The Purpose of Film Posters

The Purpose of the Posters

Film posters are the main form of advertisement for films and are primarily used for a films cinema release. They are designed to best portray the film, so to appeal to a viewing audience. One valuable aspect of posters is that they can be located in many public places. For instance, they can be placed at bus stops, on buses, on billboards, in magazines, in cinemas and shops, and can also be purchasable items. This thus makes them a very valuable form of advertisement.

The general information which film posters include are;

• Title of the film
• The director’s name
• The actor’s names
• Release date
• Legal/small print
• E.g. Production company

These are all important features which need to be included within the poster. They are included to successfully present to the audience as much information as possible. The actor’s and director’s names will be featured because doing so will create a greater following for the film.  This is because many people will go and see a film if they know a well-known and famous actor is in it.

The release date would similarly be important as it lets the audience know when the film is available for viewing.

There will always be small print at the bottom of feature length film posters. This is due to legal and contracting issues involved with the funding, production and release of the film. When films are signed to a conglomerate company, they are contracted to show the companies involvement when the film is released.

                  

Film posters additionally need to contain specific elements which best inform the audience the genre of film and most effectively sum up the content and overall theme of the film.  This is achieved through the use of;

·        The image

·        Font

·        Title

·        Tag line

·        Colour (both background and typography)

The main image used for the poster is very important as it needs to represent the film. They primarily consist of the protagonist and other main actor(s) in character. This is ideal as it creates appeal with the audience, especially if the actors involved are famous. This is because, as I have already mentioned, actors’ fans will normally go see a film on the basis of them starring in it. The actors are normally the selling point of films, so they are therefore heavily featured with the advertisement of the films.

With the main image, there is also the need to show the costume and make-up of the actors. Showing this illustrates to the audience what the film will be like and its genre. This is because audiences need to know as much information on the film’s content to decide whether they want to see the film and the costume is a contributing factor.

Similarly with the image of the poster, there might also be background to the image of the main characters. The purpose of this is to indicate to the audience where the film is set, it might also show elements of the plot which the protagonist encounter.  As a result it effectively presents to the audience the content of the film.

The typography is additionally important in representing and reflecting the genre of film. This is done through the use of the font and the colour used, for instance; if the font of the poster is written in a red, large, bold and jagged font, then it would normally be a horror film. If the font of the poster was written in a white or pink font in italics and has a swirly and thin font, then it would most likely be a Romance film.  The font chosen would be included to reinforce the title of the film.

The tag line of the film would also be featured in the poster. They are designed to be short and principally represent the theme and content of the film.

Throughout the entire poster, the colour chosen is crucial in representing the overall theme and genre of the film. As a rule, if the theme of the film is light hearted, then the font would reflect this with light and bright colours. 

However, if the film is a dark or serous film, then they will normally consist of dark and eerie colours to represent this.

The overall purpose of film posters is to advertise the film. It does so by presenting information about the film to the audience, whilst reflecting the general genre and content of the film, in both an effective and successful manner.