Textual analysis of existing film posters.

The purpose of a film poster is to entice audiences to go and see the film. The poster has to represent the film and its genre and give audiences some clue of what it is about, as they may not have previously seen a trailer. Promotional posters normally include an image of one of the main characters and they must also inform audiences of when the film is released. I have analysed three promotional posters for different horror films to help me see what conventions are used.

An American Haunting

This promotional poster is for horror film “An American Haunting” which was released in 2005. The poster is very simple but effective.

The girl featured on the poster is the main character, Betsy, who is getting haunted by an entity in her house. The image is the main focal point of the poster as it takes up the majority of the space. There are only three colours used on the poster to help keep it simple; black, white and grey/green. These colours represent the genre because they are all dark and dull. A convention of horror films is the darkness. The colour white and grey/green is associated with ghosts, and spirits which relates to the “Haunting” in the title.

The font used for the title is in the colour white and the word “Haunting” fades out along the bottom, again this relates to the theme of ghosts and spirits. The font used is simple and clear, making the image the main focus point. There is also a tagline underneath the film title saying “Possession knows no bounds”. Taglines are used to help promote the film and give audiences more of a clue as to what the film is about, they are normally short, snappy and straight to the point. A symbol of a cross is noticeable on the right-hand side of the page; the narrative of the film is based around possession and exorcism which linked with the idea of the church. The symbol does not stand out straight away however it is a very important part of the poster as it is a symbolic code which will give audiences more clues about the film.

In the top right-hand corner there are the names of several actors and actresses. The same font as the title and tagline is used. Underneath the names of the actors are the credits, these are often very small and difficult to make out. They are not essential for audiences to see but are there for promotional reasons and include the names of producers, directors etc.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th was released in 2009 and this is one of the promotional posters for the film.

As the poster for “An American Haunting” there are only three main colours used; black, white and red. The colour black is the main colour used, this is the most conventional colour of horror films as I mentioned previously as it represents darkness and the unknown. As the majority of the poster is in black this makes the red and white stand out more. The font used is, again, simple and clear to read, however it is in bright colours which stand off the poster. Therefore a simple font is appropriate because it makes the bright colours the more important element. The name of the film and the release date are the only things in red, which represents danger and death. The film title “Friday the 13th” is position at the bottom of the page, this is similar to the title of “An American Haunting”. Both titles stand out despite being at the bottom of the page instead of in the centre.

The titles are placed at the bottom of the page because the main image takes central position. The main image is the selling point on a poster, it is important the image is effective and represents the genre of the film as well as giving audiences some clue as to what the narrative of the film contains. The main image on this poster of “Friday the 13th” is of Jason Voorhees, the main character of the film. If someone had not previously seen a trailer this poster would give them some clue as to the main plot of the story. The image shows that Jason is a killer, this is represented through dark colours, a saw and the masks adds a sense of horror as it makes him far more scary and sinister because his face and identity are unknown. The angle used is a low angle shot, this makes audiences feel more inferior because Jason looks very dominating and threatening. Rather than just having an image of the main character, as the promotional poster for “An American Haunting”, the setting is also shown. The background of the image shows part of a wood, this allows audiences to take a guess that the narrative is set around a wood. This is very conventional of a horror film because woods are dark, and isolated, making it the perfect place for Jason to commit his crimes. The tagline also gives some suggestion about the location and setting of the film “Welcome to Crystal Lake”, this suggests that the wood is set around a lake. The white font makes the tagline stand out very clearly at the top of the page, against the dark background.

Along the very bottom of the page is the conventional credits that have also been on previous posters I have looked at. Again the font used for these credits is very small and difficult to make out. The names of production companies, directors etc are all in capital letters and the letter spacing is very close together, this makes it difficult to read. However, if the poster was on a larger scale, for example a billboard, it would be much easier to read the text. These credits are not as important as the main image and title therefore it is essential that they do no stand out too much, taking the attention away from the image and title. There are also different logos underneath the credits, these are the logos of the different production companies that produced and released the film.

Scream

This promotional poster is very simple, like the previous posters I have looked at. Scream was release in 1996 and features classic horror scenes, however isn’t as predictable as everyone expected it to be.

The image is an extreme close up of the main character, Casey, who is trying to solve the murder of her mother. It is a very simple image but grabs the audiences attention. The images shows her facial expression very clearly and relates to the title of the film “Scream”. The image is black and white and is positioned in the centre of the page taking up the majority of the poster. The main focus point of the image is her eyes, they are about two thirds of the page down which is where audiences eyes first glance at. Eyes show emotion, and hers show she is full of fear and shock. The image suggests to audiences that this is how they’ll feel when they watch the film.

As seen previously, this promotional poster uses simple and clear to read font. The title of the film is in white, block writing, which stands out against the dark background. The “M” on scream has a sharp point at the end to represent a knife. The film title is again placed at the bottom of the page, as the titles on the other two posters I have previously looked at. The title of the film along with the image represents the genre of horror however it does not give much away about the narrative. The tagline “Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far. Solving the mystery is going to be murder” gives the audience more of a clue about the narrative, it tells them that a murder, or perhaps several, are going to take place and the narrative revolves around solving the murders. However, the poster does not give any clue about who committed the murders, it is usual for film posters to show the main character and in a horror film the murderer is normally the main character.

The promotional poster again conventionally uses three main colours; black, white and gray. It also has the credits and production details along the bottom, as well as the name of the actors and actresses in the film. All this font is in white, sticking to one of the three colours. The logo of the production company, Dimension Films, is also on the poster.

Ancillary Texts - LIIAR.

The brief for my coursework was to produce a promotion package for my new film. I will therefore create a poster for my film and a front cover for a film magazine, which will feature my film. To help ensure I produce successful ancillary texts I am going to look at how the media concepts can be applied to my ancillary texts. I will also look at existing media texts which will help me identify the conventions of both film posters and magazine front covers.


Film posters


Language- The language on film posters will be any form of text that is featured. This language will be informative; it will include a release date, the name of the film and perhaps other text such as the name of actors, the producer or the director etc. The language of posters will also include the style and colour of the font. The colour scheme of a poster will have an impact on audiences therefore it is very important that the right colours are chosen.

Institution- The institution for film posters will usually be the production company of the film. Their logos normally appear on the poster; this will help to promote the film. If the production company is well known and has released other films this might entice audiences to go and watch other films produced by them.

Ideology- the ideology behind a film poster is to advertise and promote an upcoming film. The poster has to represent the film through language and images, it has to inform and entice the target audience to go and watch the film.

Audience- Film posters are produced to reach a mass audience; they are usually put in magazines, on the internet, on the side of buses or billboards. Film posters are in various places so that people who do not buy magazines or do not have the internet will see them in other locations. Therefore film posters do not have a set audience as they are often seen by many.

Representation- The genre of film is often represented in the advertising poster, this is usually achieved through the image and language used on the poster. For example, a poster for a horror film would include a scary/threatening image and the use dark colours, whereas, a poster for a romance would include bright colours and an image revolving around a couple in love.


Film magazines front covers


Language- The language used on the front cover of a film magazine will include elements such photographs, plugs, mastheads and typography. Some magazines rely heavily on the written word when it comes to articles, however as I am only creating a front cover and not an article it is very important that I focus on the main image. The main image on the front cover is what will grab the audience’s attention; it is the key convention and usually is an image of the main character from the film to help promote it. The language also includes the colour and layout of the magazine. All these concepts have to be considered very carefully because publishers want to sell as many copies as possible so therefore have to make sure the language of their magazine is right.

Institute- The institute will be the publisher of the magazine. There are several companies who publish magazines. Some examples of companies who publish film magazines are; Bauer Media Group who publish Empire magazine, Future Publishing who publish Total Film, and British Film Institute (BFI) who published Sight & Sound.

Ideology- The main ideology for all magazines is consumerism. The more readers a magazine has, the better, making it very important the magazine includes features that will grab the target audience’s attention. Therefore I must make sure my front cover will grab my target audience’s attention in order to have high consumerism.

Audience- The audience of film magazines will often be film fanatics and people interested in entertainment. Film magazines include lots of different articles revolving around film, an example might be film reviews, and this will tell audiences if a film is worth seeing or not. Therefore I must make sure my front cover will entice my target audience to come and watch my film.

Representation- Film magazine front covers will represent films; the front cover will always feature a main character for an upcoming film. This main image will be very important, not only will it represent the film and its genre; it will also represent the magazine, for example, if the magazine has a well known actor or actress on it, it will make the magazine look more established.

Re-shoot.

After uploading my footage onto the computer and onto Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 I have decided to change the beginning of my trailer. The footage I had for my opening trailer hasn’t come out as well as I would have hoped. I had wanted to create the feeling of a crime scene; Ashleigh is supposed to be the sixth disappearance therefore the news reporter is reporting from outside her house. The dialogue is really quite and the medium close up shot is very boring. If I could have made the scene appear more busy or realistic then perhaps it may have worked better as an opening for my trailer; for example, if there were people in the background interviewing parents for clues, or if I had placed crime scene tape along the fence. Unfortunately when filming I did not have access to any of these props nor have the actors willing to play these characters.

I therefore have decided to completely change my opening. Instead of having a news reporter disclosing the information about the disappearances and then later having a shot of Ashleigh looking at several newspaper reports, I have decided to film different newspaper headlines. I will edit them all together in a sequence and make sure not too much is given away to the audience. I will set the basis up of the narrative, the six disappearances, but make sure I do not give too much away. Having headlines at the beginning of my trailer will help focus the audiences’ attention because they have to read the headlines to help them understand the narrative of the film.

I also need to re-shoot several scenes in Little Switzerland because the quality of some shots are not very good. I felt that some of the shots were too repetitive and were all medium shots. I therefore feel that I need to reshoot some scenes and vary the type of shot and angle I film.

To help me keep up to date and on top of everything I have a checklist that I have been ticking off every time I have completed a post. My checklist is just a brief outline of things I have to make sure I include; I have added other posts as I have been expanding on my planning and project.

Anamatic.

I created an animatic to help me judge if my trailer is long enough. It will also help me decide if individual shots are the right length. My animatic will assist me when it comes to editing my clips together because it will give me some kind of indication beforehand if it is all going to flow.



Unfortunately my drawings on my storyboard don’t appear very clear on blogger because they are too faint, therefore it is difficult to see some on the shots on my animatic especially because the video comes up so small. However some shots are visible and you can get a vague idea of what my trailer is going to look like.