2012 Post 14 Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards Part 1

 

Hollywood film posters have more money so the posters main pictures are very dramatic with lots of effects and this is conventional in film posters of this genre as it is a action film but the posters are usually better with dramatic pictures as that is their unique selling point. Its also conventional to have a slogan to do with the film, the directors name is normally above the title and the biggest earning character is the biggest picture in the middle, and all film posters have the logos, production details and general film information at the bottom is tiny writing. As the genre of this film poster is action they poster has to have an element of action on it as the audience will be expecting to see explosions ect as that is what they would relate to the genre. The poster would also use a bolder font as action films would include strong characters and the font would need to display this. The colours they choose would also be different for instance a Rom-Com would use pinks and pastel colours but an action film would be expected to use reds and dark colours.

This is a British film poster but has the funding the same as Hollywood films. As you can see the graphics are very good and the pictures have been super imposed. Even though this is a British film it also has the main character at the front and the characters behind go in order of popularilty and how often they are shown in the film. As this films genre is action and fantansy is should have elements of action and fantasy conventions. As I previously said this films poster is similar to the one above in the graphical editing this is because it is conventional of an action film poster to be action packed. The colours used in this film poster is dark bluse and blacks this is conventional of a fantasy genre as the colours related to that genre are colours such as green, blue and purple. These conventions is what makes the films sell to the right audience as they relate these conventions to the genre and expect these conventions to be displayed on the film poster.

From British independent films its conventional for them to put the star rating and quotes on the top of the poster that people have rated and reviewed.  Like the Hollywood films they also have a big picture taking up most the poster which is of the main character/ characters, but the pictures are usually close up or just poses of the characters there not superimposed. These film posters also have a slogan, the slogan is used as a unique selling point as they usually relate to the film ensuring the audience feel connected with the film before they have seen it. The independent british film posters also have on them the details of the production comapny, details, logos and funding. I have also found that these films have the age rating of the film in the corner of the main picture

Short films find it hard to target their audiences through the method that big named Hollywood films do as their target audience are not the majority of the general public. Short films are more likely to target their audience through the internet, but this method is not enough to create a buzz about their film, so postcards are the prefered method of marketing.

Film posters receive their audience’s attention through eye catching features for instance they commonly use recognisable actors or actresses on the poster. This is why short films may find it hard to sell through posters as they usually do not use recognisable big named actresses or actors as they cannot afford them.

Short Film also find it hard to use the poster method as it is very expensive to design a bright eye catching poster, so a postcard is used instead as they are small and cheaper to print.

Benefits of a postcards are that they would target the audience that short films aim as they can be handed out in a area or venue where you can find the specific target market allowing the short film to be directly marketed to the right audience . This is the best method for short films as it creates word of mouth and postcards can be easily kept and can be referenced when talking to friends who may be the target audience.

From looking at a collection of short film postcards they also include a main picture either of the surroundings or a location in the film or a character, but the main picture of the character is not the same as the Hollywood posters, the Hollywood posters pictures are very posed and make the actor/actress look handsome/pretty and admirable. The main pictures in short films are more artistic they may look quit posed but the character is commonly positioned in a situation that is in the film. The main title is usually quite plan and has a simple colour and the font is also quite plan and nothing too high tec. From analysing film postcards I have noticed many of them have a slogan this is not  normally seen in Hollywood films, this could be down to the target audience using the internet more and they could quote the postcards slogan.

These postcards have come from a producer/production manager callled Becky Knapp, she came into our lesson to talk to us about how to develop short films. She knows alot about what works well in a short film and would of had some say within the style of these postcards. These are a good source to look at the conventions and style of short film postcards as they have come from a professional source.

The back of the postcard is also fairly plan, it looks like a generic postcard except it includes some details about the film. It normally includes the director, producers and other important peoples names of the back and general details about the film. The also all include a stamp space and sometimes the title again and sometimes the slogan.

Here are my designs for my postcard

Bellow are the annotations to more postcard design and how they are conventional and how they break away from the conventions of a postcard