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Thursday 20 September 2012

Film poster analysis: Going the Distance

Part of the A2 Media course is to create a film poster for our short film. This is a somewhat hard task due to the nature of short film, which is almost a genre on its own. Short films don't tend to have posters. Also, my short film pulls from several genres, so I need to analyse a variety of posters to find out not only the conventions but inspiration for what I want on my own poster.

The first film poster I am going to analyse is that of Going the Distance (2010, Burstein). This romantic comedy is about a couple who struggle with their long distance relationship. The couple travel between New York and San Francisco whilst trying to keep their relationship alive. I have chosen this poster due to the comedy and romantic aspects of the film as these are the genres most applicable to my short film. 







The title - The title is the largest text on the poster attracting attention to it. It fits the colour scheme of blue and yellow but the darker blue makes it stand out. The font is the same simple font across the poster, meaning its not too busy to look at. Also the simple font type doesn't look out of place nor dose it detract from the main characters in the foreground. 
The tagline - The tagline is smaller than the main title showing that it is less important, it in keeps with the colour scheme being blue. The message is straight forward "A comedy about meeting each other half way." it gives away the genre being comedy along with the picture of the characters telling the audience it is also a romantic film. I don't like how it outright says that it's a comedy, these seems like something a quote from a reviewer would do. I do however like the double meaning of the tagline, they meet each other half way in the physical journey to see each other and also they may compromise on their ideas. 

Colour scheme - The colour scheme is really simple and this theme of blue and yellow dominates the posters background and makes the characters in the foreground stand out. I really like this simple look with two main colours as it keeps the picture from becoming too complicated yet their is still quite a bit going on. The background sets it part from other rom-com posters and ties the theme of the narrative into the poster. 

Release date and logo - Most film posters have the release date somewhere on the poster to tell the audience when it will be on the screens. Having it at the bottom of the poster is good in my opinion as it doesn't subtract from other aspects of the poster. It is the only text in white making it stand out from the rest. However I'm not sure that having the full web address is necessary any more, people are much more likely to just Google the name of the film. A more modern approach would to have a QR code on the poster. The logo of the production company Warner Brothers is at the bottom of the poster. This advertises the company and associates it with the film. 

Main characters - The two main characters- Erin and Garrett -played by the most famous cast members are in the foreground. The audience are most likely to recognise these characters and may want to go and see the film when they see they are starring in the lead roles. It also gives a clear idea of the genre and who the film is about. I'm not yet sure whether to feature the characters on my film poster, it wouldn't be for the same reasons as this if I did as my actors are not (yet) famous. I could however make a parody of a romantic comedy poster, they always tend to have the main character/s and their love interest/s as the main focus of the poster. On the other hand I would quite like my film to have a certain artistic credit that I don't think that type of poster would help with. To me it screams cliché. That's why I like this poster, it has taken a withstanding cliché  taken out the really relevant/vital aspect (the characters) and made it interesting and different.  
Actors names - The main (most famous) actors names are at the top of the poster in a bigger font than the other names. This is to assert their importance in the film, it is most likely that they get the most screen time. It also could draw in audience members that wouldn't otherwise be interested in the film but due to the famous actors they might be. This may certainly be the case with Drew Barrymore in this film. 



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