POSTER: Analysing Conventions of Film Posters

Film posters are key for sparking interest from a large variety of people, people who read reviews may be already interested in that one type of genre whereas film posters can attract any body's attention by their symbolic yet functional advertising. Film posters can provide information regarding the film it is advertising, so audiences know what film it is and what might be expected, this is where audiences may gain an interest into the film. I researched several film posters, one in particular is 'Silence of the Lambs' which is shown below.

This film poster engages the audience due to its enigmatic nature. Upon close inspection of the poster, it indicates the genre of the film, and what is to be expected. The redness of the girls eyes present danger to the audience, and the moth covering her mouth may indicate an inability to scream, this produces a disturbing and morbid image. On a closer glance of the moth, we see that it consists of women bodies in a distorted way in the form of a skull. This may hint towards the plot of the film, and also attract audiences by its disturbing nature which also produces curiosity regarding the film.

Due to this research into film posters, this enabled me to think of possible ideas for my own film poster for our short film. Our group may be inclined to produce a poster to advertise our film, yet give hints to the audience of what our film may contain and what audiences can expect.