To recall everything I know about each key concept in relation to the topic area of film posters.
Key terms:
Enigma - This is a puzzle or a mystery contained in the text.
Teaser campaign - This is when there are several posters for the film. Each one gives a little bit more information running up to the film's release. Teaser posters use enigmas to capture the audiences attention.
Franchise - An entire series of the film including the original film and all those that follow on.
Starter task: What does the poster for Brides of Dracula tell us about the film? How do we know this is a poster for an older vampire film?
The Media is made up of industries and organisations whose purpose is to produce media texts for audiences, for example films and television programmes. Their aim is to make money out of producing those texts. To make sure that what they produce makes a profit, the organisation must market and promote themselves and what they produce to an audience. Film posters are part of that promotional drive for a text which is a film.
When you study any media text, it is important that you are aware of the organisation that produced it as this will have a role in shaping the text and how that organisation tries to reach its audience.
Film posters are used to persuade an audience to go to see a film.
A good poster will give information quickly to an audience. Posters often appear on billboards, in cinemas, and in magazines or newspapers.
An audience will not spend a lot of time looking at a poster so the words and images must make an immediate impact and be easily remembered.
Posters will often attract audiences by including enigmas, the audience can only find the answers if they come to see the film.
The poster will also introduce images and a tagline which will appear in other marketing material for the film.
Teaser campaigns are a bit different and give less information.
Conventions of film posters
These will include:
Clues to the film's genre - it is important the audience knows which genre the film belongs to. for example; horror or romantic comedy.
Iconography - The objects settings and costumes are further clues to the genre of a film.
Stars - Big name stars will also give a clue to the genre and what to expect from the film. Stars are often linked to certain types of film. For example Tom Cruise and action films or Reece Witherspoon and romantic comedy.
The tagline - This is the memorable phrase or slogan that appears on the marketing material.
The main image - This usually takes up most of the poster, it may tell the audience something about the genre, characters involved or the narrative.
The name of the film - This will give a clue to the genre and the audience will know what to expect. The film may be part of the series and will use the name of the original plus a new name to suggest the film is different. Here the name New Moon suggests the idea of werewolves and shows it to be part of the Twighlight franchise.
Language - This will aim to persuade an audience to go to see the film by telling them how good it is. Sometimes posters use hyperbole.
Quotes - Film posters will include quotes from newspapers and industry magazines, praising the film. This makes the audience think that they must go and see it. The poster may also feature a rating in the form of stars to suggest it is high quality.
Quality mark - This is where the poster will include something that suggests the film is of a high quality, for example; 'From the director of...'and naming a high profile film.
Film company logo - This will suggest to the audience that the film will have high production values.
Task1: In your orange books, use this blog to recap the key concepts shown below.
Genre.
Narrative.
Audience Uses and Gratification.
Representation.
