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