Film Poster Research- Purpose

What is the purpose of a Film Poster?

Film posters are created for advertising purposes as directors and producers try and get as much of promotion for their films as possible. It is there to show the film in a positive representation. It highlights the stars of film that portray the main characters with their name and the picture of them.

The posters also contains key production unit information such as the director, producer and it contains the distribution information such as when and where it will be released.

There are normally a series of posters that are created; these are to attract different audiences. An example for this is Romeo and Juliette which was based on the play by Shakespeare.  


   


A poster at bus stops for the films Harry Potter (<Left) and District 9 (Chicago) (Above^)

Where do film posters appear?
Film posters appear almost everywhere- train/tube stations, bus stops, cinemas, billboards, internet, newspapers and anywhere which would catch the attention of any potential audiences. This is again to advertise the film as much as possible before its initial release so that it may be successful at the box office.

A  poster for The Dark Knight- Billboard (<Left)

A poster would appear at a billboard which is normally a busy place, the public would only get to see them for a few seconds therefore they tend to be more visual than too much writing. For example the poster above is of  the main character, there is the title, tagline and the release date, this is information which is important for the audience to know. The colours on this poster is dark and the picture is something they would remember because its quite a strong, graphical picture that would catch the eyes of public and it would have an impact on them straight away they would be able to process information in thier mind about the genres by its appearance and who will be staring in it. People normally 'judge a bok by its cover' therefore the poster would have to look good in order make audiences want to watch it.

Poster for the film- Public Enemies at a Train Station(Below)

At stations and stops there are normally many commuters who go past these on an everyday basis. Posters must be able to attract the eyes of audiences and be effective because people generally only have seconds to glance at them as they walk or drive past. Posters can be seen on the internet such as the official websites and film/movie sites where people can download them as well.

What are the different options in terms of types of film posters?

When a film is ready for release the ‘teaser’ posters are released. This shows the audience that the film is soon to come. They give the audience a little knowledge about the film without to giving away too much information, just the general view such as the main stars, director, the genre or the type of film it will be and the age guidance. 

There are also 'Character Posters', the posters each have different main characters, these normally have the image of the character, character's name, actor's name, and line or information about the character. The posters are normally quite alike and follow the same structure with each of the important characters from the film.
These are created to give a bit of background information about each main character in the film, this helps the cast and crew show what to expect of each character and to unserstand them better.

Examples:

Sherlock Holmes, Bridesmaids, and Harry Potter 7