Codes and Conventions of a Film Poster:
- To have eye-catching/ and appealing to their target audience
- To have a focal picture that will be interesting
- To display a large title that is easily read
- Suggestion of the film genre, via colours, props, clothes, etc
- May use a famous actor to promote the film (starpasonia)
- Will attract a target audience (depending on genre, age, male/female, etc)
- A tag line is usually shown on the poster (will they make it out alive? Who will survive? Depending on genre etc)
- Age certificate (depending on genre etc, rated 12A, 15, 18 etc)
- The date of the film coming out
- Director and production company displayed.
£7.99 28X43cm
This is a simple poster for this film, the title "Friday the 13th" is clearly displayed at the bottom of the poster in red writing making a contrast between the black/dark background to add the desired effect of making it stand out and look attractive.
The focal point in this point is clearly the "killer" who is placed in the centre of the poster, to give a clear in site into the film e.g. that their is a killer in a spooky forest "camp Cristal lake" as clearly shown in white at the top of the page; contrasts with the dark/black background as well to be clearly visible.
The photo of the "killer" is from a low angle shot; this is to give the effect of "power" and in control of "camp Cristal lake" and anyone who goes their dies etc with him standing proudly with his weapon, the location used for the shot is to make us ask questions and feel out of our comfort zone, the location is very spooky and is a typical location used for a horror film (overdone i think and I do not want to film in a Forrest like location)
£7.99 28X43cm
This film poster, has the same codes and conventions as the last post with "drag me to hell" in big bold white writing which is clearly seen, and also is small writing the production company etc.
The main focal point is the women looking like she is being dragging down, this links to the title and also with the red fire at the bottom of the page. This poster would easily catch someone’s eye with its big title with the fire at the bottom, and the title easily read.
The photo is of a women who looks as if she is screaming with hands around her, this gives us a clear insight into the film straight away (including the title as well) and her face has a bright light focused on her face which gives me the indication heaven, and the fire at the bottom; hell!
This is still similar to all the other horror film posters, the title links with the photos back round (fire like) and is clearly read with big bold writing. Also there is a dark figure standing in the middle of the page which contrast with the rest of the background, this is the focal point and is very mysterious holding a knife and someones chopped off head.
The photo is mysterious with the mans face darkened out, also the genre is very clear as he is holding a knife etc. The background is of a mask (presumed the mask of the killer to hide his identity) and if you look closely you can see peoples faces ( people that has he killed/going to kill/actors in the film) which shows evil.
The cover line is "evil has a destiny" this shows that the man in the poster is evil, and his destiny is to murder whoever gets in his way... this writing is in white which stands out again the background and contrasts with the background.
In this poster of the film orphan, it is clear and obvious that the film is about a girl named Esther who is an orphan; the poster doesn't give to much away besides the girls name, that shes a orphan and she has hidden secrets... this all helps us identify that the girl is "evil" or mysterious which helps us tell the genre of the film which is thriller/horror. Again the title of the film is at the bottom of the page while the picture of the little girl takes up most of the attention and page. below the title it says the day the film is due to be in cinemas. I really like this poster and i am aiming to do something like this as it doesn't give much information at all... but it makes you want to find out whats going to happen with its creepy cover lines.
The title is written in very spooky writing "the uninvited" is an obvious give away of its genre; horror. The title works well with the image, with the image being outside thus making it obvious the person was uninvited and not welcome in the home.
Main colours in this poster are black and white, this keeps the poster simple and a good colour code linking to horror, and good/bad with black meaning bad/evil and white showing purity and good.
There is one main focal point/image, which all the other posters have used, so it follows the code and conventions of all the horror films i have looked into (obviously not all films follow these codes and conventions but i would like to follow these conventions) and also the title being 3/4 the way down the poster which is the same as all the other posters.
After this research on codes and conventions of a film poster, iv noticed that they all have a few things in common, they all use a main focal point which is normally a person/the "killer", this is what i will do for my poster, I will also use a spooky location and a cover line at the top of the page which makes the genre of my film obvious. The title will also appear at the bottom of the poster as they do in most of the film posters i looked at.
Codes and Conventions of a Film Magazine Front Cover:
- The magazines name is clearly displayed
- The cover has to be noticeable to the audience
- Famous actors/images are used as the focal point
- The images on the front page target a certain audience
- Graphics and colour are used to create a mood for the magazine
- Font size, shape and colour are used to creatively to suggest different genres and ideas.
- Several cover lines around the page indicating a good magazine content inside e.g. “interview with the cast from …film name/actors…inside!”
- Price and bar code displayed
£6.00
- A big image which is advertising the film nightmare on elm street, a photo of him chilling sitting down relaxing seems to be a way of showing control and power with his dolls sitting on him, the dolls are of little kids; this relates to the film by he is known is have killed children in the first movie.
- The writing nightmare on elm street is at the bottom of the page which shows its a horror film as it is written in scary big writing
- Horror hound, the magazine title, written in red writing to relate to death and blood! written in big bold creepy writing, as some of the tittle is hidden by the actor, this makes it obvious that it is a well known magazine and easily recognized.
- Down the side of the page it has cover lines of stories that will appear inside the magazine, showing with photos as well. It mentions about 3D cinemas etc, this relates to the modern teens and young adults of today as we have grown up with this (even though it has only just recently been mass produced by cinemas)
- I would say its target audience is mainly over 18 and young adults as the films they talk about are mainly over 18... but some other areas it subjects 15-18 year old as they talk about Games, Computers, comic books- which would target a bigger audience U18.
- advertising: www.horrorhound.com etc...
"PLUS" is used to also give people in site into competitions and what also will be in the magazine.
Gorezone- The title is clearly displayed with the image behind the title, I think is done to make the person in the imagine to feel weak, as a lot of magazines use the image to cover a bit of the title to make the person seem powerful (depending on how well known the magazine is. As they can cover up the title with people still being able to easily recognize the magazine). The font is very large and in red bold writing to connote "horror" and anger or blood.
- "PLUS...." advertising what else is inside the magazine also encourages the target audience to read the magazine as they might be interested in what the magazine has to offer inside
- "WIN..." also helps to grab the audiences attention as they will want to see what the magazine has to offer
- Famous actors/characters are used to grab the audiences attention, the image is very eye catching as she obviously has blood all down her with a facial expression like she is confused and doesn't know what is going on, this draws in the audience as they would want to pick up the magazine to find out what has happened/scared her.
- Quotations used such as "world wide number one horror entertaining magazine" these eye catching quotations are used a lot by magazines to get the audience interested to read there magazine and to draw in new customers along with there current audience.
- Big writing near the image is used to advertise the name of the actor and the film she is staring in, these are the usual codes and conventions used by many magazines as it helps the audience find out info of the film/actor by the page number next to it. This also attracts the customers to watch the film and read the magazine to see the films rating etc.
- This is also product placement as it advertises the film as well as trying to SELL the magazine.
- I really like this magazine front cover as it has one focal point in the centre of the magazine with a white background to make the font and photo to stand out clearly.
- All have one main focal point with cover lines surrounding the photo
- Title is coloured red and styled accordingly to the magazines theme
- The name of the film/actors clearly displayed
- with cover lines running down the side/at the bottom
- Overall a Red/Gorey effect is used to simulate a horror magazine
I have learnt from my research into codes and conventions of a Magazine front cover, that a lot of them have one main focal image and use RED titles and cover lines to link to horror. These ideas are some of the things I need to consider when planning my magazine front cover; Red fonts etc all to connote horror. I think I will use one main focal point, have not decided yet if I will use props to help me sell my front cover, or just one main focal point.
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