TASK 2: Film Poster Analysis

As we have to produce print artifacts along side our short film, I did some research behind some of the common conventions of film posters.

The reason behind a film poster is to advertise the film. Therefore, many different techniques are used to catch the viewers attention and to entice them into watching the film. Looking back at older film posters, it was evident that the film posters were not photographs but rather artist drawings. One particular example is Star Wars (1977), which was an artist drawing of the film.

More common now though is film posters that contain photographs and are edited using image manipulation software. An example of a film which fits our Thriller genre is 'Unknown'. The first denotation I picked out was the text. Both the title and the tagline are in large font, which immediately draws attention to them. While it is less common that the tagline is as large as the title, in this example the text is opaque, and so the title still stands out. What is also noticeable is that the 'un' in 'unknown' is also opaque. This could be a hint at the plot of the film, and may foreshadow his struggle to find his identity. Above the title, which is still a large font, is the name of the actor who plays the protagonist, Liam Neeson. Liam Neeson is a well-known international actor, and so using his pedigree, the filmmakers can encourage his fans to watch this movie.

As well as the text. over half of the poster is taken up by Liam Neeson's character. This makes it clear to the viewer that he is the protagonist, and the focus of the film. What is unclear, however, is the antagonist, as he is not present in the poster. This could be because it would spoil the plot or it may be that Liam Neeson is almost playing both the protagonist and the antagonist without his character realising, which is possible as a key theme in the film is that he loses his memory. The photo of Neeson is also manipulated to show distortion, which almost emulates technology, and could show that it is a piece of technology that has caused the memory loss.

The poster contains a teal tint. I researched the meanings behind teal and found that it was associated with restoration. This makes sense as the plot of the film is his desire to remember everything he has forgotten. Despite this, a lot of the teal is consumed by harsh black shadows which could connote the issues he must overcome in order to achieve his goal. Black is also linked to mystery and could emphasize that his mind is consumed by confusion.

The text at the very bottom of the page highlights the date that the film is released. This is included in every film poster as it is crucial information for the viewer, as it details when they can watch the film, and the target of the poster is to persuade people to watch the film. Also included in a much smaller font, which contains details of actors, directors and the studio that was involved in the film. This is present on all posters and is a convention.