Conventions of a Film Poster

Symbolic analysis of a film poster

The way in which we analysis of a film varies greatly, it is necessary that we look at it from three different perspectives. Firstly, we have technical codes, which we can define as the techniques used in the construction of a text, i.e. the inclusion of a 'film title' and a 'tag line'. Equally, there are written codes, which is the range of contexts in which words are used in the test itself, such as the actual words creating the film title or tag line. Lastly, we have symbolic codes, which is the system if signs embedded within the text itself, i.e. the connotations of the images used, as well as the colours and font styles. All codes give out different messages, but are all valid. For this reason, I will analyse the symbolic codes of a film poster, being 'Platoon'.

what are the main film magazines in the uk and how do they differ?

There are many film magazines in the UK they differ in certain ways if its from layout, audiences or film genre. some of these magazines are cinema retro, film review (magazine) and eye for a film but the largest in the UK are Empire and total film these by far have the largest audience and most prestigious. these magazines are used to provide opinions about films, they give more information

then film posters do, they offer people guidance on what films they should go and see. They can make or break many films like "the kings speech" which was very successful due to the reviews it received and on the other end "cat women" this failed due largely to the negative reviews.total film magazine have very simple typography with large font big headings and large pictures there is a head line columns pictures image caption break out boxes and many other stander things. the mode of address there are very simple examples from a text on the road it is written for audiences which have a general knowledge of cinema using words like "comprises tense, terse dialogue. this is simple language that movie fans would understand.

the intended audiences for total film is the genreal public who have a little intrest into film its good for light reading and gives you a good rang of films. it is not a alternative film magazines only for art house films with only small

audiences.

this is an example of a film review in total film you can see the large picture and title along with the large break up boxes this cuts up the article.

Two very different film magazines when compared are total film and sight and sound sight. Total film is very much directed at the main stream audiences and also for men there are often good looking film stars like the picture i used as an example above of Megan Fox on the front cover. this is an ideal example of how they are trying to attract male film fans. on the other hand sight and sound is a art house film magazine concentrating on more individual films. it is 100% for proper film buffs and gives lots of information and in depth discussion on the films. If you look at a film review in sight and sound there ratio between the amount of writing and the size of the picture is very different to total film. This is an example below, which shows the difference.

Film Poster Analysis - Pulp Fiction

Conventions of Magazine Page Layouts

The conventions of a magazine page layout is what makes that article more enjoyable/readable, you can tell by how many columns and the size of lettering whether the page wants to write loads of information rather than a more formal article.

The article here is a cut out from the ‘Men’s Health’ magazine and it is giving us insight into actors and footballers lives to success, it doesn’t go into detail but it does mention where they started and where they are now, also the media attention they gained during their come up. The layout has SECRET SUCCESS written in big font to show the article story, following the strapline written by the author also, the article has 6 columns spread across two pages. there is an introduction which allows a breif of the atrticle in a few sentences but there are also breakout paragraphs.

This article is form the film magazine 'Buzz' shown by the screen title on the top left side of the article, the headline reads 'Return of the ring' which introduce both symbolic and written codes because of the font used which is in bold followed by the inner meaning of the title. The article has been broken into 3 columns under neath a strap line which reads 'Taylor presents the best LOTR bits n bobs in Leeds, while looking to the future with The Hobbit...' on the article is also a sub-heading stating comments from Scarlett Johansson from an inteview. Highlighted in orange is a breakout paragraph in which the writer comments about the sword in which Frodo used, also on the article are breakout boxes in which 'Buzz' have the Scarlett Johansson commetary, all together, these technical codes work in unison in order to keep the readers entertained, thus the images all aroung the article edge which allows viewable pleasure, most of the images are looking directly at the reader.

This artcle was a double page article but as you can see it is three quarters of an image which shows the raw image of the film thet the critic is trying to portray, the headline in red and the colour contrasted image which makes it look semi cartoon but real, a possible painting image is also given from the double page picture of the man in sunglasses wielding to revolver guns. The strap line is a 4 line bold white question about if the Director Guy Ritchie has outdone himself compared to previous films, the artlicle has two colums, no breakout paragraphs which show it isn't a discussion it is the critics views, he wants to be direct with the article he is writing.

What are the different audiences available for film magazines?

It is fair to say that the market for film magazines is quite vast, as there are magazines which cater for different types of films, whether it be mainstream, independent or international, equally there are those who look at film from a different perspective, for example the 'arts and politics' of a film. With this, the distribution of film magazines is also highly variable with distribution ranging from bi-monthly to quarterly, each favoured by a certain audience and for this reason, the audience of film magazines is rarely the same for the majority of film magazines.

We find that in Britain the most famous film magazine is without a doubt 'Empire Magazine', due to its commercial popularity, this is also seen with its main rival total film, with both constantly engaging in a war over sales, with the former winning most times. What is most striking about such magazines is that although they both review mainstream and art films, its seems that there are only feature length articles for mainstream films, which in itself infers what type of audience they have, considering that there analysis varies greatly from other film magazines, who show greater concerntration on the stylistic and technical features of films, and ultimately shows a move away from deep analysis of mainstream 'blockbluster' films to looking at independent 'art' films.

If we look at the empire magazine for example we can see that its target audience varies greatly from other film magazines, for instance we can look at the cover of the May 2009 issue. the cover has a big image of Megan Fox, who is viewed as one of the 'sexiest women' in the world, hence the reason why she is labelled as 'the most wanted woman in Hollywood', which we can draw is utimately target at a young males, as this picture is likely to get testosterone flowing, what's more we can further this with the tagline being 'The Hot Issue', again showing the sexual connatations of this magazine. The idea that this is targeted for males is supported by the fact that males dominate the frontpage of the magazines, as seen with the protagonists from 'Wolverine, Star Trek and Angel & Demons'. What's more, we can also see that this film also has a sci-fi audience, as all films seem to have some techonological feel to them, again showing that Empire magazine does reach out to sci-fi films, which are mainly films with big budgets.

With this, another mainstream British film magazine is 'Total Film, which is ultimately a rival to 'Empire' in every sense, merely differentiating in price; Empire £3 Total Film £2.90. It is clear for us to see that with regards to reviews they tackle it in a very similar way, being writing reviews to reach out to the target audience of the magazine, which in a sense means manipulating a film to cater for a certain audience, it is for this reason that we see universal rated films, arguably made for children directed at a much maturer audience a key example of this is with regards to toy story 3 in Empire magazine, which is written in such a way that has a mature feel to it, seen through such devices as rhetoric.

Inversely, althoughempire readers are ultimately film fans, however there are other film magazines which have a complete different audience, we can see this mainly through the prominent British film magazine 'Sight and Sound'. Just by looking at the front of the film magazine, we can see that this films fans contracts greatly, the films main cover is based on the 1927 German film Metropolis, which again shows what a vast difference in audience there is. Firstly, it is a german film, showing that this magazine heralds international cinema, and also the fact that it dates back to 1927, explains that it reaches out to a previous era of cinema. For this reason we can say that the target audience of the film is for arguably more mature film lovers, and those who look at it from a more stylisitic way, such as the themes that this film may convey.

Magazine Film Review- Purpose

Magazine film reviews are an important factor in influencing the success of a film. The provide a potential audience with an impartial opinion of the film, by highlighting a particular point of view based on the target audience of a particular magazine, rather than the target audience of a film.
Reviews provide the opinions of film critics, who are often trusted by an audience, which is more likely to influence them to go and see a film. One film that has greatly benefited from critical acclaim is The Queen (2006), which recieved widely favourable reviews and award nominations, went on to greatly exceed box office expectations, grossing $120 million worldwide, despite its $15 million budget.

Similarly, critics widely disliked Catwoman (2004)and despite being of the popular superhero genre, and starring Halle Berry, one of Hollywood's most popular stars at the time, fail at the box office, grossing $85 million compared to it's $100 million budget.
This illustrates the importance of magazine reviews, and their purpose to provide an uninfluenced opinion of a film.

What is the purpose of a short film?

The term 'short film' is one which is increasily debated, with their being no consensus over the key charecteristics of a short film. According to wikipedia, it is 'any film not long enough to be considered a feature film', whereas IMDB views it as 'any film less than 45 minutes long'. In addition to this, it is the purpose of the short film, that ultimately distinguishes it from other types of films. One can split the purposes of short films into four main categories being to promote, to communicate a message, to experiement and to reach out to a certain audience.

Firstly, we must look at the promotional nature of short films, yet we should not get confused with what the intention with promotion is, which is more the promotion of the director rather than the film, it is for this reason that mainly students studying film and up and coming directors who venture down this route, with the intention of entering such films in competitions, for example there is the prominent Virgin Media Shorts film competition, which was won by the film 'Sign Language', which has arguably propelled the director to greener pastures, as it has allowed the film to be shown in over 200 cinemas as well as being given £30 000 and the opportunity to work with the UK film council and Virgin Media. There are also other short film festivals, which have gained global recognition, arguably the most famous

short film festival in the world is the 'Los Angeles Short Film Festival'. There have also been other routes through self promotion, seen notably with youtube. A key exponent of the utilisation of youtube has best been seen with the Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez, who uploaded his film 'Ataque de Panico' on youtube and recieved 1.5 million views in a short week.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8417789.stm

Lastly, we can also see the relative success in promotion to the extent a successful blockbuster film, Neil Blokamp's 'Alive in Jo'Burg', served as a platform for him getting funding for his film, the academy award nominated 'District 9'

Moving on from this, there is also the purpose of communicating a message. we find that short films usually attempt to convey a message or a point, it is for this reason that we have seen short films shown in schools to be used as an educative tool. A striking example of this is with the short film 'Guilty' by Colin Hutton, which takes the social realism genre of film, with the main themes being youth violence, gun crime and urban problems we see in contemporary society

Gravity from Colin Hutton on Vimeo.

Moreover, we can also say that another purpose of a short film is to be experimental. Due to its relatively cheap nature with regards to production costs, film makers are able to attempt new techniques which a full length film would not allow the director to engage in such an artistic way, again we can use the example of Fede Alvarez' 'Ataque de Panico' , which was filmed on a budget of £186, and allowed the director to display his talents in 6 minutes.

lastly, one of the principal purposes of a short film is mainly to reach out to a particular audience, which can distinguish as highly different to the audience that we see for cinema. Distribution is varied with short films, we rarely see it in cinema unless its part of a film festival, likes the Cannes Film Festival. However, the distrubition for short films comes mainly through viral distribution, the rise in prominence of video sites such as vimeo and youtube.

Classic Film Posters

Over many years since films were shown and the entertainment of them grew, films have been advertised by posters and these posters became more unique as the genres and limits of films were interpreted, posters were seen as the taster of the film for the viewers before they go to watch it.

The Italian job was a highly anticipated film with the likes of Michael Caine featured and the film embraces British car manufactures, the mini. The poster is blue, white and red all corresponding with the British flag and it has Caine at the top with the cars followed looking to be being chased then mysterious figures underneath possibly the antagonists both the protagonist and antagonist want the cars or are linked because of the cars. The Italian Job is written in bold is on top of an arrow which directs towards the cars, there is a clear link between the title and the cars. The review at the top is from a clear indication that it is a film that needs to be seen and should be a really good film.

The good, the bad and the ugly is an old western film, the posters were loud and realistic but simple not as they are today, there was a lot more writing on them compared to now to because of the fact it was meant to attract viewers not many known names were around to give their view on it so the way to get it seen was write about it on the poster, known actors featured in the film were written in bold this film had Clint Eastwood a very successful actor of western films then, he was the selling point of this movie as he was the image directly on the poster with his name written directly above himself.

As time has deveoped the layout of posters have changed, the posters include more CGI and effects as to when there wasnt the technology to do it. The 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' poster was produced in 1971 by a production company. The more recent 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)' poster was produced by Warner Brothers. Both companies produced their film posters in order to promote and advertise their film. If people saw and liked their posters, it would tempt them to go and see the film. The older film did not have as much as money to spend on a marketing the film compared to the recent one and this would suggest why the film poster looks less impressive than the more recent one. Whereas Warner Brothers is an extremely large company, one which will have had lots of money to spend on marketing the film and adding the effects to the poster.

Double Take Film Analysis

Double Take is a short film written by Toe Stappard, it was funded by BBC Talent and the production company is called Calling The Shots, the short film is about an opportunist thief who finds himself on the receiving end when the tables are turned. Double Take was commissioned for 'Mini Masterpieces' and produced during the Bristol Brief Encounters Short Film Festival in 2003. The script was selected a week before the festival and cast travelled to Bristol for the first day of the festival, the plan of the film was that they found locations on, shot the material, edited it the following day and on the final day screened it to the Closing Night.

Double take was part of the Mini Masterpiece showcase at Brief Encounters Short Film Festival in 2003, Bradford Film Festival 2005 and Cardiff Screen Festival 2005.

The short film is a 6minute drama that has an a bright natural glow throughout the streets that the camera is focusing upon, when the camera then settles onto the main character we realise he is in dark attire which makes us assume he is the antagonist of the film. The story depicts a middle-aged man who is a thief and goes to public, busy places and steals handbags and ruck sacks from the citizens and what happens is that he steals the wrong bag with a camcorder in it with film of the man robbing and entering his home. The audience understands that he is potentially going to get what he deserves.

This short film caught my eye because of the use of the point of view camera work along with the tracking video technique which added realism to the story along with minimal dialogue which created a tense and anxious atmosphere. The consistent cutting from the man recording to the criminal watching increases the audience's anticipation and keeps them engaged as they try to figure out why and who was recording him for so long but happened stage by stage as the criminal did which makes it a linear narrative. Many close long shots are used which brings emphasis to the entire body language and depth of the criminals emotions as he comes to realise that he has a stalker that could possibly be in his house, the emotions he makes also create a realistic feel through some of the use of hand-held camera work. For example, when the man was taking the stolen goods out of the bag he was being followed and recorded as the stalker hid behind cars to hide away from him. It makes the scene look very quiet and docile because the streets become empty as the man becomes alone in this spiralling drama. Much of the short film is filmed in high key lighting helping the audience establish who the antagonist is and increase tension. The low budget is clear throughout but is important in creating realism.

The characters are kept to a minimal with only the antagonist face being noticed which make the world seem isolated and alone throughout the film adding the anxiety to the audience which makes them ask the questions such as what is going to happen next, who is following the man, what are they going to do to him. Furthermore, the unknown actors make the entire emphasis on the cinematic characters without interferences of reputations or previous known films.

Potential audience for our short film

The audience is relevant because without them the short film will be made for no reason, the potential audience for the entire groups film include media students, film enthusiasts, directors and general fans who are interested in short films and particular genres, the reason being is short films can be tasters of potential films and possible starter outcomes for directors to take further, but it isn’t easy to think of the perfect film, there can be obstacles and implications such as the distributing of the film as well as the funding for the film itself, we as a group and short film makers need to take into consideration where the funds are coming from, how will the film be distributed for publicity also distributing and publicity cost money so finance needs to be taken into consideration including the decision as to if the film is worth making, will it be a success? Is it wanted by the audience?

The key issue about audience and short film, is the fact that not everyone likes all genres of film, everyone has particular themes that they prefer to others, in which makes the majority audience to the minority audience. Short film audiences are different to feature film audiences is thet short films are into the films more interested in the art and culture of it all rather than feature film audiences seek more entertainment in the effects and actors. Film buffs enjoy short films because they experience and seek the thrill of the art work put into it but the audience of short film is effected because of the fact distribution is harder because the lack of funds b=thats the reason why film festivals take place so that the short films have a chance to be seen by all film lovers. The films purpose in its audience is for entertainment and the fact of enjoyment.

The BBFC have an effect on the audience chosen because of the fact they set the guide lines and rules that should be followed by the film makers such as the video recording act 1984 which is when the BBFC is obliged to have ‘special regard’ (among other relevant factors) to the likelihood of video works being viewed in the home and to any harm that may be caused to potential viewers or, through their behaviour, to society by the manner in which the work deals with criminal behaviour, illegal drugs, violent behaviour or incidents, horrific behaviour or incidents and human sexual activity. In considering these issues, the BBFC needs to be mindful of the possible effect not only on children but also on other vulnerable groups. This along with other acts such as the human rights act 1998 the Protection of Children Act 1978 which makes it illegal to make, distribute, show or possess ‘indecent’ photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child (that is, someone under the age of 18 years) the Criminal Justice and Immigration act, the Public Order Act 1986 and the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 all work together in order to identify the best audience for all the films that are produced by short film makers.

The potential audience can include Action and adventure, comedy, crime, drama, romance and thriller all lovers of in particular genres but I would like it to relate to current affairs linked in with current world issues but I’m not 100% sure that I want that so ideas are still being considered.

This short film is call 'The Sound Machine' which was produced in 2008 by director Zahid Chonan, this is an example of an audience type, this short film was taken from a story of Roald Dahl, The Sound Machine tells the tale of a man obsessed with science and sound. His latest invention takes him to a non-existent world where sounds take an unexpected turn, what he discovers gives him a nasty shock. The film was a prize-winner: Propeller TV Best Short Film Competition, it was shortlisted: Friends of the Earth Short Film Competition, screened at Hull International Film Festival 2009 and it was broadcast on SKY: Feb 2009.

Film Posters- Purpose

Film posters are used mainly to promote and advertise a film. They are aimed at the target audience of the film, by highlighting genre and key aspects of the film. For example, this poster for "Rocky" illustrates both the romantic elements of the film, through the characters holding hands and the theme of boxing, through Rocky's attire. An audience would use this poster to gather information on the genre, themes and main stars of the film allowing them to decide more easily if they would like to see it or not.  

However, some films may not necessarily reflect the film as a whole in the poster,this can be seen in "Sweeney Todd", starring Johnny Depp, the poster implies the film is more of a horror film, thanks to the dark tone and blood stains which act as symbolic codes, however the film is in fact a musical. This can be seen as deliberate as it would allow the film to appeal to a more broad audience than that of a musical. This is used by the producers to advertise and encourage an audience to see the film, and to target a specific audience, in this case, a wider one than the film may appeal to.

Conventions of a short film

A short film is, by definition any film shorter than 45 minutes,therefore too short to be considered a feature film. This allows short films to explore a variety of genres and a free selection of techniques, however many short films share some characteristics and conventions, making them typical to short films in particular.
Commonly, we see a linear narrative seen in short film, this is due to time constraints in many cases,and it is often easier to show a plot in a simple flowing narrative. Examples of this include Oscar Sharp's "Sign Language", in which a snapshot of the life of a street sign holder is portrayed through linear narrative, with elipsis of time, fitting an extended period of time into a short film, a technique often used due to obvious time constraints. "Sign Language" also incorporates circular elements into the narrative, with recurring images seen at the beggining and end of the film, this is also seen in Colin Hutton's "Gravity", where we see the image of a boy on the swings shown at the beggining and end. Short films also utilize more unconventional narrative structures, due to their experimental nature. This is best demonstrated in "Double Take" which uses two narrative points of view, linking at the climax.



Themes vary in short film as much as they do in feature length cinema. Due to the time constraints, these themes are explored in more concise ways. We see elements of social realism and crime shown in both "Double Take" by Toa Stappard, as well as in "Gravity", films like this show important issues in society, particularly "Gravity", which is used in schools to educate young people on gun crime. We also see more light hearted themes, such as elements of romantic comedy, seen in Nadia Attia's "Sold", which also leaves a deeper meaning, illustrating consumerism. Short films often lack narrative resolutions, due to time constraints, meaning audiences have different expectations when watching short films, in terms of the conclusion, which is often open ended.

Areas such as mise en scene, editing, cinematography and sound also vary in short film, however, they are often impaired by budget restraints. We often see a lack of score, simplistic and often open sets as seen in "Sign Language", and basic editing and effects as seen in the 'shopping channel' look in "Sold". Many films compensate for this by utilizing stylistic techniques, for example "Double Take" uses kenetic camerawork from a DV camera, a cheap technique used effectively to show the movement and create a sense of stalking from the cameraman who is later revealed to be a vigilante attacker. On the other hand, some short films do not face this problem, we see CGI and high production values used in Fede Alvarez' "Ataque de Panico!", showing how short film is often used experimentally, to show off new techniques, and to show promote a director or producer.


Titles also share similar conventions in short film as they do in feature length cinema, for example "Double Take" shows the full credits at the end of the film, keeping the viewer's attention on the action itself, also seen in "Sold" where the title of the film is seen before it begins. "Sign Language" adds an epilogue in played during the ending credits, giving a sort of "happily ever after" tone to the end of the film.

themes to consider in terms of are short film

There are 3 main purposes to make short films these are promotion, communicating a message and to experiment. my group has decided on using are short film to communicate a message, the message we want to communicate will be the main themes within it. social realism this is considered to be Britain's main cinematic style and is how we believe will give the strongest message to people. there are many themes that we will explore like the coming of age this is when your life comes into your life is no longer in the hands of others and you have to look after your self you make your own decisions. loss of community is one of the most common themes we have been studying and we are going to try and put that into are film, the loss of community was very dominant in the film "sold" by Nadia Attia this is one if the short films we studied in class and shows when a neighbor knocked for sugar at the main characters house he didn't even open the door just shouted throw it.

From the social realism films we have watched "this is Englandand" stands out to me as being very influential bringing up many themes of the time including racism and the youth culture at the time. we are also thinking of using the theme of youths the ways in which they don't think about the long term consequences of there actions. "dirty pretty things" is another film that we studied it is also in the genre of social realism showing the unglorified truth to what London is actually like there are many themes in this film but one that is very much big part is the black market in which the illegal immigrants have to live off it. we are also going to travel throw the black market and the dangers that go with it. we believe these are all very important themes to bring up to show a contemporary view on modern day Britain and get across the point that's it isn't just the lovely place that many films make people believe like in "urban fairy tales" this is why we are creating a social realism film. there are also themes such as multiculturalism, poverty and British identity which we will consider during the planing of are film.