Movie Poster Research

For one of my auxiliary tasks I'm going to make a poster to promote my film.
This post shows my research of movie posters, I'll choose the ones I like and post them on here:

First of all I've got Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
I really like this poster for its colour scheme; sticking to a mainly auburn spectrum which enhances the 'old' feel of it (as the film is all about ancient things (Jones is an archaeology professor, not your typical one though)) and makes the writing 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' stand out really well.
I also like the fact that in the centre of the page stands the main character in his character's pose, and also the way that the lesser characters are on the outside, making it clear that they aren't as important. The cartoon style of the page fits in with the other 'Indiana Jones' posters and carries on the tradition of this. I like this cartoon style as it is different to most film posters, and gives it an '80s' feel (Many film posters in the 80s tended to be in a cartoon style).

Next up: The Goonies

An iconic film from the 80s, The Goonies' poster fits in with the film well, giving a taster as to what the film is essentially about: a group of kids in a cave. The treasure map beneath them also hints at treasure so again gives an insight in to the storyline of the film. This poster tells the audience a little without giving too much away, and the cartoon style again gives it a very '80s' feel. I like the way that the film's main characters are 'hanging' across the page as it gives the poster depth, however, the ones at the bottom aren't very visible. On a poster though, I suppose that they would be enlarged so you can actually see them, so this would be ok. The writing is also very neat to one side of the page.

Vertigo

An Alfred Hitchcock film this, so as you would expect this poster is a bit psychedelic to fit in with his mind. The red background hints at a violent film, and the title 'vertigo' along with the twisting picture and falling people shows it to be off-balance. It's simple but effective as the white on red stands out well and catches people's eye.



Singing in the Rain:

A classical musical, this singing in the rain poster features the umbrella from the title song. This poster is very simple with vertical black and white bars above the umbrella as rain. The writing is also drawn downwards, giving the impression that it is part of the rain, thus making it fit more cohesively with the rest of the poster. 

The very simple colour scheme of only black, white and yellow ensures that there is not too much going on in the poster and keeps the whole thing very tidy. I like the simplicity of this poster as it doesn't give too much away and leaves the audience guessing. 

However, I do think that it is a good idea to have the main character(s) of the movie on the poster as it shows the audience who is in the film.  

The Lion King:

This poster is really clever for its use of background. I love the way that the poster is nothing unless it has the large picture of the lion as its background, this could hint that a pride is nothing without its 'lion king' as where there is no lion background there is nothing. The colour scheme used here is really simple, sticking to mainly warm colours to fit in with the African setting, with the striking white to make the colours stand out more. The title of the film is also quite simple, with a simple font in white writing. Because of the small size and lower-corner placing of the title, however, I don't think that people would see it very well, as a poster though, it would be enlarged and thus would probably be big enough. 

Love and Other Drugs:

This poster (and also the name) very clearly shows that this film is a RomCom. The placing of the characters shows the 'love' part of the title and the background colour of maroon also hints at 'love'. 

The white writing against the dark background ensures that it stands out well, thus making sure that its audience sees it. 

I like the placing of the actors names to either side of the title, as they are both well-known, it draws in more people to watch the film. 

For my own poster I like the idea of using the main characters from the film and having their names on the poster along with the title and release date etc. Although I like the cartoon style displayed in 'The Goonies' and 'Indiana Jones' I believe that for a RomCom poster it will be better to not use this style but simply have a 'real' style, with little effects added to the poster. Most of these posters stick to a simple colour scheme, so I too will have a colour scheme to my poster depending on which story line I choose. 'The Lion King' poster used a cut-out style in the shape of a lion, fitting in with the characters of the film, I like this idea but I am not yet sure how I would use it in a poster for a RomCom.