Annotation of Film Posters

Film Poster Analysis

Film Poster Research

A successful film poster must include a lot of things but the most importantly it must be eye catching and captivating to the audience. If the film poster does't attract the audience then the film won't be as successful as it potentially could be. There must be a focal image, obviously relating to the film, that will draw in the audience. The title must be displayed in a large eye catching font which matches the colour scheme of the focal image and the film. If the film is a horror with the title in bright pink it will mislead and confuse the audience. Another important part of the film poster is that it must clearly define the film's genre, this includes the imagery used, font and colours. The purpose of film posters is to obviously promote the film but to also help attract the largest audience possible.

There is usually an indication of when the film is being released - either a date or the words 'Coming Soon'. Although they are sometimes less specific by saying 'In Cinemas This Summer'. Film posters without a specific date build some small tension for the audience, especially if they are eager to see the film but don't know when it will be out. This works best for mainstream films which are guaranteed to be a popular due to star actors and horror films which usually have a good storyline full of suspension or a horror film which is part of a series for example 'Insidious' has 'Insidious 2' and 'Insidious 3'.

Information about the director, producers and production company is often displayed in a billing block at the bottom of the poster. The director's name is especially important because it can also be a selling point for the film. Like star actors, audiences will view films based on the director of the film. If the director is well known such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino etc. then audiences who are familiar with their work will go see the film because they know it will exceed their expectations and standards.

The poster could also include reviews and star ratings from film critics, this gives the audience an indication of what to expect from the film. This is also another selling point for the film because a film with good reviews will defiantly reach a large audience. However, it isn't crucial for a film poster to have good reviews on it in order for the film to be successful.

Film poster annotated example

One Missed Call film poster annotated example

Annotated Film Posters

 

Film poster research

Film Posters

A film poster is one of the main ways of advertising a movie and it's release date. It can be displayed inside or outside of a cinema in order to advertise the film and entice the viewers. Film posters can also be displayed on billboards and on public transport so that it can reach more viewers. It should include a masthead of the film title, image(s) of the main character(s), director, producer, production company, tagline and the viewer should be able to tell the genre and style of the film from looking.

Things film posters should include

Titles- The main headline may be the strongest element of the poster or it may be secondary to a strong visual. Some posters may have subheads and other title elements as well.

Tagline-  It’s a phrase identified with the film. A motto used in selling a movie. The goal of a poster essentially is to “sell” the movie—to make you want to see it.

Logotype- It’s a graphic representation or symbol of a movie, Studio name, trademark, abbreviation, etc., often uniquely designed for ready recognition.

Director- Name of the director(s) who directed the film.

Starring- Name of the main actors and actresses.

Date release- Date of the public exhibition of the film. It may be in theaters or for home viewing, and it may be a wide or limited release.

Certification- Film classification with regard to suitability for audiences in terms of issues such as sex, violence, substance abuse, profanity, impudence or other types of mature content.

Focal point and reading direction- The designer places objects or creates patterns so that the eye follows a path. The path the eye follows in advertising is very important, because you want the reader to end up at your call for action.

Types of posters:

Teaser poster- A teaser poster is an early promotional film poster, containing a basic image or design without revealing too much information such as the plot, theme, and characters.

Character poster- For a film with an ensemble cast there may be a set of character posters, each featuring an individual character from the film. Usually it contains the name of the actor or the name of the character played. It may also include a tagline that reflects the quality of the character.

Main Poster- Reveals more about the plot of the film, images such as characters, shows the credits which include actors names producers and directors who have worked on the film. The release date is also shown to establish when the film will come out for the viewers to watch.

Film Posters Research

A film poster is used to promote and films. There are two types of posters, the teaser which contains basic information to draw an audience in, they usually don't indicate much about the plot but often has pictures of the stars and name of the film. The main poster includes information about the production, distribution, exhibition and full cast and crew. You can usually identify the genre of a film from the poster often due to the colours/settings used.

Conventions of a film poster

• Must be eye catching and captivating to the audience
• There must be a focal point that draws the audience in
• The title is displayed in a large, eye-catching font
• Designed to attract the largest audience possible
• Usually an indication of when the film will be released e.g. 'Coming soon' or a specific date
• A billing block at the bottom of the poster with information of the directors and production company
• Reviews of the film e.g. star rating

The most effective film posters are iconic, presenting the themes in the film without resorting to flat out saying what it’s about. They use imagery, whether a close-up of a character or item that’s a major plot point, or a simple graphic, to establish the film’s plot. Combined with an eye-grabbing design, this can be an incredibly effective way to gain attention and create interest at once.

 

This is a generic template for how to make a film poster and will be helpful on how to set ours out in a professional and stylised way.

 

 
 

Annotated Film Posters-

127 Hours

Film Posters

The role of Film Posters

• It promotes a film in an artistic way
• Appeals to a wider audience
• Displayed on billboards, cinema, online & magazine- global advertising
• It is essentially used to sell the movie to its audience
• The visual element can depict a representation of something and this can sometimes appeal to a certain type of audience
• Use of directors, producers and actors names appeals to a certain demographic of people

What is typically found on Film Posters?

• The protagonist or main topic of the film is identified
• A mid shot of the protagonist or topic is used to establish the genre, personality etc.
• Font used for the title usually reflects the genre e.g. horror, romance, sci-fi
• Lighting and colour: depending on the genre, e.g. horror would consist of low key lighting and dark colours
• Billing Block which is all the credits for the film, for example the production company
• Actors/Actresses' name is usually somewhere to grab the attention of people who like particular actors and actresses'
• Tagline, this is usually a snappy statement, used to grab the attention of the reader
• Release date used to inform the audience when they can catch the first glimpse of the film
• Directors/producers name to attract audience members who enjoyed their previous products

7 elements to a successful Film Poster

1. Attention- must grab the audience's attention and encourage them to take a closer look
2. Iconography- presenting the themes within the film without stating what they actually are
3. Interest- give the audience an incentive to figure out the moral of the film by encouraging them to watch
4. Appeal – create desire with fans and non-fans alike
5. Style- ensure your design is consistent to the them explored within the film to continually grab the audiences attention
6. Lasting Appeal – a look that suits other formats
7. Recognisability – if it’s a sequel, make it obvious

Film title font ideas

We used dafont.com to generate some font ideas for the title of our film on our film poster as we want it to look professional and fit in with the plot/genre of our film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ideas for viral ad

Since our film is aimed at a target audience of both males and females aged 16 - 25 I believe that our viral advertisement should include a hashtag for the audience to use on social media which will create word of mouth about the film. This will also reach a larger potential target audience and this element also attracts the target audience to the film because it involves interacting on social media which is now a big part in the lives of young people.

Along with the hashtag there should definitely be some footage from the film to inform the audience what the film is actually about, it should end on a cliffhanger to keep the audience intrigued about this film to make them watch the full film when it's released. I believe that more time should be invested in advertising on social media because it is cost effective and is where the majority of the target audience will find out about and talk about the film.

Along with a video trailer on social media including a hashtag, to reach a further target audience there should be a radio trailer. A large percentage of the target audience will most likely drive with the radio on. The radio trailer should inform the listener of the hashtag along with snippets of the dialogue from the film, for this trailer the dialogue should be exaggerated and consist of suspenseful audio.

The advertising hashtag for our film should be simple and rememberable so I believe it should be '#Presence'.

Viral Advertising

Viral advertising means that a product, service or website etc. is made known through already existing social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, i.e. people who know and communicate with each other and spread the message. The concept is that the marketing efforts start small by making a product known to a small number of people and every one of them passes it on to others therefore getting the word around. However, if there is already a pre-established fan base then the word gets around a lot quicker. In today's society of social networking, it is unpredictable what will go viral but many advertisements become viral and are still remembered months and years later.


The Dark Night Rises viral marketing campaign
One example of a popular viral advertising campaign, which already had an established fan base, would be the white bats graffiti used to advertise Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. White bats were placed in public places all around the world and fans had to find the bats and post them on twitter with a hashtag. When enough bats were found and posted online a trailer was released, fans managed to achieve this in less than 24 hours. The hashtag used also trended on twitter which helped get the word around about the film. Here, technological convergence helped with this advertising campaign because many people now have a smartphone which has a camera and interest access. Proliferation also helped with this because we live in a digital age where more people can afford smartphones.

Orange is the New Black Season 3 Trailer
As listed in an article of 'The 12 Most Viral Ads of 2015', this trailer of Orange is the New Black received 1,283,721 shares. OITNB is a popular Netflix original series on Netflix which is the most popular online streaming subscription for TV shows and films, and as this is the trailer for season 3 there is already an established fan base. The trailer shows clips of all the main characters, who the target audience already knows, along with new characters to keep the audience intrigued for this new season. All of the clips are quick and short so that not much of the storyline is made obvious therefore again keeping the audience intrigued yet excited. The clips also show some hints at the relationships between the new and old characters which gives the audience some questions which will therefore want to make them want to watch the new series more. Many of these clips are shown through a close up shot perhaps to keep the audience from seeing most of the background to keep them intrigued and to welcome the audience back to the characters as well as making them focus on the characters. The trailer ends with an orange screen and writing saying '#sorrynotsorry' which is a hashtag for fans to use on twitter to get the message around about the new release of OITNB. The screen then says the title of the show 'Orange is the New Black' and then the date of the release '12 June', all of the information the audience needs to be aware of the show and to help promote the show on social media.  Orange is the New Black Season 3 Trailer

John Lewis Christmas Ad
With 1,949,387 shares the John Lewis Christmas trailer of 2016 was one of the most popular trailers in 2016. Every Christmas John Lewis bring out a memorable advertisement with a different theme each year which everyone looks forward to and talks about on the run up to Christmas. In the trailer a man puts up a trampoline in the garden whilst his daughter is in bed, ready for her to see the next day as it's her Christmas present. During the night two foxes and other woodland animals start jumping on the trampoline whilst the family's pet dog watches them from the window. The next morning the young girl wakes up and runs outside to use her trampoline, the pet dog overtakes her and jumps on the trampoline happily. The words 'Gifts everyone will love' fades onto the screen and then fades out to reveal 'John Lewis' with '#BusterTheBoxer'. This hashtag is again to be used on twitter to promote the heartwarming trailer. John Lewis Christmas 2016 Trailer

In conclusion today's advertisements often include a hashtag for viewers to use on twitter which can trend worldwide therefore spreading the message to a worldwide audience, increasing the demographic. This can be used by both small and big companies. I believe that for our advertisement of our short film we should include a hashtag to attract a young audience and also to increase our demographic. With the power of social media anything has the chance to become popular at a very low cost.

Viral Advertising

Viral Advertising

What is Viral Advertising?

It is a strategy by which a marketer creates a campaign focused around the goal of causing viewers of that promotion to spontaneously spread it by sending it to friends. Email was the original viral marketing strategy because the media encourages forwarding messages to more people.

Red Bull Space Jump – October 2012

Breaking three world records, Felix Baumgartner completed the iconic space jump for Red Bull in October 2012. The Mission Highlights video alone on Red Bull’s channel has over 37.4M views.

Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise – October 2013

To promote the movie Carrie, a New York coffee shop was transformed for a hidden camera stunt to capture shoppers’ reactions to telekinesis. The official video has had nearly 60M YouTube views to date.

LG Elevator Prank – October 2012

Promoting how ‘lifelike’ its new IPS monitors, LG pulled this brilliant stunt replacing an elevator floor with the monitors to make it look like the floor was falling away while unsuspecting people were in the lift to hilarious reactions. The original video has over 22.9M YouTube videos and LG have since filmed other brilliant pranks including the meteor one also below.

Evian baby&me – April 2013

Evian’s babies campaign is a common favourite amongst marketers and the public alike, proven by the fact this video has over 96M views! A multi-faceted campaign including an app for users to create their own baby image, this was a huge success.

Why use Viral Advertising?

Viral marketing is often used in conjunction with other methods of marketing, such as in the case of the Blair Witch Project. The viral aspect of the campaign generated buzz about the story long before the release of commercials, trailers, posters, and other forms of traditional marketing. This caused many people to already talk about the movie before it was officially announced to the public.

Viral Ads

Viral Advertising

Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people in their social networks, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. Viral marketing is useful as a stand-alone marketing tool or as a part of a larger campaign that uses multiple kinds of marketing. It is especially attractive to smaller businesses or companies because viral marketing can be a cheaper alternative to traditional marketing efforts.

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

What may go down as the viral campaign of 2013, Dove once again challenged our perceptions of beauty. With Dove Real Beauty Sketches, the brand invited a group of

women to sit down with a sketch artist and describe themselves to him. The brand then asked strangers to describe the same women. The artist then showed the pictures side by side showing the negative perception many women have about their own looks. The brand wasn’t pushing a specific product. It was making a statement and a powerful one at that. What I most love about this campaign is that it shows if you make a fantastic piece of content, people will do the viral marketing for you. If there’s one thing you can take away from reading this blog post, please let it be that. 

Google Android: "Friends Furever"
Android's "Friends Furever" video is simple, cute, totally curated and was the most shared video ad of 2015. While the curation probably took a while, there wasn't much original content creation going on here, it's really just a series of clips of unlikely animals palling around together. I mean, who doesn't want to see a parrot feeding spaghetti to a husky? Or a monkey climbing onto a horse's back? And yet, the video was shared more than 6.4 million times, according to video ad tech company Unruly.

Reebok: "25,915 Days"
The average human lives for 25,915 days and Reebok wants us to use those days to continuously honor and push our bodies to their physical limits. Their video promoting the #HonorYourDays campaign doesn't contain any spoken words, but the message is powerful: Make the most of the days you have by, as they put it, "honoring the body you've been given." The video follows one woman's relationship with running in reverse, from her running the Reebok-sponsored Spartan Race as a middle-aged woman, to running track in high school, all the way back to the day she was born. It's a great way for Reebok to communicate their brand mission of changing how people perceive and experience fitness at every age and of letting customers know they'll be there to cover their athletic gear needs throughout their lives.

Evian
Evian found great success with its Roller Babies campaign, which is the most-viewed viral advertisement of all time. The babies perform their routine after a title card indicates that drinking Evian water would make you feel as young and energetic as those babies. People are amused by the roller-skating babies but do not necessarily connect that imagery to the Evian brand. It is possible that the target audience for a video of animated babies is not the same demographic of people who would ever by Evian water under any circumstances. The footage of the babies was no more relevant to Evian than it would have been to any brand.

Marks & Spencer: Mrs Claus

In "Christmas with love from Mrs Claus", this female protagonist is revealed as the true mastermind behind the magic of Christmas. After waving goodbye to her husband as he ventures into the snow to deliver presents around the world, Mrs Claus embarks on a special project, helping six year-old Jake send his sister a thoughtful present. Rather than foregrounding the brand’s products as in previous years the focus is shifting towards personal storytelling. While this formula is in no way new, take John Lewis’ various tear-jerker Christmas spots as examples, Marks and Spencer certainly succeeds in telling a story far less told.

Viral Adverts

Viral Advertising refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to try to increase in brand awareness. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, eBooks, brandable software, images, text messages, email messages, or web pages. The emergence of "viral marketing", as an approach to advertisement, has been tied to the popularization of the notion that ideas spread like viruses. The field that developed around this notion, memetics, peaked in popularity in the 1990s. Among the first to write about viral marketing on the Internet was the media critic Doug Rushkoff. The assumption is that if such an advertisement reaches a "susceptible" user, that user becomes "infected" (i.e., accepts the idea) and shares the idea with others "infecting them". As long as each infected user shares the idea with more than one susceptible user on average the number of infected users grows according to an exponential curve.

Evian Babies
Evian set the babies loose on the world in 1998, 15 years later, the new version of the classic ad is working better than ever thanks to the viral potential of the Internet, as over 117 million views prove.

Three UK #DancePonyDance
Three’s advert featuring a moonwalking pony became an instant viral hit amassing a whopping 9.7M YouTube views to date. Three also created the PonyMixer which allowed users to create their own version of the Ad however this has since been removed.

John Lewis - #BusterTheBoxer
John Lewis' festive ad featuring trampolining animals is 2016'S most-shared ad on social media, despite launching in November, it currently has a massive 1,949,387 shares.

Viral Marketing - Films

Viral marketing, intentional or incidental, permits the opportunity for invested film fans to feel that very thing. If the right information finds the right pathway to the right people, a separate film experience can be built, one that’s more abstract and yet more alive, more engaging, involved, and more suitable to an exclusive experience for the most committed and obsessive movie fans.