Common Conventions of Film Posters

Film posters are a vital aspect for the promotion of any film during the marketing process. They attract an audience as they are a major form of visual communication and are of interest to many people of all ages.

The main forms and conventions of film posters include:

• A large, bold title to attract the eye and ensure the audience will be aware of the name of the film.
• Contrasting colours so that all the colours of the poster are clearly visible.
• Usually only one predominant image is used to promote the film.
• The names of the actors/actresses playing the main characters also help to promote the film as the appearance of popular (Well known actors and actresses encourage fans to go and see the film).

The way in which the poster is constructed and what it consists of are very important for the representation of the film featured. For example if the poster was promoting a horror film but the font used for the title was smooth and elegant, than the film is likely to be percieved incorrectly by an audience.

The colours used on the poster can also affect the impression given to an audience about the film, for example it is unlikely that pastel colours such as light pink and purple tones would be used for a horror film poster as pink represents love and beauty whilst purple symbolizes royalty and magic.

Below on the left is an example that I found of a horror film poster. It is the poster for "Saw IV".

It fits with the generic horror movie poster, with dark colours and reasonably sharp fonts.

However the posters for other genres of film, such as comedy tend to be much brighter, with much more colour and focus more on the main characters - very much the opposite of horror movies.

An example of this is shown on the right. It is the poster for the film "Year One" starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, 2 actors known for their comedic films.
                                                                                       
The poster is much more colourful than that of the Saw VI one, immediately giving the impression to the audience that the film is pretty light-hearted and happy.