “Some lines shouldn’t be
crossed” this creates an uneasy
atmosphere because we assume we are
going to see what happens when these
“lines” are crossed. The short synopsis is
placed next to the Title which is tactical
because it will be the first thing that the
audience will read after they read the title.
Visual Codes:
This postcard has subtle hints
about what the film is about
without even reading the synopsis
for example, the line that is under
the tagline looks like an underline
but is actually a heart beat
monitor and apart from the jolt at
the beginning it is a flat line which
implies someone is in hospital and
is near to death.
Design And Layout:
This postcard has a very unsettling feel to it,
all of the components contribute to this. The
main colour of this poster is black and the
natural light coming through the windows is
white which shines light onto the character,
who is isolated in this hallway which implies
that maybe an apocalyptic event has
occurred.
Nominations And Selections:
Hard to believe was nominated for six
different awards and these are placed
tactically in the centre at the top to
attract an audience and draw people
into watching it as they will think it is
good because of the nominations.
Short Film Title.
Film Website URL.
Facebook and Twitter Links.

7. Visual Codes:
The two characters are
looking at something that
we as the audience cannot
see and this helps build
spectacle. The two
characters are in different
frames of the postcard, the
older gentleman is placed
nearer to the camera and
is seen more clearly and
this implies that he is the
main character, the other
man is positioned further
way and the complexion is
very slightly blurred which
helps indicate that he is
still a “Wren Boy” but the
older man is a more
glorified member.
Textual Codes:
The title is placed in between
the two men and is covering a
section of each of them this is
another indicator that these
men are the “Wren Boys”.
There is a paragraph of small
text under the title and the
large award tag, this includes
things such as the name of the
director (Harry Lighton) and
the name of the casting
director (Lara Manwaring) etc.
Nominations And Selections:
Wren Boys was nominated for
the BFI London Film Festival
award which is a grand award,
this is placed in the bottom right
of the postcard, the tag is large
and this will draw an audiences
eyes to it, it will inform them
that it is nominated for this
award and will help draw them
into watching it.
Design And Layout:
This postcard was designed well in my opinion. The two
characters are shown to be looking at something that
we cannot see, there are two characters shown in this
postcard unlike the other two postcards that I have
analysed. The fact that there is two people shown
leads us to think that these are the “Wren Boys” that
the film is named after.
Short Film Title.
Directors Name.

8. Visual Codes:
This film postcard has many
visual codes the main one
being the uneven balance of
the photos.
The photos are not level and
the short film is called The
Levelling this contrast makes
the audience think that this
short film could be about a
situation that is difficult and
the name The Levelling implies
that the short film will be about
making this fixing this situation.
The most visible sign of the
unevenness is the boys body,
half of his body is higher than
the other and this could be an
indication that this boy might
have two sides to his
personality or maybe that he is
leading two different lives.
Textual Codes:
The textual codes in this postcard
mainly come from the title, the word
Levelling has some light shed on the
middle of it and there is an equally
visible amount of the word shown on
each side which is another example of
levelling.
Nominations And Selections:
The Levelling was nominated for one award
and the emblem of this is shown just above the
title and this is a good tactic to try and draw in
an audience because it is like a stamp of
quality confirmation.
Design And Layout:
This film postcard has a very
interesting design and the name The
Levelling helps contribute to this, the
contradiction of having a design that
is not level makes the audience think
against the title and start to think that
maybe the dynamics of this short film
are not level and the boy shown could
be in trouble.
Short Film Title.Film Website URL.
Facebook, Twitter And Instagram Links.

9. Film Website URL.
Textual Codes:
There is a lot of text on the back of
the postcard which says “Following
her brother’s death Clover (Ellie
Kendrick, Game Of Thrones)
returns to her family home to
confront her father (David
Troughton, Radio 4’s The Archers)
and the echoes of their buried
past.
Set on the Somerset levels, THE
LEVELLING is a tremendous debut
from Hope Dickson Leach featuring
powerful performances from
Kendrick and Troughton with
stunning cinematography by Nanu
Segal, capturing the true heart and
soul of one of the most striking
areas in Britain.”
Visual Codes:
This is the backside of the
“The Levelling” film postcard.
This side does not have the un
even effect of the front side
but does introduce us to a
new character and from the
both sides we can tell that the
two main characters in this
short film are going to be the
boy from the front side and
this girl from this side and we
are led to think that the
uneven effect of the front side
might have something to do
with these two characters.
This girl is also wearing a
jumper with holes and in and
a rather large oversized jacket
which could imply
homelessness or lack of
wealth.
Textual Codes:
The text on the back talks about the
synopsis of the film and I think this is a
good place for the plot as this is similar to a
book (The synopsis being on the back). This
postcard both informs and entertains.