Film poster - purpose and analysis

Before you can begin designing your own poster, you need to research and consider the role and purpose of the poster in the first place.

Task 1:
Research the role of posters - consider ideas beyond just advertising.

Task 2:
Find an example of each of the following - make sure it's for the same film and ideally one in your genre.

• Teaser poster - basic info, no credit block
• Main poster - credit block, more info
• DVD release poster - all the above but contains reviews
• Character poster - features one main character

Task 3:
For each of the above, analyse the poster for the following:

• Standard poster features (credit block, tagline, use of star names, release date, etc.) - what are the purposes of these features?
• Main colours and connotations
• Symbols used - does the audience need foreknowledge to decode them?
• Main figures/objects/background and connotations
• Use of graphics/photographs/illustrations
• Intended audience and how you know this
• Genre conventions
• USPs
• 'Expert witnesses'
• The gratifications that are promised
• How it grabs attention (humour, shock, etc.)
• The tagline (humour, pun, etc.)
• Alternative readings that might harm the marketing message

Task 4:
Identify similarities and differences between these four types of poster and discuss why these are important.