Form and Genre ResearchPoster

By James Perfect

Well in summary; “A successful poster conveys a clear message, by high-impact visual information and a minimum of text.” As quoted from the website http://www.catalysis.nl/links/presentations/poster.php.

However in more detail I found a poster needs to be;Focused – The poster needs a defined purpose which it should communicate a single messageAttention grabbing– It should get attention of the viewer, that engages them audience. By doing so it can convey a specific messageOrganised – The layout of the poster should look neat and easy to understand, this means aligning text and organising image accordingly.Professional- The poster needs to comprise of a balance of text and image which looks neat, well thought out and adequate effects.Conventional– Our poster must feature the typical form conventions such as a film title, leading cast, production company and the director. All of which were present in the Hirsute and Connected posters.

What did I find from my research ?

Shot types…A common feature was the use of close up shots of the main character as the subject of the poster. As seen the image of Harry Potter at MS is used to enforce his importance to the film. Featuring a character at shots ranging from CU’s to LS’s allows the audience to see the main character which they can then use to identify coherent products as being part of “a brand”. E.g. if theirs a review and they see an image of Harry Potter there the audience is able to establish a link between the two.

The use of close ups are used to particularly establish a more personal and intimate understanding of the character. In addition to this close ups can be used to illustrate the characters emotions which set-up a sense of enigma with the audience (they may want to know why the character is crying). As seen below CU’s of characters faces can often be supplemented with other surrounding shots to give a more in-depth glimpse of the film, as a simple CU of the characters face can often lack other features such as props that allows the audience to recognise the genre of the film.

What make a great poster ?Wanting to know what made for an effective poster I decided to carry out some research. I came across a website which displayed the apparent 100 best film posters (Top 100 posters). This gave me a useful insight for my production.

As the website addresses;

‘A great poster should intrigue, shock, inspire or excite. It should be aesthetically beautiful & original. Simplicity is a tremendously common theme on this list. Sometimes, less really is more. Above all, a movie poster should be so memorable that a single glance will render it instantly recognizable.’From this quote my group can take into account that the poster needs to send a message to its audience which is powerful, however at the same time the poster needs to be simple but have an impact on its audience.

Layout- Grids

Posters can take several form layouts that draw the eye. These layouts are often referred to as Grids.

As I quote; “Grids are used to help pinpoint where key elements of a poster should be positioned as it helps attract the eye around the poster. These grid methods are used to keep the human eye engaged with the poster for longer; meaning better promotion of the film or product."

Layout- The Rule of Thirds

As I quote; The rule of thirds represents a refined and classic grid layout. This rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to focus on the main elements, or the boxes formed by the lines can provide the spaces for the elements.

Layout- Perspective

As seen below both posters use a perspective method, the nature of the posters have their own perspective which draw the eye. The Spider man poster has a One-Point perspective which draws the eye up the poster, meanwhile the Eragon poster has a Two-Point perspective which draws the eye across the characters. Both are effective ways at drawing the viewers attention in, though I haven't seen such examples yet in short film posters.

Layout-Z and Circular A poster with a Z layout draws the viewers eyes around the poster in a certain Z motion. As seen below both of the posters have a header followed by an image and footer text; this layout is very successful as the eye is drawn all over the poster keeping the viewer interested

Similarly a circular grid will draw the viewers eyes around the poster in a circular motion. This type of poster however is less commonly used.