What Are the Conventions of Horror Film Posters

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Conventions used in film posters

Emilia Byrne



Film posters

• Originally, film posters were produced for the exclusive use by thetheaters exhibiting the film the poster was created for, and thecopies of the posters were required to be returned to thedistributor after the film left the theater. In the United States, filmposters were usually returned to a nationwide operation called the

National Screen Service (NSS) which printed and distributed most of the film posters for the studios between 1940 and 1984. As aneconomy measure, the NSS regularly recycled posters that werereturned, sending them back out to be used again at anothertheater

• Film posters are displayed inside and on the outside of movie

theaters, and elsewhere on the street or in shops. The same imagesappear in the film exhibitor's pressbook and may also be used onwebsites, DVD (and historically VHS) packaging, flyers,advertisements in newspapers and magazines,



Conventions used in film posters• Main image - from looking at the main image on the film poster the consumer

is usually able to tell the genre of the film, by looking at the colour scheme,actors, costume, facial expressions, and also the camera angle, it is veryimportant for the consumer to be able to tell the genre of the film, beforewatching it.

• Tag line - In entertainment, a tagline is a small amount of text which serves toclarify a thought for, or designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many taglineslogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, social group, orproduct. As a variant of a branding slogan, taglines can be used in marketingmaterials and advertising.

• Billing block - Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the orderand other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, orother creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of thecompanies, actors, directors, producers, and other crew members.

•Mise-en-scene - Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the designaspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visualtheme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways throughstoryboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful waysthrough direction. Mise-en-scène has been called film criticism's "grandundefined term".



Conventions used in film posters

• Release date – when the film will be released in thecinema, usually placed at the bottom of the poster.

• Masthead - the title of the film, usually placed at the topof the page, depending on the genre of the film is.

• Typography - is the art and technique of arranging type inorder to make language visible. The arrangement of typeinvolves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length,leading, adjusting the spaces between groups of letters andadjusting the space between pairs of letters. Type design isa closely related craft, which some consider distinct and

others a part of typography; most typographers do notdesign typefaces, and some type designers do not considerthemselves typographers



Comedy – Step BrothersStep Brothers was released on the 25th of Jul, in 2008, the film is an American

witty comedy film starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Directed by AdamMckay and produced by Jimmy Miler and Judd Asptow.

Step Brothers stars very well known actors like Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly,

Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott and Kathryn Hahn, all of

these well know actors would each appeal to a large audience.

Overall the film Step Brothers was a huge successes this would be due to thefact that including DVD sales the film made a profit of $181,807,642!

Target audience – the target audience for Step Brothers would be a

stereotypical male audience, who have a very witty sense of humour that

other people may find immature, the age group I would say would be very

young, as I believe that this film is targeted at teenagers, due to the fact that

the film Step Brothers is based on two middle aged man nothing being able to

grow up, even when looking at the main image of the two men fighting like

teenagers would be humorous to a young male audience.



Comedy genre – Step Brothers

Main image - when studying the

main image of this film poster, the

two men on the poster are very well

known actors who are, Will Ferrell

and John C. Reilly, which would

instantly appeal to a large audience.From this image I am able to see

that these two men don’t like each

other as they’re fighting, however,

they look very childish considering

their age, from this image you can

instantly guess the narrative of the

film which is ‘two stepbrothers at

war’

Masthead – the masthead is very

bright and energetic, the two

colours that have been used is red

and white, the colour white

symbolises youth and freshness,

and the colour red symbolisesexcitement, energy and power,

overall I believe the colours

strongly relates to the two middle

aged men, due to the fact the they

are very confident and still see

themselves as youthful

Actors names – the actors

names have been placed over

their heads, this would be

because that it is easy to tell

who the actors are, the twoactors are very well known

within the comedy film genre,

the typography that has been

used is very bold, and energetic

and instantly stands out.

Tag line – the tag line that has

been used states “They may

have grown up but they

haven't matured” I believe that

this tag line sums up the film

poster as a comedy, which

could be appealing to a large

audience, I believe that the tag

line is also very light-hearted.

Credits - film poster credits

are the legal lines that appear

in movie posters giving credit

to the cast and crew that made

the film, as well as the

producers, distributor and

financier behind it



Romance – P.S. I love youThe film P.S. I love you was originally based on a book written by Cecelia Ahern, the

film was released on December 21st

, 2007, and is a overall American drama, P.S. I loveyou was directed by Richard LaGravenese, and produced by Wendy Finerman,

Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove and Molly Smith, the film is also dedicated to the

memory of producer Molly Smith's sister Windland Smith Rice.

P.S. I love you stars very stereotypical actors that would appeal to the romance film

genre like, Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, Jeffrey Dean

Morgan, Kathy Bates, Harry Connick Jr. and Nellie McKay.P.S. I love you was globally famous and made an extremely large profit of

$156,835,339, including the sales of DVDs.

Target audience - the target audience for P.S. I love you would be young females, this

would be because when studying the film poster its is overall very light hearted andinnocent.

When the colour scheme that was used was very passionate and pure, which relates

to a very stereotypical female audience and can or want to relate to that.



Romance – P.S. I love you

Masthead – the colour of the

typography that is used is red, red

symbolises passion and love, which

instantly relates to the film as the

genre is romance.

The style of the typography looks

like its been hand written and the

“P.S.” Almost looks like a letter, this

could be seen as romantic, due to

the fact of proliferation within

technology, writing letters is veryold fashion, and it could be seen as

sending a message on a mobile

device or on the computer, is easier

and quicker, so the letter styled

writing shows time and effort.

Main Image – the overall main

image looks extremely pure as a

lot of lighting has been used when

the actually image was taken,

the two actors look very natural

and happy, almost like a

stereotypical couple, you are able

to tell that these two characters

are a couple, because when

looking at the woman's hand she

is wearing an engagement ring,

when looking at this main image

you would instantly be able to tell

that the genre is romance.

Tag line - the tag line of this film

poster states “ Sometimes there’s

only one thing left to say” I

believe that overall this logo

sounds very passionate and

willing, which could be seen as

romantic, which would then

appeal to the young feminine

target audience.

Actors names - the title of the

actors is just under the main image,

the typography that was used was

quite small, however, due to the

fact that this film poster is quite

plain, the actors names are

noticeable, also due to the contrast

of the black typography against the

white background the actors namesstand out even more

Release date - the film was released on the

21st of December, which is very close to

Christmas and new years, which are times to

celebrate with your loved ones, so this would

appeal to a large audience of families andcouple all wanting to watch a light hearted film.



Horror – ScreamScream is a 1996 American gruesome slasher film written by Kevin Williamson

and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox,

Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette. Released on December 20th , 1996.

Based partly on the real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper, Scream was inspired

by Williamson's passion for horror films, especially Halloween (1978). The film

went on to financial and critical acclaim, earning $173 million worldwide, and

became the highest-grossing slasher film in the US in unadjusted dollars. It

received several awards and award nominations. The soundtrack by Marco

Beltrami was also acclaimed, and was cited as "[one] of the most intriguing

horror scores composed in years".

Target audience - in my opinion the targeted audience for Scream would be

young teenagers, my reasons for this would be because that all the actors in the

film are all very young, which would appeal to a young audience because they

young audience could almost relate to the young actors.

Due to all the action and violence within this film I believe that this film is more

targeted at the male audience, this would because when looking at the film poster

there is nothing stereotypically feminine on the poster that would appeal to a feminine

audience.



Horror – Scream Tag line - the tag line states

“someone has taken their love of

scary movies one step too far,

solving this mystery is going to

be murder” overall this logo is

very ironic, and humorous, due

to the fact the film is a murdermystery!

The logo shows that this slasher

film could be seen as a black

comedy as well as a horror,

which would mainly appeal to a

teenage audience, that has a dry

sense of humour.

Main image – when studying the

main image, it looks extremely

dramatic due to the

cinematography that was used

which was an extremely close up,when looking at the woman's face

due to the face that the skin tone

is to white and the eye colour is a

very light blue, the character

almost looks dead.

Overall this film looks like it will be

a murder mystery due to the tag

line and the characters facial

expression, which is the direct

address with her eye looking

terrified, the hand (whether the

hand is hers or not) over her open

mouth, this tells the audience that

she knows something we don’t.

Colour scheme – the colour

scheme that was used was very

stereotypical to the horror

genre, this would be because

that the colours are very

depressing and gloomy, some

examples of the colours arewhite, black and grey, all

colours of death, surprising no

red was used which is odd for a

‘Slasher’ film.

Masthead - when looking at the masthead the typography is very small, but due to

the boldness of the font, the masthead still stands out, I believe that the rule of third

technique has been used due to the fact that everything that is key for the audienceto see has been placed in the centre

Actors names - the actors

names have been placed under

the masthead, this would be

because usually the masthead is

the first thing that the audience

see so, if the audience then

recognise a well known actor in

the film, they would then wantto see the film even more

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What Are the Conventions of Horror Film Posters

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