Ancillary Posters Research

Tesfah Watkins-Scott

Introduction The Silent Comedy Marcus & I will produce will need to also contain 2 ancillary

products including a film poster and also a double page spread which will present a review for our actual short film. As we will be working on the 2 ancillary products ourselves, I need to make sure that the poster and review help advertise our short film to our target audience. Our main target audience will be mainly Afro-Caribbean viewers, however due to the fact that it will be a comedy too the audience will not be too secluded.

Due to the fact that the sub genre will be a silent comedy I feel that it is only right that I study several silent comedy film posters for my research to help me with the production of my ancillary products. This will allow me to have a better understanding about the mise-en-scene in this particular type of poster e.g. what the character’s facial expression should look like or the clothing and props that is included in each image.

While I am planning to make my own silent comedy short film, I decided to research silent movies with high profile silent comedy actors for example Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy. Therefore I feel that my very own research should include these particular silent comedy actors.

1st Film Poster: Charlie Chaplin “The Kid”

The strapline that has been used for this particular magazine poster has been made to look very appealing towards the target audience. Even though the strapline is quite dull visually, due to the fact that it says “CHARLIE CHAPLIN” will make the poster more successful. This is because this particular actor is very famous for his particular silent movies during the 1920s.

Even though this strapline will be very effective I feel that it may distract members of the audience when they view the actual poster. This is because, they have made the strapline almost the same font size as the masthead which has been used. This may cause issues due to the fact that the masthead should be the main appealing aspect on the poster because that’s the topic being analysed.

The Shape that has been used for the main image of the poster links in well with the conventions of an actual silent movie. This is because in original silent movies the editors would use various shapes for each transition to each scene. As you can see for the main image in the poster they have used an oval shape to surround the image which will tell the reader automatically that the poster must be advertising a silent movie.

Furthermore, the poster also keeps the conventions of an original silent movie by using only black & white for the colour of the image. I think that doing so will allow the audience to have a rough idea of what the film will consist of. Also, the mise-en-scene that they have used for the main image is quite smart as it portrays what type of genre the silent movie will be. This is because the two characters are hiding behind an object without noticing some sort of guard behind them, which will portray some sort of humour to the audience.The masthead that they have used for the silent movie

“The Kid” I feel actually links in well with the whole poster for a few reasons. Firstly, the masthead goes well with the colour scheme of the whole poster as it involves the colours yellow & black which can also be found on the main image and also one of the cover lines. Secondly, most titles that are presented for silent movies are conventionally quite bold, and you can see the masthead used for this poem follows the same conventions. Lastly, I like the way they have made the masthead stand out by creating a shadow effect behind each letter allowing the masthead to be one of the most appealing aspects on the poster.

I feel that the background colour used for this poster does link well with the genre of this movie which is a silent movie due to the fact that most silent films involve lots of grey and dark colours when shown. However, I feel that because the poster has to appeal to its audience the colour used for the background makes the poster look quite bland and boring towards the viewers.

The border that has been used to surround the poster, also follows the conventions of a silent movie. This is because, when captions are shown in silent movies normally the text will have some sort of border surrounding it which appeals to the target audience.

The font that has been used for the cover lines I feel works very well with the whole design of the silent movie poster. The font is quite sharp and straight which I feel goes well with the mood of the poster a due to the fact that the font visually suits the genre of the film.

Also, the font that has been used for the masthead works well with the actual title of film “The Kid.” The font is quite dull however, due to the fact that it’s very bold and contains rounded & straight letters tells the audience what type of movie the film is going to be.

2nd Film Poster: Laurel & Hardy “Towed in a Hole”

The font used for this particular poster I feel works really well with the genre of the silent movie. As soon as this silent movie’s target audience view the title of the film they will instantly know that the sub genre will be a silent comedy.

Furthermore, the design of the font is very adventurous and unique. Because of this design the poster will appeal to the films target audience as soon as they look at it. The font is very rounded to give an almost child like feeling to the audience. Also, the layout of the title works well with the poster as both titles “Laurel & Hardy” have been placed in an almost curved position which allows the poster to seem more humorous.The main image that has been used for this poster

is very unique. The image makes the overall poster look like a cartoon due to pencil drawn type of image. Also the mise-en-scene used in this image presents to the audience a sense of adventure and funny scenarios.I can see that this poster has stuck to the

conventional aspects of silent movie posters by making the poster black & white. This will appear to their target audience at an instant due to the fact that their audience watch silent movies which are conventionally black & white also.

The masthead is very effective towards the audience as it consists of a variety of font sizes which allows the main section of the title to be emphasised against a smaller and less bolder font.

Also, the smaller sections of the title have been positioned next to each character which I feel has been done on purpose so that the two characters from the main image are introduced by the poster.

The subhead that has been used for this poster is quite effective to the audience. This is because the subhead has been designed to have a different font and font colour to the masthead on the poster.

Moreover, the subhead that has been used also uses rounded letters to support the masthead . I feel that this will keep the audience interested as it has been designed to also support the sub genre.

An italic font has been used to support the producers name. The font is quite appealing especially because it is not too big like some other aspects on the poster. This would make the poster look to crowded and busy.

Poster Research ConclusionDue to this research I have found that the two

posters use some implicit techniques so that they can appeal to their audiences through the conventions that they have stuck to such as the black & white poster colour and also the facial expressions that have been used in the main images.

When creating my very own silent comedy poster I will need to take these particular techniques into consideration so that my poster will be visually appealing to my target audience and therefore be successful.