Download - Movie Posters Codes and Conventions
Movie Posters Codes and Conventions
Josh Brown
British Crime Film Posters
Movie Title
Stars firmly establishing in
industrial location with graffiti to show crime
Montage of images including main and iconic characters of film, characters at
different levels creates connotations of loyalty
anxiety
Shadowed background dangerous location but
also the sense of overpowering/on
looking evilPortrait
Bright lighting effect showing their clothing
must be a battle scene of some kind
which generally appeals to male
audience
Main Actor names
Green suggests stability and endurance.
Sometimes green denotes lack of
experience.
What is a Movie Poster?• A movie poster can be seen in a number of lights: some see them as a work
of art but their primary purpose is as an advertisement• The challenge for the creators of these posters is to maintain the artistic
values of these pieces while ensuring they are successful persuasive texts.• We the consumers of these texts can often tell the genre or have a good
guess at what the movie is about at just a glance depending on the colour scheme and pose used for the main image but there are some conventions which are common to all genres:
• -Masthead –Credit Block –Main Image –Actors names • -Directors names –Reviews –Taglines….• There are a number of different types of movie posters: Teaser Posters,
Official Cinema Release Posters and DVD Release posters and when analysing posters we need to address what the purpose of the particular poster is.
Horror Film PostersMovie Title
Credit Block
Image: skeleton like fingers with jack-o-lantern face adds to the title “Halloween” making movie seem even more creepy
Tagline quite creepy and appropriate for horror genre of film.
Knife suggestive of a weapon a character can
use therefore this anonymous character may
be a danger
Black background creates a sense of darkness , evil and
death
Portrait
Romantic Film PostersMain Image of lead
male and female characters, their
relationship main focus of the movie.
Main Actors names featured under their
image.
Tagline based on a romantic theme, ‘Nothing
on earth could come between them.’
Credit Block
Movie Title
Director
Soft/Pale colours with cloud like effect, gives impression of
heavenly like atmosphere or the
idea of the cliché “on cloud nine” is
suggested here.
Location plays big part of this movies
story.
Portrait
Sci-Fi Film Posters
Movie Title
Credit Block
Stars firmly establishing outer space
location and sci-fi genre
Montage of images including main and iconic characters of
series, montage creates a sense of excitement and fast
paced action
Dark background again establishing outer-
space location but also the sense of
overpowering/on looking evil
Portrait
Bright lighting effect showing there must be a battle scene of
some kind which generally appeals to male audience and
action fans
Saga Title