The Hunger Games movie poster campaign utilized different types of posters to build anticipation and market the film. The advance poster featured the mockingjay symbol to intrigue fans without revealing too much plot. Character posters introduced each character through their symbolic costumes and poses. The final theatrical poster provided key information about the plot, characters, and locations through dramatic images and text to attract audiences closer to the film's release date.

1. {
The Hunger Games
poster campaign
By Erin Harper

2. A film poster series case study: The
Hunger Games
Advance poster:
Advance posters are issued many months prior to a films
release, they are designed to build anticipation and act as a
‘teaser’ for the audience, they create an early buzz about the
film and often include tags such as ‘coming soon’ and ‘In
theatres this summer’. In this case the advance poster for the
Hunger Games contains a basic image without revealing too
much information about the plot, they have used the
‘mockingjay’ symbol, a key motif for the film so fans of the
book can instantly recognise the film on the poster, this poster
also accommodates fans of the book by including the fire that
is superimposed onto the mockingjay symbol, indicating the
famous phrase in the book ‘girl on fire. This film doesn’t just
accommodate previous fans, but intrigues and interests a new
audience, the date tag simply states ‘2012’ designed to inform
the reader when the film will be screened; to create awareness,
this will create hype about the release date. Also the colour
scheme is simple and eye-catching, the red/ orange flames
contrast with the black background

3. MODERN:
Character posters
Like most Hollywood studios, a series of
character posters were released after the
release of the teaser poster. Character posters
are released due to the film having an
extensive ensemble cast. Each poster creates an
identity for the character, this allows the
audience to build up a relationship with each
character. In this case, each character is
wearing a particular symbolic costume, for
example ‘Effie’ is wearing garish, outrageous
clothes, this connotes with her characters
personality and dress sense, this creates a
recognisable corporate image for that character.
Each poster features the character facing in
profile, a dark shadow is cast upon their faces,
perhaps implying some sort of impending
doom, in this case, the control of the capitol.
Each poster features the characters name as the
tagline, anchoring it to the image. This enables
those who have not read the books to put a
‘face to the name’. All of the characters are
facing to the left, however, Katniss, the lead, is
facing the right, this cements the fact that she is
the predominant protagonist and how she is
‘going against’ the traditional conventions of
the dystopian society the capitol has built.

4. Final theatrical poster:
The theatrical poster is the most important
poster in a films marketing campaign.
They are shown nearer the date of the
films release or when it is playing at the
cinema. This type of film poster give away
key info about the plot, characters, actors
and location. The marketers for The
Hunger Games have gone all out to catch
the audiences attention, the logo, two main
characters, vital locations, noticeable
colour scheme, release date and final
tagline has been used to provide as much
insight as possible. The images are images
form the film, superimposed onto the
poster in a dramatic way to catch attention.