1. By James Perfect

2. Well in summary; “A successful poster conveys a clear message, by high-impact visual
information and a minimum of text.” As quoted from the
website http://www.catalysis.nl/links/presentations/poster.php.
However in more detail I found a poster needs to be;
Focused – The poster needs a defined purpose which it should communicate a single
message
Attention grabbing– It should get attention of the viewer, that engages them audience.
By doing so it can convey a specific message
Organised – The layout of the poster should look neat and easy to understand, this
means aligning text and organising image accordingly.
Professional- The poster needs to comprise of a balance of text and image which looks
neat, well thought out and adequate effects.
Conventional– Our poster must feature the typical form conventions such as a film
title, leading cast, production company and the director. All of which were present in
the Hirsute and Connected posters.

3. A common feature was the use of close up shots of the main
character as the subject of the poster. As seen the image of
Harry Potter at MS is used to enforce his importance to the film.
Featuring a character at shots ranging from CU’s to LS’s allows
the audience to see the main character which they can then use
to identify coherent products as being part of “a brand”. E.g. if
theirs a review and they see an image of Harry Potter there the
audience is able to establish a link between the two.
The use of close ups are used to particularly establish a more personal and
intimate understanding of the character. In addition to this close ups can be used to
illustrate the characters emotions which set-up a sense of enigma with the audience (they
may want to know why the character is crying). As seen below CU’s of characters faces can
often be supplemented with other surrounding shots to give a more in-depth glimpse of
the film, as a simple CU of the characters face can often lack other features such
as props that allows the audience to recognise the genre of the film.

4. Wanting to know what made for an effective poster I decided to carry out some
research. I came across a website which displayed the apparent 100 best film
posters (Top 100 posters). This gave me a useful insight for my production.
As the website addresses;
‘A great poster should intrigue, shock, inspire or excite. It should be aesthetically
beautiful & original. Simplicity is a tremendously common theme on this
list. Sometimes, less really is more. Above all, a movie poster should be so
memorable that a single glance will render it instantly recognizable.’
From this quote my group can take into account that the poster needs to send a
message to its audience which is powerful, however at the same time the poster
needs to be simple but have an impact on its audience.

5. Posters can take several form layouts that draw the eye. These layouts are often
referred to as Grids.
As I quote; “Grids are used to help pinpoint where key elements of a poster
should be positioned as it helps attract the eye around the poster. These grid
methods are used to keep the human eye engaged with the poster for longer;
meaning better promotion of the film or product."

6. As I quote; The rule of thirds represents a refined and classic grid layout. This
rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally
spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines. The four points
formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to focus on the main
elements, or the boxes formed by the lines can provide the spaces for the
elements.

7. As seen below both posters use
a perspective method, the nature of
the posters have their
own perspective which draw the eye.
The Spider man poster has a One-
Point perspective which draws the
eye up the poster, meanwhile the
Eragon poster has a Two-
Point perspective which draws the
eye across the characters. Both are
effective ways at drawing the viewers
attention in, though I haven't seen
such examples yet in short film
posters.

8. A poster with a Z layout draws the Similarly a circular grid will draw the
viewers eyes around the poster in a viewers eyes around the poster in a
certain Z motion. As seen below both of circular motion. This type of poster
the posters have a header followed by however is less commonly used.
an image and footer text; this layout is
very successful as the eye is drawn all
over the poster keeping the viewer
interested