Film Poster Analysis

1. By M. Shahrukh khan

2.  Poster is being created for the purpose of marketing/advertising. This is
done in order to give people the general impression of what to expect to
see from the film in terms of the genre of the film and who stars in it.
 The basic film poster will have the title of the film as well as one or two
characters that will be featured in the film as well as background image
that reflects the type of genre of that particular film.
 Also a lot film posters like to use taglines and pull quotes. The taglines
help to entice the views because of certain words and helps them to
remember the film, and pull quotes help to give the film a better
reputation since people will assume that the film is good.
 When theatrical films first became popular the type of posters that would
accompany the film would often be painted and show the main characters
in the film with a simple coloured background. Painting was the only
option back then because of limited technology – digital professional
cameras and computers weren’t around during that time.
 Where as in the modern era due to advancement of technology, film
posters are now mostly photographs of one of the character in the film
along with a background used in a certain scene with in the film, plus
some extra effects (e.g. Computer generated images, lighting, and
airbrushing)

3. Usually film poster usually have these elements in it:
 Clear, easy to read font is used
 Protagonist is featured on the poster
 Any character featured on the poster is looking directly at the camera
 Title is in the center of the thirds
 A tag line is used
 Font color contrasts with the background color
 Patriotic colors often used
 The clothing which the characters are wearing in the poster gives away their
personality
 Background usually features an attribute of culture/city life/the film's location
 Credits are placed at the bottom
The first item the eye is drawn to is the title

4.  Bollywood film posters are being inspires by
Hollywood like:-

5. Film title – representing
the genre of a movie,
sounds action. As we can
also judge from the red
color which indicates
danger
Billing box:-
Contains all the
information
about the film
that for legal
reasons need to
be included but
aren't necessarily
read by the
audience. (e.g.
producer,
composer,
director name,
production
company etc.)
Poster is based on a
scene from the film
which tells the
entire story
Image including
lead actors -
Famous faces are
used on the poster
to give the film
prestige and thus
persuade audiences
to watch the feature

6.  Primary Characteristics
The scenery shows two most popular actors along with one
new actor. It also shows the dance scene representing it’s genre
which is action-comedy.
The title above in “GUNDAY” with no sub titles. The text and
colors used in the poster help to represent the actors role, thus
reflects there personality.
 Other conventions: - like it includes the directors and producers
names

7.  http://8g3242010title.blogspot.com/2010/11/codes-conventions-
of-british-drama.html
 http://www.slideshare.net/santoshtalkit/bollywood-movie-
posters-inspired
 http://www.slideshare.net/05lewis/film-poster-study-and-
analysis