Wednesday 26 September 2012

What is the purpose of a film poster?


What is the PURPOSE of a film poster?

Film posters have various purposes which make them a vital tool for the success of any film. The main purpose of a film poster is to advertise and inform the audience of an upcoming film, by illustrating important information such as the release date, the actors and suitability with reference to age. Film posters merge illustrations, lettering, colouring and a clever layout to create a 'movie-at-a-glance' image to entice an audience into seeing the film. They focus on visual elements such as, powerful photographs and graphics to make posters attention grabbing and something the audience would want to see. These visual elements can also give the audience an insight into the themes and genre that will be portrayed throughout the film. 


Film posters can appear in a range of places ranging from billboards, train stations, bus stops, on the sides of buses, inside and outside cinemas, in magazines and on the internet. These places are all very convenient as regards to the public, as they are all very easily accessible and they all play a huge role in the everyday lives of the public, for example a member of the public could be commuting too and from work and the cleverly situated film posters will attract there attention. The main reason for this is to advertise films to the general public or to their specific target audiences. Film posters are also very useful in terms of promoting films to the wider public, making them aware of the film before its actual release.






Film Posters are created by film marketing companies, as means of advertising in order to promote up and coming films to the intended target audiences. Due to the fact that film posters are institutional and created by the film marketing companies, they will indeed be biased in order to make the film seem as good as possible as the main aim is to promote the film in order to attract the right audiences to gain income.





Film poster appeal to a specific target audience through the clever use of photography, typography and symbolism displayed on the page.




This Batman film poster is clearly intending to target male audiences, from possibly mid teens and above. The symbolism of the poster is very clear, with its dark and gritty exterior, this poster gives of the impression that the film will be action packed etc. this really appeals to the male audiences. 





Contrasting the Batman poster, this mean girl poster has a very pink and glossy nature to it, the intended audience for this poster are young girls, all the characters are female and the bright pink colours as well as the glamorous look to the poster will truly appeal to the intended target 



Certain film posters have even one to the extent of releasing different types of film posters in order to appeal to different target audiences.



Firstly the US version of the film Elizabeth, portrays the main character Elizabeth as a very powerful character , this could possibly appeal to more female audiences as appose to male audiences. 



The UK version of the film poster on the other hand, is mainly dominated by men, Elizabeth does not take center stage within this poster, all the characters are portrayed as equal and the fact that the males seem to dominate, this poster therefore could possibly appeal to the male audiences.

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