Conventions of a Horror Movie Poster

Movie posters have many conventions all of which can be seen throughout all genres of movie posters, from rom-coms to horrors. As I shall be producing a horror teaser trailer, I shall also be creating a horror movie poster as one of my ancillary tasks. The conventions of a movie poster consist of:

Title- The title is always in a large font that is either easy to read or easily recognisable. It is normally in a font that related or is recognised with the movie and is normally positioned at the top or bottom of the poster.

Image- The image is always clearly visible, relates to the film and is almost always used as the posters background.  It can be a close up of a main character, or a long shot with background in the background relating to the film.

Colour Scheme- For a horror film poster the colours used normally always consist of black, red and sometimes white/grey but other times they can consist of other colours that relate to the film and it's design.

Narrative- Some of the narrative may be shown in the movie poster, this could be visually with an image or with text. The image can show facial/body expressions as well as the appearance and position on the poster. The text can tell you a bit about the story, such as "Theres something wrong with Esther" in the Orphan.

Layout- The conventional layout for all movie posters is that there is a strapline at the top, a main image, the title of the film, a tagline and a release date. Most posters are also almost always portrait as this is conventional.

Unique Selling Point- The unique selling point on a film poster can consist or actors, producers or directors.

Release Date- The release data is normally always at the bottom and is in a colour that is apart of the colour scheme.

Quote/Tag Line- The tagline is normally positioned at the top of the poster, at the bottom of the poster or near the title. The tagline always related to the movie with a phrase or quote from the movie.

Directors/Actors Names- Directors and actors names are not always completely necessary, but when they are present on the poster they are normally round at the top of the page or around the title.

Age Certificate- When a film poster is advertising a film that is for 18s and over, such as a horror, an age certificate cane normally be found at the bottom of the poster.

Production and Distribution Company Logos- These are normally placed at the bottom of the page along with the age certificate.

Small Print of the List of Crew Members- These are normally always found under the title at the bottom of the page and consist of a list of the crew and actors who helped create the movie and is always in the same font on every film poster.




References:

From the Internet:
http://www.slideshare.net/KirstyW94/movie-posters-9657668
http://www.swcc.beds.sch.uk/studentresources/Media/Yr10FilmPromotion/FilmPromotionLessons/Lesson11.pdf