Film Poster Research-Memoirs Of A Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha Poster

Memoirs Of A Geisha is a 2005 historical period drama. The films stars Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh and focuses on the life of Chiyo Sakamoto how she became one of the most famous Geisha in all of China. The poster is very simple but yet uses very effective techniques.

The first notable fact is that the poster's background is of Zhang Ziyi, so we immediately assume it is going to be focused around her. This is effective as it means that less concern is taken with what else needs to be put on the poster to make it more eye-catching. Another thing is miminal use of colour within the poster. The use of White and Red make Zhang's face a lot more vibrant and thus would make the poster more visbale from afar. The use of the contrast in colour with the title is effective, however, becuase of Zhang's hair takes up the edge of the poster, it make it harder to see the rest of the title and the film's release date. The title font is strange becuase the word 'Geisha' is in bold White and the rest of the title is in red. It's trying to say the word is the most important part of the poster. It is effective although, the word 'Geisha' is bigger than the rest of the title, it may confuse people into thinking that she may be modelling for make-up. T he film's release date is barely visable, which means that it's left down to people to possibly go and research when the film is released or it invites people to look at it on a closer glance. By contrasting the title with her make-up, it gives the audience an idea as to what the film is about and the time it may be set. Geisha were around in Japan in the late 18th century. 

The idea that I can take from this is that, using one unique image is eaiser when it comes to creating a film poster as it is more effective as it means that it would be more eye-catching to anyone who looks at this poster. However, the problem would be trying to find the best picture that would advertise the film as best as it could. Using less colours on a film poster may be more simple, instead of using Red, Green or any other bright colours, the simpler the font and colour is, the more effective it makes a poster. Although it means you have to find a plain background or a simple picture for the font to stand out on. In some ways, the more simpler your film poster is, the more complicated it can become because then you have to find the right image and font and colour for it all to work otherwise, as can be seen with the use of the red font colour, it may not always work properly.