Task 2 – Film Posters

Introduction A film poster is a representative aspect of showing a movie. For most film, there are several posters for each movie. Film directors do this to advertise different aspects of the movie. Film posters have a variety of looks regarding to size, content, format and etc. It usually contains an image with text, even though film posters have developed over time from image free bill posters through to the highly visual digital productions of today. The text usually contains the film tittle in a large lettering and often the main actors names. Other information of the film may be on the film poster such as tag lines, the name of the director, character names, the release date and etc. The marketing strategy of film posters is to display them on noticeable places for people to see. Most film posters are seen on banners, on the bus, public transport etc. This strategy helps the film become more noticeable to the consumers. Most film makers make investments in sampling their posters on websites, news-papers, magazines, etc. Doing this will also help with marketing strategy.

Content Ouija: Origin of Evil is a American supernatural horror movie which was made in 2016. This is a prequel from the original Ouija which was made in the early 2014. In Los Angeles, widowed mother Alice Zander unwillingly invites a authentic evil spirit into her house by adding a new stunt to bolster her scam business. When the merciless spirit overtakes her youngest daughter Doris, the small family must confront unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side. This is the End, I comedy film with most known comedian actors in the world. This movie was released in the early 2013. This movie follows six friends trapped in a house shortly after a strange and tragic event. As the world unravels outside, dwindling supplies and cabin fever threaten to tear apart the friendships inside. Eventually, they are forced to leave the house, facing their fate and true meaning of friendship and redemption.

Written Language In this poster, formal writing is used, this generally shows the poster is professional. There is a slogan which is on the bottom of the poster which says ”nothing ruins a party like the end of the world”, this show that there is a correlation to the movie and the tittle of the movie. You can also see the names of the main characters, this to show the consumers the main characters so they are more intrigued. The tittle of the movie is the biggest text out of all the other information. This is to make the audience aware that this the main tittle of the movie. Underneath the movies name is the two most known actors, even though they are not the main characters, the producer wants the audience aware that they are in the movie. Even though we do not get a release date, the producer does make the audience aware that movie is coming soon.

Written Language In this poster you can see that there is change of theme judging by the other poster. This poster is very different as there are different letters which also resembles a Ouija board. This shows that there is a correlation towards the movie and the poster. On the center of the poster you can see a girl which is being possessed. As she is looking upwards you can tell that she is being dragged up by a spirit. The poster does not give too much information about the movie as it is plain and dull. There is some sort of text which is in the same font as the Ouija boards letters saying “GOOD BYE”. This shows that the movie is about the lost of someone. If you can see clearly there is also a ’no’ and a ‘yes’, this also resembles the format of an Ouija board. There is no release date or any slogans on the poster.

Narrative The narrative of the movie is about six individuals who are trapped in one house, each member of the house are willing to do anything to survive so therefore their life's are at danger. On the poster you can see 6 people who are very cramped and also very agitated to split up. There face expressions addresses us as annoyed. As they are all trying to go for one person and they are grabbing each part of the face, it shows that the movie is a comedy. In terms of personality, I believe they are hidden due to the fact of each of their face expressions. The way the picture was taken, shows that they are not on the level of friendship, rather on the level of brotherly hood. Meaning that they have known each other for a long time.

Narrative The narrative of the movie poster, shows the audience that the film genre is horror. The poster shows a dull and dark narrative. It shows a girl being dragged up and also being possessed. The narrative of the background shows that the movie is mostly about connecting with spirits via the Ouija board. The girl is place on the center of the poster therefore showing how important she is in the movie. This image shows that the correlation towards the movie and the poster is at 100%. The background shows 3D effect of a wall and the floor. On the floor and the wall it shows letters, numbers and two words, yes and no. this also shows that the movie is related towards the Ouija board.

Photographs and Illustrations/ Layouts In this poster the photography does give a little bit of the meaning towards the movie. As the movie is about an apocalypse the background is all black and dark. This shows that movie has some type of horror in it. The picture of the 6 individuals all cramped up together shows that the movie is mostly about them, as well as showing that they are the main characters. The tittle illustrates that the movie is trying to show that the world is about to end. The font is capitalized which shows emphasis, the font colour is white to make the text stand out from a black background and the text is almost covering the width of the poster. The shape of the poster is portrait.

Photographs and Illustrations/ Layouts The poster of Ouija illustrates that this movie genre is horror. As the poster is dark, damaged, and not very colorfully, you can instantly tell the movie genre is horror. The scene of the picture is set near a wall, a light/beam, is pointed down towards the center, this beam shows that the girl in the middle is being possessed.

Colour Scheme The colour scheme for this poster is, orange, red, yellow and brown. Each colour represents the mood of the poster. When they are put together you can tell that the movie is going to have a lot of violence, drama, horror and darkness. The colour scheme does make the movie genre pretty clear (comedy/horror), but even though the movie is a comedy, the producer made sure that the colour scheme is dark and full or terror.

Colour scheme The colour scheme of this poster are full of dark and dull colours. The girl in the middle has a off-white gown, but due to the colour filters, they have changed it to a dark greenish colour. The background has a light brown/greyish colour scheme. The words and letters are in dark brown. This is to make the letters and words stand out in the whole poster.

Comparing 20th & 21st Century Posters Film posters in the 20th and 21st century have fully changed. As time and technology goes on, producer have developed ideas to make film posters look more professional and attractive. As you can see the 20th century poster looks, less detailed than the 21st century poster. The 21st century poster gives a consistent colour scheme. But the 20th century gives a feel of different colours. The Barrymore poster has a yellow fonted text which also has a different text type. But the batman poster has a better looking font with the default white colored text which looks more professional. The batman poster has a theme/location where as the Barrymore poster has a colour filled background.