Deconstructions - Film Posters

As far as I can tell after doing some research, there are two main types of film poster. The first is below, with the focus being on the characters of the film. This is usually the case when there are big name stars involved such as Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise as seen here. The poster can tell us quite a lot about the type of film it is going to be. From here I can infer that it will be an action film because Cruise is holding a gun. I can also infer that it is set in the future, possibly in a post apocalyptic setting because of the futuristic but tough looking clothes being adorned by the two men. However, we can hardly see any of the background or setting, which implies that there are either too many settings to choose from and that one doesn't stand out, or that the setting isn't particularly interesting.

The Other type of poster i've noticed are more focused on the setting of the film rather than any big name actors/actress'. The example I have below is that of Cloverfield, the horror film from 2008. The first thing you notice is the crumbling Statue of Liberty, which shows us two things. First, that the film is set in New York and second that the city has been attacked either in a war or conflict or by some kind of creature. Moving up the poster the words say 'Some thing has found us', which eliminates the war aspect and puts a spotlight on some kind of creature causing the damage. Moving to the background of the poster you can see that the city is in chaos, however it is in quite a concentrated area and seems to have come from a trail in the water we can see from the Statue. This implies that the creature is effective on land and in water. Lastly the font of the word 'Cloverfield' is what I would describe as 'quite alienish' which adds to the mystery surrounding what is happening.

  Both posters are effective in totally different ways, however both make you want to learn more about the film that they are advertising. I chose these two posters because they show two different angles that I could use for my poster, and mean I can learn from the best when creating my own version.

Here is a poster for another film from the documentary 'This is it' about the life of singer Michael Jackson. I've chosen this poster i particular because it is from the genre that I am going to use for my short film, the documentary genre. The film that this poster is promoting ended up being a tribute to the Pop star and I think this is reflected in the poster. The picture in the centre of the poster is actually a shadow filled with other pictures that sum up the show. The shadow is in the shape of Michael himself which is a very clever effect. This shadow is something (If I can incorporate it) is something I would like to put into my poster.