Movie Posters

Film Posters are one of the first forms of media movie goers can use to get a taste and insight into a new movie.

There are many things designers should consider, including the obvious features such as a bold title so the viewer knows the film name, and the names of the stars of the film. These first features are important so that the viewer can identify the film and knows at least the smallest details.

Other details are there to make the viewer interested, now that they know the movie exists. Techniques for this include putting the creators previous work on the poster so some people know that they might enjoy the film if they enjoyed the creators previous work. Also review quotes and award logos help sell the film through the poster because it is showing off, supposedly, that important people in the film and review industry think it is good, intending you think the same.

In class, we analysed different posters to pick out the design features used. For me, the most important design choice is the colour used. For instance for the poster of "Black Swan" the main colour is white, giving a cold mood to the image. The dark blues and blacks of her make up add to this with the deep red of the characters lips and eyes suggesting blood and violence. The colour really stands out against the white to make quite a haunting image. Similarly in a Poster for "The Expendables" and one for "Mean Machine", the red is used to suggest violence.

As with colour, light is also important, especially for genres such as Horror for example a poster for "The Strangers". The large amount of darkness and black on this image suggests we don't know what is in the dark.

I will be using these techniques for my own poster design soon...