Film poster research

To accompany the film trailer Becka and I produce we are also producing a magazine cover and a film poster, to begin both coursework tasks on a strong basis we had decided to cover initial secondary background research on the 3 media products.
When reviewing how we were going to initially produce a film poster Becka and I retrieved information online, looking at different media productions via the internet. We decided to widen our views by reviewing all types of film posters with various genres, this gave us a deep in-depth of what could be produced if we decided to opt for alternative film genres, however we narrowed our options and began looking singularly at posters that catered for the Thriller genre. To reflect Becka and I mind-mapped what we considered to be a successful film poster which essentially make it more memorable to the viewer. We discovered that thriller genre based film posters usually consisted of: dark colours, usually a white font, including the main character/s and begins to set the mood for the film so the viewers usually have an idea of what to expect.
To follow similar conventions to a real life movie poster centred on the same genre we had to draw ideas from these real life posters, below are the ones I looked at in great detail:

 
 
 

When researching The Lovely Bones I was introduced to two different media products, both very similar however I'm guessing that one poster is for an international audience and the other a regional poster.
I believe that this could be the poster catered for the needs of a regional audience, I feel this isn't the international poster because usually to capture the wide-spread audiences the producers would include the most famous actors names so that they captivate the attention from all worldwide viewers.
As previously stated I had said that most thriller genre film posters consist of dark colours to promote the film, I believe this is done so it gives the dark, mysterious and suspicious feeling that accompanies a thriller film in general, and would suggest this to be done so that the audience already have a pre-conceived idea of what genre the film displayed on the poster would be about. I believe this to be quite a typical film poster for the genre because it has displayed the typical conventions previously stated, most frequently the thriller genre has the typical mysterious storyline of kidnap and this is clearly displayed from the poster because an almost-silhouette of a man is displayed alongside a young female within a field. The storyline becomes quite clear from the film poster so that the audience can easily determine whether they'd enjoy the film giving them a pre-conception of what to expect. The background of the poster could represent the darkness of the film, showing the audience the time of day that the mystery or main feature of the film occurs in, I believe this darkness sets the theme for the film and already has a mysterious feel and essentially suggests the genre the film fits into.

The lighting is a significant feature of the poster, the laminated part surrounds the young female suggesting the innocence and purity of her, in comparison to the male facing her who stands in darkness suggesting a sense of mystery and someone who the audience need to watch and be aware of. The white colour contrasts with the dark background and is effective as it stands out to the audience, this is a convention we will probably follow, most film posters featured on the thriller genre use white text so by following the convention it should bring us a step closer into having the most effective film poster. The characters are balanced and placed either side of the poster, none of them are centralised so that balanced remains and no attention is distracted from either character. A billing block is displayed at the bottom of the film poster in a yellow font, which makes an obvious difference from the white from the rest of the text. However, they've cleverly bolded and re-sized DECEMBER, which gives a clear indication when the film is released, as it's larger and in white compared to the small, yellow text it automatically stands out to the audience and is essentially an advertising method to draw the target audience into seeing the film.
'The story of life and everything that came after' helps explain the storyline of the film however if the viewer has never seen the film it could seem quite irrelevant, however this is recovered due to the fact the film is a thriller and these films always entail a plot, or twist or murder-mystery.
In conclusion, I believe there are many features that help reinforce the entire 'thriller feel' of the film poster, the conventions used definitely reinforce the mystery and thrill of the film and when producing my own I'd like to follow some of the conventions used on this film poster. An idea gathered from this film poster in particular is the use of balance from the image, as our trailer could include multiple characters I wish to include several people on the cover, however to balance the image like The Lovely Bones I'd set them out equally on the page so no focus or attention is lost or distracted.

Here's the other film poster I found on the internet which I feel could be the international film poster as they've listed celebrity names on the top of the image to attract wider audiences who are aware of the actors or actresses.
This film cover doesn't suggest the storyline as much as the previous one and doesn't really give anything away however the strong sense of mystery remains due to the dark background, crop field and running silhouette. As there is only one character featured on this poster it's more effective to centralise her so that she's the main focus, this has been done and so that no attention is take from the other scenes featured on the poster the female has been faded. I like this front cover, however with the unusual title I believe some viewers to misinterpret the films genre, alternatively if the viewers have knowledge of thriller films they should know the conventions such as; dark backgrounds, mysterious vibe, white text and associate it with a thriller film.









Here's another thriller film that could be considered similar to The Lovely Bones, I believe the cover for Prisoners to be somewhat similar to the previous poster because multiple characters have been displayed on it, neither centralised however both balanced so that equal focus and attention is used. This is effective as it allows the viewers to have equal attention on both characters and makes them see the image as a whole. I like the idea of the 'maze' background as it reinforces the idea of being trapped like a prisoner as we associate mazes with having limited ways out, or struggling to escape; like a prisoner. Neither of the actors on the poster are looking towards the camera and they are not drawing attention to themselves through the 'gaze', both are frowning which could suggest this film to be a very stern, confusing film that needs to be unravelled. Again, a very dark background effect has been used layered with white text reinforcing the idea of a thriller genre film, pairing these devices with the other stated features the poster has clearly clarified what genre it fits into.

The Butterfly Effect is another thriller film, from researching I have a good idea that the conventions of a thriller film poster, the white text has been present in the majority that I've explored, and all of the ones I have analysed.
Like the first Lovely Bones film poster I analysed the billing block remains one colour except for the releasing date which is AUGUST 20054.
This isn't the English film poster for the film, however all vital factors are included, Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart are listed in a large font because they are characters which are recognised world-wide and will essentially draw the viewers into wanting to see the film. The dark background shows the viewers that the film isn't going to be clean-cut and innocent, we automatically assume that the film is going to be mysterious, twisted and edgy.