POSTER RESEARCH

‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’This poster used colour association coordination in its poster in order

to increase its visual appeal and make the poster and film more recognisable. The poster used a bright blue which is not only eye-catching and links with the films title, but also connotes depth and calmness. It is also traditionally thought of as a masculine colour and so this film poster subverts the colour association tradition as the poster includes both girls, who are evidently love interests, which subsequently cancels out the idea that there may be a primary male protagonist. The primary image of the poster is central which means that it’s eye-catching. The two characters, are facing each other in close proximity, which suggests that they are love interests. The primary image of the two women has been edited so it looks like a painting, the saturation of their faces have been reduced to the point where they are essentially black and white, except for their lips and one of the girls blue hair. This emphasises not only the colours which is visually appealing but it also places emphasis on the girls’ lips and hair. Emphasis on the lips reinforces the implication that the pair are love interests and the emphasis of blue hair links to the title, which further reaffirms that she is the central protagonist. The date of release is relatively small, as well as the credits. In my opinion, for the poster to be more effective, I think the release date should be more visually prominent. The title is written in a handwritten font which is replicated in other ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’ posters. The poster also includes an award the film has won which is particularly important for independent films such as this.

‘First Girl I Loved’This poster uses pink hued colours which connotes warmth and flirtatiousness. The title is central to the poster which therefore makes it the first thing that is primarily seen by the audience. The title font also appears to be handwritten like in ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’s poster. I have written about the effects handwritten fonts in a previous blog post titled: ‘Film Trailer: Title Font’. The title is yellow which is a colour which both compliments and contrasts with the pink which makes it both visually appealing and eye-catching which is a crucial element to attain. The primary image is almost identical to the previous posters. It includes two girls looking at each other in close proximity which suggests that they are both love interests and the central protagonists. However, in ‘First Girl I Loved’, the image has been rotated so that it is no longer landscape which it appears the image originally was. This may have been done so that the image could fit in with the traditional portrait style of film posters, or alternatively it could have been done to portray the dizzying effects of love. Like the previous poster, this one also includes a film award it has won and also includes a relatively small release date. The release date and the title are in the same colour which makes the poster colour-coordinated which makes it aesthetically appealing.

‘Erin Brockovich’This poster includes the primary image on the right hand side of the poster and the text on the left hand side. This is a feature that is replicated through many forms of media, particularly advertising as research has suggested that our right eye is more attracted to images on the right side, and our left eye is more attracted to text on the left side. The primary image is of the central protagonist which is suggested to be famous actress Julia Roberts by the title ‘Julie Roberts is ‘Erin Brokovich’’. The specification of the actress highlights an obvious selling technique as film producers will favour more popular actresses as celebrities sell. There is also a punchline which gives the audience a suggestion of what the film’s about which effective, particularly because the primary image doesn’t tell the audience much about the storyline. The credits are small which is good because it means that there is more room for more important things on the poster, however, the poster doesn’t include a release date which means that the audience don’t know when they will be able to watch it. This could seriously negatively effect cinema sales for independent films as it may cause the audience to miss the film in cinemas completely. This poster also included ‘Based on a true story’ which would persuade people to be more intrigued in the story line, therefore leading to them watching the film.

‘Lion’This poster has a white background which makes it brighter and therefore slightly more eye-catching, however, it lacks colour which means that the poster isn’t as eye-catching as it could be. However, the poster includes famous actors’ names such as Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel and Rooney Mara who are globally known actors and so it can be argued that the poster doesn’t need to be as vibrant and eye-catching when the famous actors will do much of the attraction. On this poster, there is a primary and secondary image which are merged through effective editing. The primary image is of Dev Patel who appears to be the central protagonist of the film and the secondary image is of a young boy, this leaves the audience curious as to who the boy is, which could therefore lead them to watch the film. The title is in the bottom left corner of the poster. The title is capitalised in a bold font which makes grab the audiences attention. At the very bottom of the poster, the logo’s of the companies that aided the films production are included. They are all in the same colour which coordinates with the colour of the sun in the central protagonists hair. The poster includes quotes from critics which paint the film in a positive light which is crucial for the audience to get a good impression of the film and to be persuaded to watch it.

‘Cyberbully’Unlike the previous posters, this poster is for a television film and so it will not include the same things a traditional film poster would. Like ‘Erin Brockovich’, this poster includes a slogan: Words can hurt, which is simple yet effective. The background is a light blue with words on it which suggests that it is technology based, which is subsequently reinforced by the films title ‘Cyberbully’. This coordination is also seen in ‘Blue is the Warmest Colourand proves to be a very effective technique. The title is white which makes it clear for the audience to view, and it is in a simply font which appears to be related to technology as the ‘L’s are forward slashes, ‘//’. The films release date is clear at the bottom of the poster which enabled the audience to accurately know when they will be able to view the film. The posters primary image is of the central protagonist behind a computer which reinforces the idea that the storyline is related to the dangers of the internet and technology. The actors names are placed at the top of the poster and are relatively small, which means that they are not the most important thing to be recognized by the audience about the film.

EFFECTIVE METHODS

■ I have highlighted the methods in pink that I believe to be effective, and methods I would wish to replicate in my own film poster. Achieving these methods would make my poster eye-catching, visually appealing and informative.