Film Poster Research
Feature Length Poster
Font
The title of the film font is clear and bold, making it easy to read. It is coloured in a bright white, making it eye catching, and instantly the first thing you look at on the poster. This could be because the intention of the film maker, is for the targeted audience to prioritise the title, as in thats what they want them to notice first. As well as this the font of the film poster is different from the other fonts on the poster again reinforcing this idea of wanting the targeted audience to notice that first. However the film title font is not that significantly different from the other fonts of the actors etc, this could be, not to distract the audience from the meaning of the film poster.
Also the smaller fonts and the 'watch me' and actors name all blend in with the poster, which allows for easy 'flow' of the film poster.
Key Image
In this film poster, i think the key image would have to be the faded picture of Liam Neeson, with the faded text of 'watch me' beside him. Because this already creates a huge buzz around the film as liam neeson is a big hollywood actor, therefore the audience are most likely to have watched some of his films previously, which could be one of the main reasons they chose to watch this film. Therefore he is also helping to sell this film, because it reinforces the fact that this movie stars big hollywood names. The words 'watch me' go hand in hand with the picture of Liam because, it slyly connotes that we should, watch out for him in the movie.
Does it put across the meaning of the film well?
I think it does this perfectly, which could be due to its large budget. However many techniques are use in both obvious and subtle ways, to portray the idea of a 'third person'. The letters on her dress could be one person, the woman another and The faded male actors picture the third person.
Buzzwords
The phrases like 'from the director of crash' and 'a film by Paul Haggis' and also the actors & actresses names are all in the same colour and font. These are the selling points of the film on the film poster because these are what create the buzz around the film, and draw in more audiences, because its almost like 'theres something for everybody' which in turn expands the audience they can attract.
Target Audience
I think this film poster can be targeted at many different audiences of different backgrounds, from young women, to nearly middle aged, because from the poster the themes of the film seem to reflect almost an escape, and also their is a woman who is in the forefront of the frame running. Therefore they are able to almost 'feel' like her. Also the simplicity of the film poster could convey across a not to complicated story line, which tend to appeal to women a lot. It can also be for men of all ages i would say, because the main male actor is known for his action thriller movies, and therefore most men like movies with such themes and would be attracted to watch the film, because Liam Neeson plays a main role in the film.
Realism
This film poster has elements of both realistic and fantasy elements, which blend very well together. Due to their big budget they are able to use lots of technological equipment to create this effect, without it coming across as cheap. This helps them sell the movie as it appears to the audience as a well made film, that look lots of time, energy and money to create , therefore attracting them because the film poster is easy to the eye.
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Short Film Poster
Does it put across the meaning of the short film well?
I think it does , because a short film only has little time to tell a story witha beginning middle and end, so there film poster is incredibly important in helping to give the audience an insight into the film and allow them to interpret it the way they wish.
Key Images
I think the key image, and most significant one is of the girl. This is because the mise en scene of her facial expressions, match the words 'deep down' as she appears to be concerntrating on something deep down in her thoughts. This image is powerful enough for this short film to be able to get across what they are trying to say. It is also their only image which could reflect the limited budget they may have had.
Target Audience
This short film poster, looks as if it is intended for a niche audience of maybe teenagers to young adults, because of their main character in the back of the frame. Who appears to be of teenage age. Its definitely not marketed for everyone, as the concept may not suit everyone, or not everyone will understand it. Also even being a short film again narrows the audience market, because only particular people even watch short films.
Realism
The poster mostly contains realistic qualities which are photoshopped into the poster. It appears quite cheap and almost easy to recreate.
Buzzwords
There are no buzzwords on this short film poster which again could be due to the fact, they are not trying to generate profit or a huge audience for their short film. But instead to just convey the message/meaning of their short film.
Font
The font of the film is very simplistic, and is all in the same colour white, a dull white, and the font for the director and actors are all the same as the title of the film. This could be for a couple of reasons, the main one being because it is a low budgeted short film, fancy fonts etc can't really be done. Also because the actors/actresses are not 'big hollywood ones' there's no need to emphasise their names, because this may not be what there intentions are of selling the film, but instead to just convey their film message.
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Feature Length Poster
Appearance
The high quality hair and make up of the main actress implies of something which required skilled individuals to carry out and took a lot of time to do. Also the costume appears to be expensive therefore suggesting that there must of been a big budget just to create this poster in essence implying that the film is of high quality therfore capturing the attention of the audience.
Genre
The genre of the film is shown through the choice of the background of the poster which is coordinated with the colours on the actress. This makes it very clear to the audience exactly what type of film that they will see if they watch it. It also makes the audience familiar with what possible themes they will come across in the flm.
Target Audience
The poster straight away attracts the audience because of the names of 3 well known actors presented on the top which interests the fans of these actors/ actresses immediatelly.
For example
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Vincent Cassel is a well knowned French actor for his roles in Oceans Twelve, Oceans Thirteen and A Dangerous Method.
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Mila Kunis is well known for her multiple roles in Hollywood movies e.g Friends with Benefits, Ted and Oz the Great and Powerful.
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And Natalie Portman is seen in films such as Thor, Thor the Dark World and No Strings Attached.
This also implies that there was a huge budget to go towards the film because these are high payed actors.;lnh
Creativity
This poster seems to afford to be creative and completely extravagant because the special effect of the reflective image suggests that there was editing involved to produce this poster. The poster is high defenition therefore created by professional and expensive equipment. It brainwashes audience into thinking that whatever they'll see is worth their money and nothing like they see in everyday life.
Advertising
The use of reference to a website on the poster gives something for the fans to further explore the film and for the public to be able to find out what the film includes further creating awaremess of the film and therefore drawing in a wider range of audiences as possible from all corners of the world because anyone can easily access this website.
Also comparing the work of the director from films he's directed with this film attrats fans of this director if they enjoyed his previous films.
Font
The font used for the title is far from simple.
It is feather like design to reflect on the swan from the title.
The cracks on the title could be used to sell the film as it can forshadow the themes displayed in the film.
It therefore implies that a lot of time was put in order to create this particular font specifically for this film.
Short Film Poster
Image
The image for the poster appears to have been taken with a simple camera and there is no special effects done.
It is an image that the audience can relate to which creates realism.
The image is in front of a simple white background all of which implies a low budget.
This particlar choice for the image also insures that it portrays the issue which will be presented in the film and it seems as if it is an object that will be displayed in the film.
Advertising
The issues that are explored in short films can either be related back to real life situations, be ironic or make absolutely no sense what so ever
Font
The font for this short film is very simple and resembles something hand writen with a crayon.
It is also a font anyone can create
The title is the same colour as the object presented to suggest that they link.
3 different types of fonts used but all very simple because short films are usually straight forward due to them lasting for a short period of time so the narrative cannot be extremely detailed and complex to allow the audience to connect with the film.
colour
The backround colour of the poster is to reflect the emotions that will be presented in the film so it also links to the image in in order to portray the mood behind the reactions to that particular object.
Therefore in this case the colour could signify misery and depression that may link to the the fact that the handcuffs are associated with imprisonment and loneliness.
Audience
It was not designed to attract a huge range of audiences therefore short films already have a niche audience so it doesn't try to apply to everyone but usually sticks to things that is familiar to such genres as they may not have a big enough budget to be explorative.
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Feature Length Poster
Key Image
The key image would be the actor in the forefront, which works hand in hand with the gold tones, because gold represents winning, coming first, medal in this sense and the slight smile on the actors face may be because he has managed to gain something valuable.
Font
The font for the main title of the film is similar to that of the main hollywood actors name and everything else apart from 'disney'. This could be to make the word 'disney' stand out, because disney is a big brand and therefore would be a major selling point of this movie, which will in turn generate huge profits and huge audience market.
Target Audience
It is intended for clearly a young audience of children, due to the colour pallette of golds used and the 'disney' logo.
However because of the slightly older male actor and catchy slogan ' sometimes to win, you have to change the game' it could have some appeal for the older audiences as well.
Does it put across the meaning of the feature length film well?
Yes very effectively because the slogan at the bottom, gives a clear insight as to what the film may be about and also the cricketers in the background also give hints as well, making it an easy flow film poster.
Realism
The poster actually has a lot of realistic qualities, with added filters. However its still got a 'hollywood' feel to it.
Buzzwords
'from the producers of invincible and miracle' and 'May 16th' reinforce this film poster is trying to gain sales, because they are appealing to all audiences, the idea of 'there is something for everyone'.
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Short Film Poster
Does it put across the meaning of the short film well?
Yes in a very simple manner, the title is exactly what is shown on the forefront of the frame a red balloon, which has connontations of danger and blood.
Key Image
I would say the key image is the red balloon as it may be foreshadowing what may happen during the course of the short film. It is important for short films to be able to tell their story through their film poster as well, but not to make it to obvious, because they tend to want to give the audience the chance to be able to come up with their own interpretations.
Realism
Its a very realistic poster, hardly no CGI effects and much technological elements to it, which makes it cheaper to create which could be extremely helpful to the creators as most short films have a limited budget.
Buzzwords
It has no buzzwords, which could be due to the fact it is not trying to sell it's film because of the actors and famous directors, but simply just to get across a meaning to the audience.
Also it isn't aimed directly for the mass market because it may not be a concept which intrests everybody.
Font
The font is simplistic and uniform, it's also the same colour as the directors name.It doesn't distract away from the focus of the film poster, which makes it easy for the eye.
Target Audience
A niche audience as the market is already narrowed on the fact that it is a short film and not many people watch short films.
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Colour
everything is colour coordinated.
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The props are all colour ordinated which creates the complexity of the poster although it seems easy to produce.
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This gives the poster a lot of meaning without having to use high tech editing to do so.
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Therefore implying that a lot more has to go creativity rather than editing to have a big impact.
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Target Audience
seemed to be aimed at adults considering the age of the actors presented on the poster and the possible issues that will be in the film infered by observing the poster.
The actor/actress are unknown to a mass audience therefore people cant base their interest of of the film on who is in the film.
Realism
This poster is very realistic.
It is in a room using natural modern props which anyone has access to so it involved a low budget and did not take long to create.
The setting in the poster is of something the audience can relate to as soon as they see it.
The mise-en-scene of costumes, body language, facial expressions and make up is very important because the choices in these is what creates the realism of the poster.
The natural sunlight gives rise to simplisity and creates a natural environment.
Font
Straight forward simple font which doesn't require complex technocality to produce.
It actuality reflects on the title itself which is refering to simple things.
The font is the same for every text written on the poster which implies that it was very quick and easy to create.
Target Audience
The film appears to be aimed at a particular audience due to it being based on aspecific era and so would appear to apeall to an older audience.
But infact the use well known actors/actresses attracts their fans and those who have seen previews films starring these actors for example
Leonardo DiCaprio has appeared in films such as
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Titanic, The Departed, Wolf of Wall Street and Inception
Carey Mulligan in
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Drive, Never Let Me Go and An Education
Most imporantly this film is based on a well known novel written by F.Scott Fitzgerald so the fans of the book will be potential audiences and possibly so will the fans of the author.
Image
The image appears to be taken on a high quality camera.
The image has also been edited to place the frame around it therefore giving it a more enhanced and safisticated appearance.
Despite the natural pose carried out by the actor/actress the image still seem to have a big impact in advertising the high quality that film itself will possibly be due to the
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expensive costumes - which seem to be exclusively made particularly for the actors meaning that it must have been expensive and time consuming to produce.
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Make up - used to enhance their faces and give them a high profile look to reflect on their status also to make them more attractive so that they appeal to the audience.
Font
The font of the main title 'GATSBY' is unique and technical.
The patern on the title matches with the frame around the image and therefore a lot of creative considerations went into producing the font on the poster.
The
Overall there are many differences than similarities between short film posters and feature length film posters:
They both have the same idea which is to promote an event/product in this case is a film, however they also have an artistic value, some people buy them to hang around the walls in their room, just purely because there fans of the film or franchise.
They both fulfill their purpose, feature length films, for commercial and profit purpose and short films, to promote usually a powerful message.
The major diference between short film posters and feature length posters is that feature length ones, can be found everywhere from the side of a bus to a billboard, whereas short film ones can rarely be found unless searched for online typically and the odd one around the local area. Feature length film posters main goal is to 'sell the movie', so make the mass audience want to watch it, and therfore generate a profit, by using lots of buzzwords like 'from the directors of...' and 'starring...', and also the massive campaign usually behind the film poster. There film posters tend to have the film title in big bold font with pictures of the attractive hollywood actors/actresses. They may also have a catchy slogan intising you to watch the film.
Whereas a short film posters aren't designed necessarily to sell the film, but to convey the meaning of their film in a subtle artistic way, leaving it up to interpretations from the audience. They tend to use less buzzwords, hardly any at all, because they want their audience to shoose to watch it, because the posters interest them, rather than because a famous actor or director is in it.
Also Short film posters have a much smaller budget than feauture length films therefore, their posters may appear cheaper looking, because they may use a screenshot from the film as the poster or a artistic creation on the front of the film poster. However on feature length film posters, they look more expensive as thousands of dollars are put into the look of their film posters, some even have three or more different posters for the one film. They focus on doing this right, because they want to attract and appeal to as many people as possible, increasing their target audience and therefore their profits. They are able to use many different technological techniques from CGI to filters.
Another difference between the two is the different audiences they apply to, short film poster have a niche audience market, therefore only particular people it can apply to, so only a certain audience may understand the meaning behind it and may also enjoy short films itself, most of their film posters reflect this, because it isn't aimed at the wider demographics. Feature length film poster clearly show it is aimed at anyone and everyone that wants to watch it, therefore they usually consist of a simplistic storyline conveyed through the posters, which attracts people's attention.
Also short film posters are cheaper to watch and find because they are usually online and easy accessible whereas with most feature length film posters advertise the film out n the cinema's and IMAX's which are much more costly to watch.
Tosin Inez Bawa 8030