MYSTERY/THRILLERMOVIE POSTER

Codes and Conventions

Used as another form of promotion for films, movie posters come in many different forms such as billboards, the sides of buses as well as on bus stops, online, in underground subways and of course in cinemas themselves. The main aim of a film poster is firstly catch the eye of the passer by, but to also tease and inform the potential audience member, giving them something that looks appealing and exciting to get them to go see the movie.

The first thing to catch a potential audience member’s eye is the image in a poster,calling for it to be a striking, impactful image, especially for the mystery and thriller genre. These images can be either stills from the film, character shots or some form of iconography that is significant to the film, and it also reveals what genre the movie will be.

For the thriller/mystery genre specifically, dark colours and dramatic, poignant, mysterious images are typically used. This is to reflect immediately the style of the film, and the themes that could possibly be portrayed within it. What is common in all of the posters above is that none of the characters are looking directly towards the camera, but away, something to take note of when compiling my own poster!

Image

Title

A crucial aspect of a movie poster is one of the most obvious; the title. There are a few exceptions however, such as a well known franchise doing a teaser poster a while before the film’s release (for example, the Harry Potter teaser poster featured on the next slide). A one off film however could not do this, for obvious reasons such as being new to the market and audiences would not recognise characters or other images being shown.

Titles usually show up in a larger font on the poster and in a different colour from the background or any other surrounding colours to contrast and stand out, catching the eye of potential audiences.

How the title is written and presented is a very important aspect of a movie’s brand to say the least. The font and colours used can be and are replicated across all the different media platforms like their teaser trailer and other forms of promotion such as a magazine cover/advertisements. In some instances however, the same font and style is kept and the colour changed, but this isn’t typical of the thriller or mystery genre and more suited to the comedy genre.

Title: large, noticeable, different colour but of same house style font.

The exception!

Directors/Producers/ActorsA possible unique selling point (USP) of a film could be it’s star studded cast, featured celebrity or renowned director, and it pays to put them on the poster! Audiences are naturally attracted to favourite actors/directors or whose work they have seen before and enjoyed. Unfortunately not all film makers have budgets to host big names- myself included!

Actor

Director and actors

Quotes/Ratings/Awards

A further endorsement to feature on movie posters, and a common convention is a positive quote/rating from a critic’s review or any awards the film or its actors has received. It is a bonus not only to receive a good review or award, but even better when received from a well known establishment such as Empire Film Magazine or the Golden Globes. Audience members know and trust these groups and their critiques, which in turn raises the chance of them going to see the film being advertised!

Tagline

Taglines are another technique employed to create a film brand, with the concept behind them being to create a memorable phrase that sums up the tone of the film as well as the events within, hinting at what could possibly happen. Taglines can also be a famous line from the film, like what was done with The Dark Knight and “Why so serious?” said by the famous character of The Joker throughout the franchise.

Release Date

Conventionally placed in the bottom third of the poster, release dates are crucial to make audiences aware of when they can go see the film in theatres or purchase on DVD if it is a DVD poster. They can appear either in the format of the exact date, the month and year, “coming soon” or just simply the season named. The latter options are usually used on teaser posters while the film is still in production and a final date has not been agreed upon.

Billing Block

Usually due to legal reasons, posters typically contain a billing block listing all the main people such as actors, directors and producers as well as companies that are involved in the creation of the film at hand. These are usually always found at the bottom of the poster, with the font restricted to just three different selections across all movie posters, along with perhaps the logo of the distribution company.

Other Media Platforms

In today’s ever evolving technological society, viral marketing and social media networks are the way forward to keep your audiences informed about your film’s progress and releases, making sure the spotlight is always on your production. These are typically placed beside the billing block and release date at the bottom of the poster, featuring websites mainly but also Twitter pages, Facebook pages and even hashtags to place in your tweets when talking about the film to generate hype.

Ratings

Closer to the release date, ratings are put on posters to make audiences aware of the minimum age you must be to see the film and if a minor has to be accompanied by an adult. American film ratings (G-N-17) differ from UK, which ranges from U-R18. The ratings are decided by the British Board of Film Classification based on the film’s content and appropriateness for different audiences. Since most official movie posters come from the USA, these ratings are usually on the poster, and the UK ratings put on the DVDs distributed within the UK.