1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Film poster

2. Conventions of a film poster
• It must be eye catching and captivating to its audience.
• There must be a focal point that will draw in the audiences eye.
• The title is displayed in a large, eye-catching font.
• It clearly defines the films genre.
• The poster should be designed to attract the largest audience possible.
• There is usually an indication of when the film is being released.
• Information on the directors and production company.
• There are often reviews of other films the company have produced.

3. Researching real media products.
Set: Looking at the many different designs for the public enemies
posters I noticed they all used the same style mise en
scene, image and text.
The writing is positioned at the bottom of the poster, conforming
to conventions, this also allows the image to be the focal point of
the poster, grabbing the audiences attention.
Included in these designs are also release dates and directors
information.
Text: The font used throughout all of the poster and other
ancillary sales stays the same or very similar, it is often bold and
stands out against the fairly dark background due to its light
colouring.
It is a simple font and does not over do the design or retract the
attention from the image.

4. Researching real media products.
I then began to look at more art house style poster and after designing my magazine cover based fairly largely on the black
swan issue I began to notice some of their graphically designed black swan posters.
Set: Each of these designs mirror each other in one way or another, they each follow the conventions of posters when it
comes to the use of text and the idea of using one colour palette for their designs, however, the images designed challenge
conventions in the fact they are not a real image of the main character, they do not hold an image that can produce a
connection via a gaze with its audience.
Text: Like the public enemies posters, these use a simple block font design through out the posters. They do however
arrange the font at the top of the poster as well as at the bottom which is unlike the conventions we would normally see of
a poster.

5. Research into real media products.
Set: The Dorian Gray poster is laid out like a conventional
magazine, the central image, focal point, shows a close-up of the
main protagonist sowing the common gaze, connecting the
character to the audience by having eye contact. This poster also
follows conventions with the use of a set palette and displaying
minimal amount of writing all at the bottom of the poster.
Text: I was drawn mainly to this poster because the mis en scen fit
in perfectly with the 19330’s style of my own trailer, the palette
works well with the old serif font that over laps and I feel I could
use this well in my own designs.

6. Response to my research
I decided to add a tag line to the top of
my poster to create a mirroring
boarder around my focal image.
I used the same design when it came
to creating my title, I felt as though the
Dorian gray design fit in well with the
theme and genre I was aiming for and
so I chose to use an old serif design
and over lapped the writing slightly.
I decided, rather than having a
centered image I was over lap two
images together but have them both
looking directly into the camera.
As well as having the title and release
dates I chose to add director and
production information in bill blocking
at the bottom of my poster in the same
way that magazines do.

7. Conforming to
conventions
Challenging
conventions
Comparing my final design to the conventions of a poster
I feel I have stuck close to the way a poster is normally
laid out or designed.
I have incorporated titles, release dates, a focal point in
the cover image and added extra information about the
production company.
I also feel by sticking to one theme or palette by using
just a black and white effect i have stayed to the
conventions of posters.
Although I feel I have stayed true to conventions in many
ways I have also tried to challenge these conventions
slightly.
For example my use of cover image is unusual by having
two protagonists layered into one image.
I also feel that I have tried to keep the cover minimal in
the same style as the black swan posters with little
details but to add the necessary writing that is needed.