FILM POSTER – GENRE

RESEARCH ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

• From initially looking at the conventional elements of two film posters, I will analyse

further and do a lot more thorough research into the conventions of specifically

posters for drama films (which is of the same genre of our production). Thorough

research into the conventions of drama film posters will allow me to understand in

detail how certain elements are represented and the way in which the drama genre has

been presented in the textual form of a poster. This research and understanding of

drama film poster conventions will then lead on to the production of my own film

poster for our production, and knowing these specific conventions will allow me to

either follow or contradict them in order to make my film poster more successful.

SHERLOCK HOLMES – A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)The target audience would possibly be both male and female. Male since the two characters in the poster are male, and the main character would be more relatable to a male audience. However, female also, since it features a male Hollywood star that may attract females towards watching the film. Similar to Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ Theory, but the opposite way around, challenging the theory. Also, perhaps the film would tend more towards male figures since the colours used make it look like a dark, gritty drama, with the blacks and blues connoting this darker feeling for the film. It would seem more male to enjoy the intense and dark drama of the film. It also helps set the tone for the film.

Concerning age range of the TA, if the colours are dark and do connote a gritty drama, then it may not necessarily be suitable for young children, which is evident in the 12A rating for the film. However, the lighter font with a nice white and lighter blue, and the lighter fog in the background could make it seem more family friendly.

The man in the foreground is much larger, and has been lit in such a way that he is represented as the protagonist with his face being well lit, connoting his lighter, and good side. However, the red of his costume does give him a hint of danger, showing that there will be conflict and drama in this film, supporting the action/drama genre of the film, helped by the gun he is holding also, possibly foreshadowing some violence, and therefore, conflict/action/drama. The rest of his costume is dark also, and helps set this tone. In the background, there is a fog seen (which is lighter and therefore also contrasts with Sherlock’s costume, further emphasising the point about his costume), which can be associated with the fog in London, that is often stereotyped for happening and has happened in the Victorian times. Teamed with the man in the background, who is obviously dressed in attire of a different time period also helps set the genre of the film, and setting, since it is set in the time of when Sherlock Holmes would have existed, in the Victorian times. The font of the title used for the poster could also resemble the sort of font used on a typewriter, which could also help represent the setting of the film.

The gun in the poster could suggest that there will be a fight of some sort in the film. Also, the dirt on the main character’s costume could suggest a fight and which would involve the character getting a bit dirty. This also helps make it conventional to the genre, since not only is the film based historically, it has conflict in it too, which is needed in drama. The dirty costume also helps cement the genre convention of the film being set in the past, since it seems more conventional of the Victorian times to be less hygienic and clean, which can be teamed with the fog that is also seen as pollution, perhaps from Victorian factories.

Overall, this would help attract the right audience by establishing the genre of the film and the setting, therefore attracting the right audience that would enjoy a film based in this time period, with the costume letting the audience know what they might be able to expect in the film. Attracting the right audience would perhaps allow the film to achieve better reviews, allowing the audience to pass on the critical success of the film and therefore promoting the overall box office success of the film, making the film more successful, and the poster a success in marketing the film.

SUMMARY

• This poster’s use of colours to cement itself as targeting the film in the drama genre is

effective, by using darker colours to show a dark theme, and drama to the film. There is

a good inclusion of narrative in the poster and also inclusion of setting to give the

audience an idea of what they can expect in the film, and an idea of if it will attract

them further to watching the film. The layout, costume and other elements seen in the

poster also help represent the main character as the protagonist and perhaps the sort

of things they may get up to in the film; this also further supports the drama genre. It

uses star appeal to its advantage in attracting more people to the film. Overall, I think

that the poster is successful in marketing the film.

THE WALK (2015)The target audience, I would think could be any gender. The poster gives little detail about the character, so there is not much, other than a small silhouette like picture of the character to go from. There is more focus on the actual setting of the World Trade Centre rather than the character. If there was more focus on the main protagonist, which would allow for detail on the character’s age and gender, it would have a clearer target audience, with gender allowing the character to be relatable and therefore appealing with perhaps the same gender. But as aforementioned, as this information is not know to the audience, from the information given by the poster, I think it could appeal to any gender.

In terms of age, the certificate awarded to this film by the BBFC gives some guidance, however, it is not to be followed directly. The film was given a rating of PG (Parental Guidance). This means that the content is friendly for nearly everyone. So this film would obviously not be targeted towards young children. However, for children in general, this may seem a little boring to some, since it is mainly a docudrama, telling a true story in a dramatic format. Although there are some scenes of action, like when the character seemingly walks between the ‘Twin Towers’, since it is a drama, I would expect to see some extended scenes of dialogue, which may not hold the attention of children, and would perhaps interest adults more, who may want to know about the story of the character more.

In terms of genre, I think that the poster does a pretty good job of marketing the film. The image of the man walking between the ‘Twin Towers’ from a very high angle, looking down at the ground not only introduces the use of leading lines to help lead the audience into the image of the poster, but it is also very dramatic. Looking down gives a sense of scale of how high the man is, and it is rather dramatic, matching the genre of the film. Perhaps it is a more unconventional drama film, with a chance of a lot of special effects used to recreate the World Trade Centre in the film, so the poster is also rather unconventional. However, the poster may also promote the genre of the film, since the use of black as the colour for the title of the film on the poster is quite a different colour to the rest of the poster and so it stands out, perhaps in a dramatic fashion. The rest of the text is in a blue though, that works together, I think, with the other colours on the poster, so the blue works nicely together.

In reality, this poster doesn’t really promote the genre, but rather promotes the main idea of the narrative, about a main who is going to walk between the ‘Twin Towers’. This allows the audience an insight of what to expect in the film. Actually, the use of this image to promote the narrative could have also negatively affected the release of the film. This is because this dramatic image as part of the narrative may attract people who only want to see the film for this part of the story, to experience the action, which goes against the genre of the film. It may also attract people who are interested in the special effects of how well the ‘Twin Towers’ were recreated.

This poster in particular also has a large cultural reference. Since the ‘Twin Towers’ were tragically destroyed by the ‘9/11’ terrorist attacks, people have been interested year on year to learn about the story of what happened on that day, and showing respect to the people affected by the attacks. So people may also go and see this purely because it involves this setting. This may also attract the different people than to those in the film’s target audience.

SUMMARY• This is a more unconventional film poster I would say. It is more abstract and minimalistic in the details it

provides and the way it presents them. It does provide the title of the film, along with selling lines and

pictures of the setting and characters, which are conventional to the elements seen on a film poster.

However, this poster presents all of these elements in a very different way. It does not show star appeal and

all of the text and institutional information seen on the poster is rather small. There is a lot more focus on the

main image/anchorage of the poster, which is a picture of the World Trade Centre. I think that this poster

uses leading lines, as seen on the ‘Twin Towers’ to draw the audience in and market the film in that way. I

also think that this poster markets the film with a social and cultural relevance, because of the 9/11 terrorist

attacks, which could relate to Barthes’s Cultural Code. Barthes’s codes are targeted towards narrative and are

said to be woven into any narrative. But since posters do play a part in a part of the narrative of the film,

there is some narrative included into the poster, so I think that Barthes’s codes are relevant here, along with

other narrative theorists that could have some relation with the structure and construction of a film poster.

• Anyway, because of this use of cultural reference to the terrorist attacks, I feel like that this may market the

film somewhat inappropriately, since it may be targeting people by heavily referencing this event by focusing

the poster on the setting. It may not be as successfully attracting the people who would enjoy the drama

genre by being unconventional. It may be targeting the mass of people who know of the terrorist attacks, but

may not be necessarily fans of a drama film. And although this is obviously not the only method of marketing

the film, the print marketing does have some influence on the success of the film. This could be evident in

the fact that the film had a budget of $35m, and only took $41.8m in the box office. However, it cannot be

entirely blamed on the poster. I just think it tried to break conventions, but it could possibly have been done

more effectively in marketing the film appropriately. However, if it drew the attention of people, then it could

be called a success, since the film industry is still a business and is focused on making money as well as a

successful film.

TITANIC (1997)The target audience for this film could depend on the potential audience actually knowing of and understanding the story about the Titanic, which could place the target audience within a certain age range. In fact, perhaps watching this film without knowing about the story of the sinking of the Titanic would make the audience want to find out more about the true story behind the film. In terms of character relatability, this film can work in at least two ways. One of these is the fact that the film would appeal to all genders since the main two, male and female, are both shown on the poster, so a large majority of people will be able to relate to the characters. However, since it shows the two characters cuddling and standing together, this would suggest a romance between the two characters, and romantic films seem to appeal more to females. This would make the target audience more female oriented.

But, another element used could contradict this and rebalance the gender of the target audience. This particular element is the image of the sinking Titanic. This would perhaps attract more males to go and see the film because they might want to see the drama and action behind the sinking of the Titanic, and this could be supported further because of the fact that the film is clearly directed by James Cameron, since his name is included on the poster. This selling line, and familiar director directed the very popular film Terminator some years before this. However, this particular I believe is from the 3D re-release of the film on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the real Titanic. This means that one of the most successful films of all time was released before this, adding further to the reputation of James Cameron. This film was Avatar. So all of this extra support for James Cameron provides him with a good reputation and teaming this with the possibility of seeing the Titanic really sinking (which also gives an insight into the possible narrative) could attract a more male audience, who may be attracted more to action and drama, rather than romance.

Of course, as aforementioned, the image of the Titanic in the poster gives hints to the story and narrative of the film, and it is also the main setting fort the film. It also makes up a large portion of the poster, perhaps hinting that the Titanic will have a lot of involvement in the narrative of the film.

The use the font with a serif on it makes it look more serious, since it is more striking, and a font like this is often used on other forms of media that often have to address serious things, like newspapers. Making it metallic and 3D perhaps also makes it look cinematic. The consistency of the same font with a serif is seen on the rest of the poster and this seriousness to the text allows the poster to follow the drama genre too, since a more serious looking logo/title for the film could give the idea of more drama in the film, like it is not going to be an easy ride.

Perhaps the colours used on the poster too denote the idea of drama, and particularly the conflict used to create drama. This is because the two main characters are more warmly lit, with the sea and the Titanic being lit with blues making it look cold. This contrast of warm and cold is a form of opposite and conflict on the poster, allowing the poster to deliver more of a story to make it more interesting to the audience. This allows the poster to further conform to the drama genre because of the conflict being created, and because it makes the poster more interesting, by delivering more of a story to the audience, they may observe the poster for longer, which would make the film poster overall more successful at marketing the film. This also possibly allows one to build on the idea of Levi-Strauss’s Binary Opposites to progress a narrative.

SUMMARY

• This poster uses a lot of conventions of elements of a film poster, and it uses them

well, as well as other techniques including its content and colours to help market the

film successfully. I feel that it gives the audience a good idea of the main characters,

what may happen to them and the role that they play in the film, as well as showing

the setting of the film and other events that may occur. It balances colours very well to

market the film to its target audience more effectively and uses this balance to its

advantage, showing a conflict which helps cement the film poster in the same genre

(drama) of the film itself. Overall, I think it markets the film very well with the

techniques it uses. The content, layout and colours are balanced and used effectively. I

think it is quite a conventional poster too, and it shows how conventions can be used

very effectively to market a film in print media.

NOAH (2014)The target audience for this film; I don’t think it would be directly reflected in the relatability of the character seen on the poster, since this man looks quite old, however, this somewhat older look could orient the film towards an older audience, just perhaps not entirely to the same age of the character seen in the poster. This character looks quite tired and weathered in a way, like they are worn out, with the beard perhaps contributing to this. This would support the idea of an older audience, since it shows that this character, (who we can presume is Noah, because of the size of him on the poster, and that the film is called Noah) has life experience and has experienced perhaps a lot of trauma and stress. This makes him more relatable to an older audience since older people have generally experienced a lot more than younger people.

In terms of the poster supporting the drama genre, the layout and colour shows the conflict and drama building between the protagonist and the force he has to fight. Noah is seen in darker and warmer colours of brown and the water beside him is colder and lighter. This contrast builds conflict on the poster, and since conflict is needed to create drama, this supports the drama genre of the film. To further support this, Noah himself is seen looking at the water, so this also shows that he will face a conflict against this force. The drama nature is further supported by the convention of the drama genre of quite a simplistic title, but in a font that still looks serious, so you can see that there is drama there, but the simplicity makes it look more seriously and professional, so it doesn’t look ridiculous. Also, the use of this font makes the poster look quite modern, like it is advertising a more contemporary story, because the story it is based on is thousands of years old.

This helps market the film because if it looks more modern and up to date, it would seem more likely that more people would watch it, since it looks more like a drama film, and from watching the film, this was a good decision, since it is more of a drama than a historic film in my opinion. It is just set in the past. If the poster had used a more historical font that would perhaps look more appropriate to the setting, it may have turned more people away, since not everyone loves historical films. So this was a way of making sure that the film was marketed and targeted correctly, approaching the right audience. This leads me to believe that it was more mass market and mainstream. Generally, historical films tend to have a lot to do with culture, and would therefore seem more niche and therefore would be more appropriate of an independent, smaller film studio. So this film being more targeted as a drama in this way allows it to be more marketable and attractive for a larger audience to watch, which is evident in the fact that it was distributed by the conglomerate, Paramount Pictures. A film about Britain in World War 2 would be more popular with the British it would seem, because it involves the British, and the people of Britain would perhaps be more interested in this type of film and therefore it would be more likely for a Briton to watch it.

The layout too helps market the film more to the mass markets I feel. This is because only Noah is seen on this poster, with the flood from the story ‘Noah’s Ark’ beside him. The film is also only called Noah. I think that this is important because the story is known as ‘Noah’s Ark’. People mainly know Noah in this story. They may know other details about his family and the reasons why God made the flood, however, I would have thought that Noah, the flood and the Ark are the most important and recognisable parts of the story. Because of this, it would seem more wise to only market the film in the form of a poster with only the flood and Noah on the poster since adding the many other characters on the poster would perhaps make the film seem a little more confusing to the potential audience, and would therefore maybe make the audience less attracted to go and see the film. The design and layout is complex yet simple in this respect. By making it simple by only including the most important elements of the story it is based from, it makes the film look more recognisable and identifiable with the story it is based from, so it would market more people fitting further to its target audience which seems to be quite a wide range of people. Also, only calling the film Noah doesn’t directly relate it to the religious story, which might also make the film a little less attractive to some for religious reasons, so keeping it fairly free of religion allows it to be unbiased in a way.

As well as this, it makes the film seem more about Noah himself, more than other characters, which could reference the narrative of the film. This, teamed with the fact that Noah is the only character shown, and that he is very large on the poster also allows the audience to understand that Noah will play a big part in this film, and that the story is about him. This could also help support the genre of this film, because drama films do tend to focus a lot more on the drama behind the characters, so putting more emphasis on the characters allows for the poster to seem more conventional and helps cement its position in the drama genre. Going back to the narrative shown in the poster, there is a flood featured. This would make the audience expect to see this flood. Also, with Noah looking at the flood, the audience can also expect to see Noah facing this flood, allowing the poster of the film to associate itself with the tale as seen in the Bible.

SUMMARY• This film poster is quite conventional in terms of the use of its conventional film poster elements, including star appeal to promote the

film further. It’s layout and colouring certainly helps to cement the film poster in the drama genre, therefore supporting the genre of

the film that it is promoting. I think it does this very effectively, including its use of branding; the logo of the film I think has been

carefully select to attract the target audience. The layout shows the conflict in the image between the main character and the main

event, and perhaps antagonist very well, which can also be teamed with colour to show a more effective conflict. I think it also avoids

certain cultural associations with the original story through font, name and the use of a single character on the image to its advantage

to market the film to a wider audience more effectively also, in an attempt to try and secure the success of the film (perhaps relating to

Barthes’s Cultural Code, and also Gnomic Code, which particularly relates to cultural sayings, proverbs and clichés, which a tale of the

Bible could be relevant to). And although this print media is not the only form of marketing the film, consistent techniques like this

throughout the marketing strategy would promote the house style and tone of the film, including branding. Anyway, this reasonable

idea of consistency throughout all of the films marketing strategies is evident in the success of the film; Rotten Tomatoes rated the

film at 77%, which is good considering Rotten Tomatoes is often very critical of films. This is also supported by the reasonable box

office success of $362.6m, with a budget of $125m. However this film did generate some controversy, since it did shows quite detailed

scenes from Genesis – a part of the Bible. The use of this detail inappropriately contradicts the marketing strategy used in the poster,

going for a more modern feel to the story, diverting from the religious roots, rather than sticking to them, which is seen in the film.

However, this was done in favour of a more financial success, by targeting a wider audience, which seemed to work in the box office.

But it still diverted from the nature of the film in favour of the business. This is not surprising either since the distributors were a

conglomerate (Paramount Pictures), and they aim for the mass market, and targeting a smaller audience, but being more appropriate

and true to the film would have been too much of a financial risk.

• This poster markets the film effectively from a financial perspective, but not in a way that is necessarily appropriate or directly

represents the nature of the film. This is something to consider when making my poster, since I think it would be likely that a

conglomerate, or certainly a mini-major production company would be likely to distribute our film, so this appropriate balance

between correct representation and a marketing success if something to think about. However, a final thought on the poster is that it

cannot be entirely blamed for the controversy about the film, but I think it may certainly be a factor. The true nature of this

controversy would be clearer if I had more detailed information on the film and the marketing process, but this would be something

accessed by the filmmakers and their associates themselves.

BRIDGE OF SPIES (2015)The target audience may be oriented towards an older audience. This is because of the flags shown on the poster. Both the USA flag and the flag of the Soviet Union are shown. This could refer to the conflict between the US and Russia in the 20th Century. This would mean it may be more relevant to those who were around at that point in time, so they can relate to it more effectively.However, some people of a younger audience may also be interested in the events of this period, so they may be attracted to the film because of that reason. Also in the target audience could be fans of Tom Hanks, since he takes up a lot of he poster, and is mentioned in the form of text seen also on the poster, which gives the film some star appeal, and since he has been known forother films to do with conflicts and wars, like the extremely popular film Saving Private Ryan, then marketing the film by using this star appeal could attract a similar audience to the one of Saving Private Ryan. Also, making the title of the film contrast well with the rest of the elements on the poster to allow it to stand out could attract those interested in spy films. In terms of gender, the poster look quite gritty, implying a gritty drama for the film. It also shows a male character on the poster, so for relatability here, and the fact that the poster advertises the film as a gritty drama with the dirty flags and extra noise, including the concepts of conflict and war, it would seem a film more oriented and therefore more targeted towards men.

Relating to genre, as aforementioned, the dirtiness seen on the flags makes the poster, and therefore the film look grittier, and more like a drama. Also, the way in which the images are arranged on the poster also show and support the drama genre. The two flags are put on different sides, showing some conflict, required to create drama, and are being separated by Tom Hanks’s character. Also, he is shown in greyscale, with a mix between black and white. The use of black also makes the character look more mysterious and dramatic, perhaps creating enigma, relating to Barthes’s Hermeneutic Code, which is targeted towards narrative, but I feel it could also be relevant here. This supports the drama genre by looking more dramatic, and also attracts the audience more, since the mystery may want to make the audience find out more about this character.

The grey could also show that the character is neutral between the two forces surrounding him. The red seen on the flags could also make reference to the narrative, since the red could give the denotation of danger, which could support the fact that there is aconflict between the two forces, and the red could also show the power, since these two forces have a lot of power. There is a slight imbalance too; there is more red on the Soviet Union flag, and a cleaner, and more pure and therefore more protagonist look to the US flag. This imbalance, with more red on the Soviet Union flag could show the Russians as seeming more dangerous, making them look more like the antagonists, which gives hints to the conflict involved and what the conflict may involve. The yellow on the Soviet flag could also show the instability of this force, making them look more like the antagonist, with the blue going against this,making the US side seeming more trusting and secure. And all of these contrasts in layout and colour could relate to the binary opposites theory used to help progress narratives, by Levi-Strauss and others who helped to contribute to that theory.

SUMMARY

• This poster again uses layout and colour to its advantage to keep convention and help

market the film in the drama genre, with the use contrasting sides to place the

different flags on, with the main character in the middle. It also uses star appeal to help

reach the target audience, since the star of the film, Tom Hanks, has appeared in

similar films. Colour has also been used to show narrative of the film, with the

protagonist seeming rather neutral in grey on the poster, with the reds seen on the

flags possibly foreshadowing the sort of things that may happen in the film. I think it

does all of this quite effectively and successfully.

OVERALL SUMMARY

• When it comes to the drama genre, the general elements seen on a film poster are followed, so they seem generally conventional. Breaking convention seems rather risky with some films and may allow the audience to represent the film incorrectly. However, a certain balance does need to be achieved to ensure that the marketing of the film is successful, withan appropriate presentation of certain elements, like the narrative, content and characters, because an imbalance of this, which causes a contrast between the film and the poster, can attract an audience outside of the target audience, which can make the film less successful, in terms of reviews. This was seen in the poster for Noah, since they chose to make it look like more of a drama, which it mainly is, but the film contains some strong religious and historical elements which some of the audience attracted by this poster may not have enjoyed. However, this may depend on the type of studio distributing the film, because the marketing of the film may be oriented towards earning money, which a conglomerate would more than likely do. They would want to attract the maximum audience. This is all something to consider.

• Something also to consider is consistency. It is good being conventional to film posters and using layout to show conflict and therefore drama, but the teaser trailer is also a form of marketing the film, so the print media (poster) should have a similar style and structure to the teaser trailer to maintain consistency when marketing the film, so the right audience can be attracted to the film and so the overall film will be more successful.

• This research has helped me to understand some of the techniques used in drama film posters to market the film in the correct genre and attract the target audience, as well as giving some detail about the content, narrative, setting and characters of the film. These should all be considered when making my poster.