Film Poster Research - Genre

Psychological Thriller

When comparing different mainstream Psychological Thrillers, the similarities stood out rather than the differences. All of the above posters, and the majority of any other posters, included a poorly lighted image of the films protagonist. Having only half of their face light, or having their whole face poorly light/partially covered, gives the audience a sense of fear and confusion, for both them and the protagonist.

Dark backgrounds also add to the fear aspect of the poster, its plain colour representing the feeling of the unknown the audience goes through when watching a new thriller, and when advertising a brand new film, the audience will not have seen the film yet, making this dark colour very effective. Here are the main conventions of a Psychological Thriller film poster:

Font

The text is almost always written in simple, clear font, making it easy to read from afar, with the title larger then the rest. Small text runs across the bottom with either credits or a slogan chosen by the film producers. Some posters include unusual fonts with scratchy elements to relate to the films genre.

Colour

The text is generally a simple white on the top of a dark background, however depending on the films plot and intentions, a sense of danger and fear is injected through the use of Red. As well as blood and gore, the colour red is regularly used in order to identify the main theme running through the film - danger - and attract the correct audience. Black backgrounds make the protagonist's image stand out more to the public.

Hierarchy 

When looking at the posters, the first thing the public will see is the photo. Having the face of the protagonist take up the majority of the poster makes it obvious who the film is based around, as well as their emotions. Facial expressions will give away a clear idea of what the character is thinking and even why. As well as the photo, the film Title grabs attention, this reason is self explanatory.

Drama

In parallel to Psychological Thrillers, popular Drama film posters have barely any similarities in them, apart from including their main characters. What happens on the poster is highly depending on the sub genres of the film, as well as the plot, for example, 'Dear John' and 'The Fault in Our Stars' are both romantic drama films, and both include the couple who inevitably end up together. On Dear John, the couple are sat on a beach, a romantic location for any date, and Hazel and Augustus on TFIOS's poster are laid on the grass, assumedly a park, which is also a stereotypical spot for a date. The way both couples embrace the other also gives away the sub-genre.

With War Horse, a dramatic stance from the main characters instantly tell the audience to expect a plot revolved around the two. Albert's uniform and the name of the film instantly give hits of war, and having an animal on the poster may cause people to become optimistic, as it is unusual and very difficult for a big drama to include the use of an animal as a main character.

Font

The fonts on these posters are quite simple. Capital letters is very common amongst most film posters in general, and the font type tends to match the character's in the film. For example, the "Fault in out Stars" font is chalk, representing youth through the use of blackboards in schools. Small text runs across the bottom with either credits or a slogan chosen by the film producers.
 

Colour

The poster's general filters and photo edits again depends on the sub genres and plot of the film it's self, however this allows more freedom in where to take the designs. Photography is almost the only kind of image on the posted, with very few exceptions. The photo includes the main character(s) and anything relevant to the film's plot. "Titanic" has the main couple and the boat, "TFIOS" has the main couple and Hazel's oxygen machine, and "War Horse" has the main character and his owner. Distinctive colours can be taken from these images, the blue of the sea, green grass, ect.

Hierarchy

Because a photo takes up the whole poster, if any well known actors are staring in the movie, this would be their selling point, as well as with any attractive members of the cast. The public will notice the characters included in the image first, followed by the name of the film, and possibly any names of actors starring in the movie. The mood shown by how light or dark the film poster is can influence the public's choice to see it out of genre preference.

If we were to design a poster that was mainly based on the Drama our film contains, rather than its Psychological elements, it would give us more freedom, how ever to attract the right audience, we would need to advertise the psychologically thrilling elements to our film.