Film Posters

Holly Peacock

The short film poster for ‘George Lucas in Love’ is very cliché as it is sculpted on the idea of Star Wars and also Shakespeare combined. It is clear that it’s a short film poster though, as it appears to be much more creative and specific in comparison to a Hollywood film poster for example. This automatically shows the audience a hint of what the movie is going to be like and the genre it fits into. First of all, the poster actually features drawings of the characters featured in the film, not a simple photograph. The poster features most of the main characters in the film, similar to a larger film poster too. Moreover, they also feature quite a simple and plain colour scheme all throughout which Star Wars also does. This reflects the makers of this poster conforming to the typical conventions of movie posters of a certain genre.

Once more, the poster for ‘I’m Here’ is very creative as it features some animations instead of faces for the characters. This reflects how it is a short film, rather than a big hit one. Moreover, the design of the poster suggests how it is a Rom-com genre to the public. Much more time and skills have gone into creating a short film poster, often giving a greater insight into what the film is all about. I believe short film makers do this as they don’t have as much publicity and demand as larger films do. Yet again, similar to the first poster, the main characters are featured on it. Instantly, when looking at the poster the audience tend to feel sympathetic and connected to the characters as they’re already getting a closer understanding of their lives. The two characters featured seem to be connected through a bad event which has happened or are in a relationship. ‘Ordinary is no place to be’ references how the characters aren’t going to be ordinary and are probably outsiders together, so they’re there for each other.

The short film poster for ‘Across the Hall’ creates a lot of suspense and tension when you look at it. Instantaneously, the audience is aware that the film is going to be a Thriller of some sort, using conventions of typical movie posters of this genre. The title and photograph complement each other, as they are in the correct context and makes the audience question what actually is across the hall? The two main characters are featured on the poster once again and are clearly binary opposites. The first male looking around the hall seems to be frightened and watching out for danger. Whereas, the 2nd character appears to be brave and superior. This can represent that there is a good and bad guy in this film.

Across The HallIncidentally, as a result of ‘Across The Hall’ being such a big hit, it later progressed into a full feature film. The two posters for each film differ widely due to one being a short film and the other a full one.

Short film poster Feature film poster

The poster for the full feature film version of Across The Hall is visually different from the short film one, in a way that it is much less revealing and leaves more thought to the audience. Whereas, the short film poster reveals literally that there is something dangerous and mysterious across the hall. I find this one to be much more intriguing as we have a closer insight into what the film is about. A full feature film is much more hyped up with a larger audience, which means they don’t have to reveal much on the movie poster, as people will tend to be interested still. The professional poster consists of a dim colour which references to the genre of the film. It’s a Thriller and builds up a lot of tension as we’re not fully aware of what is actually happening until we see the movie. Moreover, it is clear that in the professional version of the film, there is much more behind the plot than

there previously was, even including more characters. The audience for the short film version of this will be much more niche and smaller in comparison to the full feature film. This is due to the fact that short films generally tend to only appeal to 2 main types of people. These people are unemployed students and people who are actually in the industry. Moreover, the way in which short film producers make films is different as they follow their own conventions and can be much more creative in the process as it’s unique to them and they are in charge. The audience for the longer film is much more larger, appealing to a mass audience. It will reach out to people who enjoy this specific type of film genre, although, they may have not known about it before it was developed to a proper film. When creating a full feature film, producers usually abide to the typical conventions of films as it is mostly what is expected of them from their target audience. If not, they could be at risk of not succeeding. This is clear with something as simple as the two film posters, as the full film one is much more vivid and distinct.

Usually, posters tend to follow a particular suit in order to look like the other movie posters. For example, depending on the genre and content of the film, it may have a certain amount of characters on the front, such as two people if it is a romantic movie. This would instantly reflect the intimacy and affection shared between the characters which the plot

may be about. The image on the right side of the screen reflects how with movie posters especially, producers follow a similar design. Furthermore, we can also see how the characters have a connection due to the view of ‘togetherness’ and closeness between them. This instantly reflects to the audience how these are probably going to be the main characters within. Despite this, I can also reflect how the characters are opposites and rivals such as in the film Bridesmaids. The colour scheme most of the times follows a similar pattern too. For example, white and pink are often used, which can represent the idea that love is present. White makes the characters stand out which supports the idea that the main characters usually are the ones on the front of the DVD/poster. The text is also a major convention of this kind of poster as it is quite basic yet bold, making it stand out. It’s vital once again to conform to the cliché style of poster as it reflects what the movie is about and more importantly will appeal to the target audience as they’re used to seeing this style.

Similarly, the genre of Thriller is often seen as featuring a blacked out silhouette of one of the main characters in the film. This is to add mystery to the whole poster as the audience aren’t aware of who they are yet. Therefore, it builds up tension and anticipation as you’re curious to find out about them. A little but a lot is revealed from this convention as it identifies who someone is but is restricting. The colours blue and also orange are included which reinforce the feeling of mystery and that they have some sort of dangerous and authoritative feature to them which we will discover more of later. The text is much more creative too in comparison to other movie posters of a different genre. This is to make it have almost a gothic feel as it enhances the dark and maybe even supernatural qualities there. The highlighted figure makes the audience informed that this character is probably an outcast with a dangerous nature. This style once again quickly informs the audience of the kind of film it is. These sort of posters also usually feature a short but effective slogan to get them thinking and emphasise the mystery that is in the film. Mostly, the characters featured in such a way are the bad ones but can also be the hero who people look up to, with almost super hero powers and qualities.

Typically, animated movies usually aimed at children are very creative and brightly coloured. This is in order to catch the children’s attention and stand out amongst everything else as this is what appeals to them most. This reflects how film makers are yet again conforming to the needs and expectations of their target audience. The animated films feature posters that are extremely artistic and almost 3d like. Furthermore, the text that is used often has small animations or drawings included within it. This reinforces the genre of the film, so it is really clear. Most of the characters that are in the film are on the poster, instead of just the main ones. This informs the audience of what to expect and the kind of relationship they have with each other. Usually, they are featured in some action moment which can represent how they’re heroic or actually the villains, runningaway from some dangerous thing they have done. Colours such as blue and yellow are included on these specific kind of film posters as they are some of the most basic and bold colours that there is. This makes the main characters stand out amongst the background of the poster, yet again to reinforce the action and also the importance of them. They are also very often presented to be ‘in your face’ and excited, which obviously catches people attention as they stand out from the rest. Moreover, the fact that most of the cast is featured on the front reinforces the idea of togetherness and a familial dynamic. This is then carried out as a moral in the actual film, which shows the movie is ‘kid friendly’ and beneficial. The danger and action is obviously present on most of the posters which reflects the things the characters are going to have to endure in the film, making it much more exciting and the audience eager to find out what they will do.

For sci-fi movies, they often include a sense of the supernatural and other worldliness. This builds up tension and anticipation as the audience are eager to identify what the whole thing is. It also makes them question in general what is out there which is instantly making a connection between the movie and audience. Additionally, they are seen to be quite mysterious, embedding the different wonders these bring. Therefore, due to this people will actually want to watch the film. It allows producers to be quite creative and have a clever balance of animation and actual people, reflecting the complexity of the movie as a whole.