Hollywood Blockbusters - 12 Years a Slave (2013)
The institution blurb is has a grey font. This isn’t very easy on the eye against the white background, suggesting that, although it is fairly large, the blurb should not be the main focus of the film poster. The institutions want the audience to focus on the main image presented. The award on the poster assures the audience of the film’s value and encourages them to watch it as it has been awarded by them, the people. The surnames of the actors/actresses are always capitalised as people are referred to by their surname in the film industry. A person's surname is unique, making it easier to identify actors and actresses this way rather than their first names (many people have the same first name).
Further Analysis:
The situation of the actors' names is atypical as they are not presented at the top of the poster but on the body of the image. This is so that the consumer can focus on the image of the poster and determine whether or not the film ends happily or tragically. If the cast names were present in a dark font at the top of the poster it would disturb this image. From the use of a white, glowing background, I can infer that the film ends happily as this colour is symbolic of freedom.
The character's costume consists of ripped black trousers and a beige shirt. The colour black symbolises death, suggesting that the film focuses on the severe brutality against slaves rather than portraying the limited information the audience has received through education. This idea is supported by the rip in his trousers, informing the audience of the cruelty the character experiences. This confirms the film's genre; historical drama. The colour beige has connotations of confusion, implying that the character is confused as to why people of colour are treated wrongly.
The font of the title is a quill type style, resembling the era that the film is set in.
The number '12’ is the only text printed in a non-greyscale colour, highlighting the length of the trauma the character experiences. The underlining of the title brings significance to it, implies that there is only one strict focal point of the film; the life of a slave.
Short film posters are a bit more abstract and stylistic than that of Hollywood blockbusters. Opposing Richard Dyer’s star power, short film posters do not focus on the stars of the production, but more on the meaning behind the image as a focal point. The designer of the poster creates patterns via specific placement so that the eye follows a path - this is the poster’s reading direction and is important in advertising as the reader ends up at the designer’s call for action, evident in the poster for the short film ‘Stutterer’ (2015). The title ‘Stutterer’ is printed 5 times to resemble a repetitive stutter, hinting its significance within the short film. The short film title should take up the bulk of the composition.
This product is typical of a film poster. The actor's and actress' names are at the top of the poster. Usually, there is a lot of space between the characters names and any images on the poster, but this space is disregarded on short film posters as they contain very few characters. The character is presented centre frame, perfectly positioned using the rule of thirds.
Conventionally, posters for successful short films have awards from film festivals on them, highlighting how strong the film is as a whole and convincing a wider audience to watch the short film. As well as this, they contain social media handles, using convergence to promote the short film even further. These features are evident in the poster for 'Beating Hearts' (2011) and the teaser poster for 'Ape' (unknown).
After analysing the Hollywood blockbuster and short film posters I constructed a table listing each element displayed in the posters, allowing me to identify the similarities and differences between them.
The situation of the actors' names is atypical as they are not presented at the top of the poster but on the body of the image. This is so that the consumer can focus on the image of the poster and determine whether or not the film ends happily or tragically. If the cast names were present in a dark font at the top of the poster it would disturb this image. From the use of a white, glowing background, I can infer that the film ends happily as this colour is symbolic of freedom.
The character's costume consists of ripped black trousers and a beige shirt. The colour black symbolises death, suggesting that the film focuses on the severe brutality against slaves rather than portraying the limited information the audience has received through education. This idea is supported by the rip in his trousers, informing the audience of the cruelty the character experiences. This confirms the film's genre; historical drama. The colour beige has connotations of confusion, implying that the character is confused as to why people of colour are treated wrongly.
The font of the title is a quill type style, resembling the era that the film is set in.
The number '12’ is the only text printed in a non-greyscale colour, highlighting the length of the trauma the character experiences. The underlining of the title brings significance to it, implies that there is only one strict focal point of the film; the life of a slave.
Short Films - Stutterer (2015)
Short film posters are a bit more abstract and stylistic than that of Hollywood blockbusters. Opposing Richard Dyer’s star power, short film posters do not focus on the stars of the production, but more on the meaning behind the image as a focal point. The designer of the poster creates patterns via specific placement so that the eye follows a path - this is the poster’s reading direction and is important in advertising as the reader ends up at the designer’s call for action, evident in the poster for the short film ‘Stutterer’ (2015). The title ‘Stutterer’ is printed 5 times to resemble a repetitive stutter, hinting its significance within the short film. The short film title should take up the bulk of the composition.
Conventionally, posters for successful short films have awards from film festivals on them, highlighting how strong the film is as a whole and convincing a wider audience to watch the short film. As well as this, they contain social media handles, using convergence to promote the short film even further. These features are evident in the poster for 'Beating Hearts' (2011) and the teaser poster for 'Ape' (unknown).
After analysing the Hollywood blockbuster and short film posters I constructed a table listing each element displayed in the posters, allowing me to identify the similarities and differences between them.
I studied this institution blurbs on the posters for 'Attack the Block' (2011) and 'Ronin' (1998) and devised a structure for the institution blurb that I include on my film poster.
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