Recent Film Posters.
500 Days of Summer
Released - 2nd September 2009
Institution - Fox Searchlight Pictures
Directed by - Marc Webb
This is one of the promotional posters from the film "500 Days of Summer" which I analysed the trailer from earlier.
From the trailer and the poster, I can see that there are coherent styles in the promotional aspects such as the theme of the blue colour scheme and the text font. The blue colour scheme links to the idea of Summer as the season rather than just the other main character, Summer. This is also suggested by the light clouds behind the main image, suggesting a blue sky and a romantic idea. The blue colour scheme also goes against the ideology of how the colour represents a romantic comedy which are usually represented by bold and intense colours like pink and red for example. Blue however connotes a cold and depressed atmosphere which would actually represent the storyline of the film and the atmosphere better than the colour pink for example.
The main image is of the main actor but his face is unclear as he looks down at his t-shirt. This twists the conventions of a main image as it usually shows the audience the face of the actor clearly and shows the emotions that link to the tone of the film. However, he is looking down at the film title and photo-style print t-shirt suggestion an adoration for the woman which links to the idea of a romance. In respect, the t-shirt he is wearing can be seen as the main image/images and creates a sense of romances with the characters emotions within and with the scenery. For example, one photo is of them at the cinema together suggesting they're on a date. There is also another with the two main characters kissing.
The title, in comparison to the quote at the top left, is slightly smaller and your eyes are drawn to the quote which gives the film a good review as well as four stars. This could be purposeful and used to entice the audience to give the poster more attention. The source of the quote is in a smaller font than the actual quote itself which is positive towards the film.
The tagline "Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't." suggests a romance that's doomed to fail by twisting the commonly used narrative "Boy meets girl. They fall in love." The bluntness of the tagline suggests that the film is a comedy as well as the quote which also states what genre the film is.
The Ugly Truth
Released - 5th August 2009
Institution - Lakeshore Entertainment
Directed by -Robert Luketic
This is a promotional poster for the summer film "The Ugly Truth".
So far the poster is quite conventional:
- the title is in the centre of the bottom half of the poster
- the names of the actors are above the image of them and at the top of the page so the audience recognises them
- a billing block is used like in most posters and is at the bottom of the page in lighter toned writing than the rest so the attention isn't drawn to that.
The image is a play on the ideology that men love with their penises and women love with their head. This is shown by how the actors are holding the heart: the woman has it close to her head and the man has it below his waist. This also relates to the storyline.
The colour that stands out the most in the simplistic style poster is red which can connote passion and romance. The use of hearts is also iconic and connotes love and romance, and are often used to promote romantic genre films.
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Released - 21st August 2009
Institution - Fox Atomic
Directed by - Chris Columbus
The text style of the poster suggests a teenage romantic comedy with the use of handwriting styled font and graphics to make it look as if it were written on a notepad which presents the ideology a high school crush where the crusher writes the name of who they fancy in their notebook.
The focus point is the image of Hayden Panettiere who plays Beth Cooper. The fact that the boy behind her is slightly obscured by her suggests his character is the one who loves Beth Cooper as well as the fact the title looks like a thought bubble coming from him. The actress is also shown as ‘effortlessly gorgeous’ with bland clothing and little make-up suggesting a stereotype of a high school cheerleader or popular girl. It can also be seen as voyeuristic as Hayden Panettiere is well sought out woman in reality. The crown above the actresses name also suggests that her character is higher up the high school social ladder than the protagonist which may create comedy when he tries to get her to notice him. The broken hearts around the title also suggest comic value as they contradict the title.
The title is also conventional to other traditional film posters as it is in the top centre of the poster. The images are also conventional as they are in the centre of the poster and also look out at the audience. This can be seen as a persuasive technique to get the audience to see the film as the characters look out of the poster which involves and creates an active audience.
The main colours in the poster are blue and an orangey red which don’t connote love or romance. The orange however, makes the title stand out from the lined paper background and the images.
There is no tagline for this poster but on other posters promoting this movie the taglines are; ‘Five little words can change your life’, ‘Still love me?’, and ‘Popularity is nice. Popular girls are not’ which all relate to the plot and the stereotype of a high school crush.
More Film Posters....
50 First Dates
Released - 9th April 2004
Instition - Columbia Pictures CorporationDirected by - Peter Segal
This poster is promoting a film with a storyline set in Hawaii which is suggested by the pineapples and sand in the Polaroid style photos. In each of these images, there is a photo of the two main characters in ‘date style’ situations which relate to the title of the film. In each the female character looks confused which relates to the tagline ‘When your girlfriend has amnesia you have to win her over... every single day’. This provides the film and protagonist with a dilemma within the plot. The tagline is also in the centre of the poster and written in the margin of one of the photos making it look like photos discarded on the sand.
The fact there is a penguin in the middle image suggests comedy especially as it is dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. The poses of the characters in the images also suggest romance and comedy as they are on stereotypical dates but the woman's facial expression looks confused especially in the image on the bottom right.
Annie Hall
Released - 20th April 1977
Institution - Rollins-Joffe Productions
Directed by - Woody Allen
The image on the 'Annie Hall' poster differs from that of the others because it is in black and white and also the main character cannot be seen clearly. This image could portray a photo taken from a far and the closeness of the couple suggests a romance. The tagline 'A nervous romance' also suggests that that is where the comedy will come from.
The poster uses some conventions which seem to be coherently used in film posters as it contains a billboard at the bottom centre of the poster which includes the institution who have produced the film, United Artists, and the age certificicate the film was given, PG. Unconvetionally, the title of the film is featured at the left-hand side of the page, close to the bottom. In other posters I found that the title of the film usually appeared in the centre of the poster, either at the top or the bottom end.
-------------Sources:
www.google.com
http://www.catsandbeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/poster-i_love_you_beth_cooper.jpg
http://www.posterpalace.com/categorysearch.lasso?-Token.category=comedy
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