In this film poster, of the 2008 film, The Dark Knight, the masthead of the poster is located towards the bottom and in the centre of the screen. Placed behind the masthead is the film logo, in this case it is the Bat Symbol to signify that this film is part of the Batman Series. This is akin to many other film posters. The major cast of the film are placed at the top of the poster and the release date, in this case, Coming Soon, is located a little below the film's title. Similar to many film posters, below the release date, there are further details in smallprint which includes the promotional website, the film distributors and production company.
The centrepiece of the poster is an image detailing one of the major action scenes from the film in question. This is similar to other film posters which use a scene from the film as the poster's background image.
In another poster of The Dark Knight, this time an earlier teaser it can be seen that some of the codes and conventions established are followed. For example, the masthead is once again located towards the bottom however it does not feature the bat logo behind it as the previous poster did. In keeping with many teaser posters, the top of the poster is given to the film's tagline, for this poster it is: Why So Serious? whereas the previous poster featured the main cast from the film. Another similarity between the two is the film's release date, in this case simply, 2008. Finally, the teaser poster also provides the promotional film website, distributors and production company in the same vain as the first poster.
A major difference between the teaser and main poster is the background image used: In the teaser, no scene from the film is selected instead abstract imagery is used. This is shown by the simple image of a brick wall with the face of the Joker, made out of a red coloured Bat Symbol (signifying it as a Batman film) and two black circles for the eyes. This serves to tease the audience, who are aware and interested in Batman of the upcoming film, months before release.
In this film poster, of the 2008 film, WALL-E, the codes and conventions set up by the other posters I have looked at are followed in a number of ways. Firstly, the title of the film is again located towards the bottom. Secondly, the release date, July 18, is again placed underneath the title. Furthermore, the promotional website is written in smallprint underneath the release date, in much the same way as the previous posters did. Similar to the teaser poster for, The Dark Knight, a tagline is placed towards the top, in this case it is, In Space No One Can Hear You Clean which identifies the film as being a science fiction film and is also a derivative of the classic In Space No One Can Hear You Scream, motif.
A difference between this poster and the other two is the prominence of the production studio, Pixar, and the distribution studio, Disney on this poster. As these are two well known collaborators, it helps to maximise the chance of box office success for the film. The track record for a Pixar/Disney film is unmistakeably high therefore, if people see that the film is made by them, it is far more likely they will see the film.
Additionally, the poster drives home the point that this is made by the same people who made the popular film, Finding Nemo therefore, again reinforcing the point that going by the previous track record, this film should be brilliant.
The background image used is unmistakeable in portraying the film as sci-fi, through the use of a robot on a deserted Earth. The use of a robot helps to indentify the film's genre and therefore could gain an audience of those who like sci-fi. Furthermore, the design of the poster also identifies it as a family film, like the majority of Pixar films are and would therefore gain that segment of the audience as well.
This time, the poster is of the 2007 film, Premonition. It again follows the convention of having the title of the film placed towards the bottom. Akin to the first The Dark Knight, poster, the main actor starring is listed at the top of the poster. In this case it is Sandra Bullock, a well known actress which lends the film international appeal. The main difference in this poster compared to the others is the location of the tagline. Whereas in other posters it was located in the upper half, in this case the tagline, It's Not Your Imagination, is placed directly underneath the film's title. This therefore changes where the release date is placed, which is now located at the very bottom.
This poster however follows the conventions of many posters by having the major cast and crew and production company and distributors listed at the bottom in a block of writing.
The background image, of the face made out of the sky looking through the wood identifies the film as of the horror genre and would therefore attract the audience intended for the film.
Codes and Conventions of A Film Poster
All of the above posters follow the codes and conventions of film posters by being eyecatching, through the use of the background image and the fonts used for the text. The background images are also focal and are therefore intriguing. On some of these posters, the film's title is large and easy to read, or at the very least while not altogether large, easy to read. The background images and title also provide an indication of the genre, for example the title, Premonition, would indicate a horror film. Some of the posters also provide actors name to add international appeal to the film which, along with the evidential genre, would attract a key target audience for the film. Many of the posters also provide a tagline which usually provide a little taster of the film's content and/or genre. Each of the posters provide either a Coming Soon tag or the actual release date. For eagerly awaited films, teaser posters are often made well in advance of the actual release date.
