Composition Within Publication

Alexander Simpson

What is composition?

Composition refers to the way in which something is built. In terms of a film poster this plays a big part in the layout and the positioning of text and pictures to make the poster the most aesthetically pleasing for an audience member so that they engage with the poster and pick up on the most important information first.

Rule of ThirdThis breaks down a poster into a three by three

grid also known as nine identical sections. The most important part of this is grid is were the grid lines cross, as this theory states that these make up the focus points. This can then be used be the producer of the film poster to use the spaces wisely to bring out the important aspects of the poster. The diagram helps explain where the lines cross over and how that creates the focus point of the poster. The woman has been placed onto two of the focus points, making her a key figure of focus and the most eye catching element of the photo.

The “Z” LayoutThis composition tends to have 3 main

components, a headline (usually at the top) , a picture or main object (middle), and other text/information such as production company or famous actors (usually bottom). These three components create the “Z” composition. The “Z” refers to way in which the audience member looks at the information being displayed on the poster, starting from the top left and working their way to the bottom right in a “Z” like route.

Circular/Oval LayoutThis is a simple technique used

in many posters and magazines, it places the information and objects which are going to be used in a circular (or oval as most posters are a rectangle shape) fashion to replicate the way the viewers eye will initially see the photo. Looking at the poster to the side, the image is rounded off creating the oval like shape.

ConclusionAll in all, the three different techniques I have researched have all given me a different view of

what sort of composition I want to use in my own film poster. First, in regard to the circular layout, I feel that this sort of layout limits the amount of information that you can play onto a film poster. I think that if you put too much text on the poster it will make the poster look to jam packed of information, which could lead to an audience member losing interest. I also think that this will make the composition too evident to the user. They will notice that a lot of information was used in one circular space. So all in all, I feel that this sort of composition would be good if the main focus was the image, and you put very little emphasis on information such as film studios and actors. Looking into the rule of third layout, I think that this composition is very versatile in the way that it works. You could literally put any sort of techniques into the building blocks as long as you stick to the four main cross over points as they are the focus point. Although I feel that this technique could be experimented with I’m going to choose to stay away from this composition as I feel that it could get messy for someone who isn’t experienced with creating film posters. Next talking about the “Z” layout, I really liked composition for a number of reasons. Firstly, it seemed very easy to put into practice as the three key components are always evident and always fit in the same order. I feel that this composition will be the one I will use when creating my film poster.