Similar products: movie posters

I have decided to start looking at movie posters so I can get a flavor of what I need to include when I make my film poster to go with my trailer. A movie poster is usually dominated by the main character with the movie title and little writing. It gives little away about the film but needs to show enough to draw in  the audience and they do this in a number of ways:

This first movie poster is for the film the Great Gatsby. This poster does not give much away about the film but draws in an audience through a number of things. The first thing to draw them is the name and image of Leonardo DiCaprio. As DiCapiro is such a global star his image alone is enough to bring in thousands of fans, and the fact that the background does not contain any explosions or a city as seen in the background of most movie posters, it allows the poster to focus on DiCaprio even more. Also the outfit used can attract fans as the suit suggests that it is going to be a classy film and could maybe feature gangsters. Also because of the dickie bow it implies that the film will be based in the past thus making the audience more curious on what to watch. Finally the tiny bit of writing which says 'can't repeat the past? Of course you can' will intrigue the audience. This is because once again it makes the audience think what the film is on as it is impossible to change the past thus making them more curious and more excited for the film.

This a poster for 'Batman the Dark Night' film which came out in 2008. Straight away this excites the audience because it focuses on the villain instead of the main character. This is because it is clear that it is The Joker possibly the biggest villain every so people will be excited by him facing batman. Also the fact that 'Why so serious' and a smile is painted in blood with the Joker faded out reflects how dangerous and generally messed up the joker is thus making more fans want to see the film to see how Batman deals with this villain. This is a very effective poster as it is different to other as it does not show the main character and could be something I use in my poster.

Overall these two posters have helped me learn different techniques I could use in my poster to make it effective as well as how important things such as writing and costumes can be in drawing in my target audience.