Film Poster Research

This year, one of our ancillary tasks is to produce a film poster or piece of 'key art' and so to understand what kind of things make a good and effective film poster, I have undertaken some  research. 

At the moment, I am also working on producing a short documentary on the progression of film posters through the ages of cinema with my fellow Media students: Ben-Gary Hurst, Jake Brownbill and Lily Vosper which will hopefully be completed in the next couple of weeks. Until then, I have been eager to do some of my own research on various film posters from different films and different genres.

Firstly, what is the point of a film poster? From the point of view of a cinema go-er, it is to capture your eye and make you want to watch the film. From the point of view of the industry it is just the same but with the intent of making money. Some films can be brilliant in themselves but because they don't have a brilliant poster to entice the viewer into the cinema, they often don't get the profit they deserve. On the other hand, some films can be fairly average or even terrible but have brilliant film posters that make people want to see the film e.g. Cloverfield.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The first teaser posters for Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight were released towards the end of 2007 with several other sets of teaser posters released in the months leading up to the movie's release. I have researched two of the teaser posters that were released at the beginning of 2008 just after the death of Heath Ledger who, of course, played The Joker in the film. It's arguable to say that Warner Bros. used the death of Heath Ledger as a basis for publicity of the film as all kinds of theories were circulating about how Ledger had got so into his character that he had died of madness. Under the lead of Nathan Crowley, Warner Bros. employees released the following two posters in early 2008:

This poster is brilliant for so many reasons. The phrase “Why so serious?” is brilliant in the first place, but what makes this poster so intriguing is the focus that pulls you into the bloody words, to the bloody smile, then Joker’s body, but refuses to show you his face and you can suddenly feel your brain juggling two thoughts at once: “I must find out more about this movie” as well as “This is so frickin’ cool!” Also, it's a Batman movie but it's only The Joker on the poster which shows that although Batman is the main character, it's The Joker - Heath Ledger - that is the star. It could be that The Joker is the only character on the poster so that viewer can acknowledge that this is Ledger's final performance, and it's amazing.

The other poster which I have researched is the poster on the right. This teaser features Batman but has the Joker's smile and the image itself is made out of Joker cards, showing again that The Joker is the dominating character in this film. When looking closer it is also clear that The Joker's catchphrases looked as if they have been scratched into the picture, indicating that he is a forceful and merciless character, not considering what pain he puts people through. It's a brilliant poster because it conveys the conflict between the two characters wonderfully subtly and conveys the ambience of the film without giving too much away.

Cyrus (2010)

I, personally, have never seen the film 'Cyrus' but from the simplistic poster, I can immediately work out what the film is about without looking at any of the text. The female (Marisa Tomei) has her arm around the male on the left (John C. Reilly) so I can infer that the two are caring for each other - probably dating or married. The younger male (Jonah Hill) has his arm protectively around the female - most likely his mother - and making a rude gesture towards the male, showing that he doesn't like him. The simple image gives the audience a basic idea of the film while making them want to find out what happens in the conflict between the two men.