RESEARCH & PLANNING - Film Poster

We have now completed our film and the next step is to create a film poster as part of a marketing campaign for the audience. The generic convenctions of film posters consist of :

• Title of the film/ font and branding- which is predominant and clear
• Date it comes out
• Producers name
• Directors name
• Actors names
• Credits
• It should indicate the genre of the film
• A tagline- catchy slogan/ phrase about the film
• Attention grabbing features and straightforward
• Large eyecatching image linked to the genre, characters and setting
• Positive reviews from critics and the star rating
• Awards Recieved

There are three main types of film posters. These include the 'teaser poster', the 'main poster' and the 'DVD poster'. The teaser posters are released prior to the the release of the film. They are vital for the films initial publicity and have little reference to the narrative of the film. The main poster is often dominated by one or two images, which include key written information. These posters can be changed and altered throughout the campaign. Lastly, the DVD poster aims to encourage the audience to own the film and will often allude to extra features or awards won.

It is important for film posters to have unique selling points (USP's), to give them the competitive edge and encourage their target audience to take interest in the film poster, and consequently going to watch the film. The ways in creating this USP is to include the well-known actors names in the poster. Their fans would take interest in their new films. Another is to include the Directors name or mention previous work he/she has done. Well established directors can have a great influence over who goes to watch their new films. An indication of the genre can be an USP. Individuals tend to have their favourite genre which they enjoy watching. When indicating the films genre on the poster it can tell you what type of film it will be and theresore whether you are likely to enjoy it or not.

Nikki Stock