CONVENTIONS OF A FILM

POSTER

TYPICAL CONVENTIONS FOR A FILM POSTER

TYPICAL CONVENTIONS I HAVE FOUND WHILE

RESEARCHING HORROR MOVIE POSTERS

Posters often have a black, white and red colour scheme.

Small titles which usually feature on the bottom of the poster.

Release date/coming soon label.

Low lighting to disguise an important character.

Use of one large image to get the audience’s attention. This could be

a leading actor from the film, who is usually already well-known, or it

could be some kind of logo or symbol while features in the film when

the audience actually see the film.

If this image is not a large image, it can be a long shot of a location

which additionally adds suspense to the film.

Captions and taglines, often using a quotation from the film.

Anchorage of an image by the film.

Credits including leading actors, production company, company logos

etc.

From looking at these existing forms of film poster, ranging from action

to horror, I now have an idea on what I need to put on my film poster

to have it follow certain conventions and look like a professional film

poster.

I have thought about which conventions I want to follow and which

ones I want to challenge. Instead of using an image of one of my main

actors, I am going to use an image of the asylum I have taken, that

way I add suspense to the film by having the audience know that this

location has significance to what they would be watching.

By doing this I have the opportunity to use the main actor image of my

magazine cover, therefore following the conventions of a film

magazine cover.