Film Posters Analysis

When choosing film posters to analyse, I went for posters from a variety of areas, to compare and contrast any codes and conventions. These have included:

1. The Blunt Diaries - A short, independent film released in 2009. I chose to analyse the poster for this film as it relates to my project through being a short independent film.
2. Pulp Fiction - This feature film was released in 1994 and I have chosen to analyse this poster and see if any of its codes and conventions vary from present day.
3. Batman: The Dark Knight - I chose to analyse the poster of the best selling film to this day; seeing if I can take any codes and conventions for my own project.
4. AdULTHOOD - A film which is recent and has similar themes to our short film.
5. The Machinist - The poster for this film has a similar design to the idea I had for my short film poster. It is also a recent film and may have its codes and conventions to suit a modern audience.

The Blunt Diaries has a fairly simple design. It includes the title (which has been edited onto a cigarette/spliff), the most memorable quote from the film and credits toward the director and production companies. Due to not having any well-known actors in the film, the poster relates simply to the theme of the film with an extreme close-up of a person smoking.

The editing of the paper and title onto the cigarette/spliff also connotes that the film is independent as it is not completely realistic. Keeping in mind that my film also has a small budget, staying away from a large amount of difficult editing and sticking to simple realistic frames would be more suitable as we cannot afford professional help with our poster editing.

Pulp Fiction has a poster in the style of magazine. The title of the film as the title of the magazine, a list of actors as a list of featuring articles in the magazine and one of the main characters on the front, a well-known actress to help sell the film. The poster is similar to 'The Blunt Diaries' in the way that Uma Thurman has props in front of her which represent themes included in the plot.

With Pulp Fiction being released in 1994, this poster could be considered as not a valid way to design a poster in present day. However due to being so unique and break the generic film poster conventions, and presenting itself as magazine cover, it has been remembered and recognised worldwide for over 10 years.

Batman: The Dark Knight is currently the best ever selling feature film and is the second in the series, following Batman Begins. This poster has Heath Ledger as the Joker, which draws in the audience who want to support and view his performance, as this was one of the last films made before his death. The poster also includes a number of the leading actors in the film, and Gotham City in dark rubble in the background. The title has the Batman logo behind which the audience will easily be able to relate to as a well known symbol.

Overall, I felt this poster is giving the audience an subtle idea of what is to come in the film, with the Joker as a villain. However, it has left it open enough so that the audience is left asking questions such as 'Where is Batman?' and 'Why is the City in ruins?' From seeing my film poster, I would like my audience not to have all their questions answered and feel intrigued to watch the film.

AdULTHOOD is the film with themes most similar to our short film. These include both the dissolution of family and friend relationships along with gang and street crime. This film poster is simplistic, with a group of young adults, (one being Sam, a main protagonist from KiDULTHOOD), and a large bold, block title with the director's name in small underneath. Like the rest of the posters, the bat could suggest some of the plot.

Due to not having a large budget for our short film, I am considering creating, as a potential design, a simplistic poster with a dark shadowy image of Leon with the title and additional information in block lettering.

The Machinist film poster has a very simplistic design. Although the film is starring Christian Bale, unlike other major feature films, the poster does not have the main protagonist on, breaking away from the conventions of a Blockbuster poster. However, the post-it note which is the primary feature of the poster is a main prop and theme of the film. This keeps the audience curious to watch the film to what the rest of the letters in the game of hangman will be along with block letters including the title, a plot sentence and the name of the main star of the film.

Due to having the girl playing a game of hangman with herself in our short film, I was contemplating a design similar to this poster, considering that our film has no well known actors. The gritty feel of this poster makes you suggest that the film is going to be quite dark. This is a convention I would like to take and potentially use in my design, to give an audience an idea of what sort of themes could be included in the film.