Analysis of Film posters

The majority of film posters, feature length or short, usually hold the same properties. Visually, the imagery within the poster corresponds to each other connoting the theme of the film. It also holds information about the film including the film title, directors, producers and the main casting.

These posters are for two films; Cold October, a short film and The Dark Knight, a feature length. Although subtle, a fundamental difference between feature length and short film posters is that short film posters appear to be more vague within their imagery. Feature length posters usually put across a central image which the audience can recognise and relate to, for example The Dark Knight film poster contains its main protagonist Batman, coming across as an iconic visual. Whereas Cold October holds an obscure abstract image of a man which we do not know. For short film this comes across as a selling point, our ignorance to what is being shown within the poster leads to our interest and attraction to the film. So if a festival was to see a short film poster, image wise it is what we don't know about what is being portrayed in the poster that is most important, rather than we do know (e.g the franchise, the star power) in feature length films.

Cold October

- Above average contrast and low saturation gives off a pale look, emphasising a cold feel to the image which relates to the title of the film
- The blurred background creates a sense of oblivious surroundings, that the character is somewhat lost, emotionally or perhaps even physically
- Urban environment gives a sense of realism
- The almost transparent font, coming off as a very pale white colour, further builds upon themes (cold temperatures)
- The characters blue clothes connote a sense of being fragile and vulnerable. Also further represent the cold feel.
- The poster credits include a URL, promoting the film



The Dark Knight

- Warm colours promote an aggressive masculine theme, denoting a heroic figure
- Anatomic environment establishes a setting which needs a hero, to emphasise on typical comic book hero narratives
- The silhouette of the main protagonist suggests that the character is an icon, a authoritative figure of some sort
- Bold red font emphasises themes in power and strength
- Lack of film credits suggest that this is a teaser poster
- There is a URL at the bottom, adding to publicity




For our marketing campaign, similarly to the concept of film posters, we are to produce postcards. Short film posters hold near to the same properties as postcards image wise. In Toast we have a central character which the plot revolves around, and a returning gimmick in that being the title itself, toast. Taking this into consideration, it becomes fairly obvious that the majority of film posters either contain the main character, a striking image relating to the film, or even both. Cold October clearly has the main character in it.

This poster is for a American short film titled Purge. In theory Purge could hold the same attributes as a poster for Toast. The central character is presumably the female displayed in the poster and the synopsis describes she is at a distress similarly to our main character Amelia.

Purge

- Thin pale coloured font for the film title and directors credit suggests weak oppressed feminine themes. The white colour also suggests innocence

- Green eye represents envy, of perhaps a less dysfunctional lifestyle
- The shot of only half the face suggests the character leads a double life, or perhaps holds a secret