FIlm Poster Research- The Ring

This is the film poster for the horror film, 'The Ring'. I really like this poster because it represents the film very accurately. The main image is of a TV screen, showing a well in the middle of a wooded area. The main title 'the Ring' works very well because the letters are filled in with the main character in the film screaming in fear. This gives us a clear sign that the film is a horror. The catchline 'Before You Die, You See', makes the film a lot of scarier. This is because it makes the viewers think that afte they watch the film, they die. Just like in the actual film, after a person sees the 'Evil' Videotape.

I have watched the trailer for the upcoming film, 'War Horse', directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie is about a boy who joins the army during WW1 after his horse, Joey, is sold to the cavalry for the fighting in France. The movie looks very high budget, lot's of special effects are used the set looks very expensive to create. In the trailer, the first scene is the horse running through a live battlefield, dodging explosions and machine gun fire. This gives us a clear view of what the film is about.
The film poster is very simple but also very effective. The main image creates a sense of partnership and friendship.
There is a slogan on the top of the poster which says "Separated by war, Tested by Battle, Bound by friendship". This is a very powerful catchline which anchors the themes portrayed in the film. The colours in the images work very well to create a warm feel, as well as represent the horrific events of the war.


http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/war-horse/trailer

I think that there is a direct link between the film trailer and the Film poster. These are both above the line forms of advertising. The film producers pay a lot of money for these to be produced. Film posters can be displayed in a lot of places, which is why they are so effective. The magazines however, are a bit different. They are below the line advertising. The magazine company needs material to write about, and the Film producers want to advertise. So the two help each other out. The magazines usually write about a film review after the film has been realesed. But sometimes they talk about the film before it is realesed, mostly interviewing the stars in the films, or the directors, at the film premiere. The magazines aren't as effective as the poster and trailr when it comes to advertising, but they are free for the producers.

Mock-up Film Poster

Film Poster Research

Movie posters are a visual form of advertising films. They come in all sizes and advertise every genre of film. Up to the 1990's, Film Posters were illustrated, but now however, they have digitally created using high quality photographs of the main actors. Film Posters usualy have the same layout, they include a large piece of text, which is the title. This is usually large and bold. Posters also contain taglines, which state a short line either from the film, or about the film. the same images used in posters are also displayed on the DVD covers and other merchandise. This is usually the iconic photo of the film.

I will be looking at horror film poster, because that is the genre of my trailer. the first poster I will be looking at is Scream 4. It is a simple poster, with big bold letters and colours. The mask in the middle of the photo transforms into a sharp knife, which works well in the sense that the person wearing this mask is the one who murders the chaacters in the original film. The text at the top is the tag line, which reads 'New Decade, New Rules'. I think that this film poster works very well but for anyone who has not seen the trilogy before it will be dificult for them to understand the poster, especially the knife part of the photo.