A movie poster typically contains an image and text that advertise a film. Modern posters often feature photographs of main actors. The text usually includes the title in large letters and names of main actors. It may also include the director, characters, release date, and a tagline. Posters are displayed in movie theaters, on streets, in shops, and online or in publications to promote films.

2.  A movie poster is a poster used to
advertise a film.
 They normally contain an image with
text.
 Today's posters often feature
photographs of the main actors.
 The text on movie posters usually
contains the film title in large lettering
and often the names of the main
actors.
 It may also include a tag line, the name
of the director, names of
characters, the release date, etc.

3.  Where are they?
 In/outside of movie theatres
 On the street or in shops.
 Websites, DVD, packaging, flyers, advertisement
s in newspapers and magazines, etc.

5. As we can see the Hollywood blockbuster movie posters of 2012 all appear to
have the same basic layout – close up of the face with an item (such as an
apple) that hints towards the story of the film. However these close ups could be
a clever publicity technique, as all the close ups are of characters played by
famous actors/actresses. We can apply this to Blumler and Katz’s explanation of
IDENTIFICATION – audiences will recognise a film based on the famous actors
displayed, and this will be an immediate reason as to why they will see a film. This
would not work on our poster as British realism films tend to use unknown actors.
With this in mind we would need to think of
different ways to draw in an audience to our film. If
we look at the posters for Submarine
(2010) and the more recent Salmon
Fishing in the Yemen (2012) we can
see the theme of using bright, primary
colours in the titles for the film. These
colours draw attention to a
poster, making it recognisable, easily
standing out. Especially with SFINY we
can see the need for a poster to
stand (Hollywood blockbusters) are.
The photo creates an emotional
atmosphere which will also draw in an
audience.