Research into Film Poster Design

I decided to research different ways posters for Psychological Dramas/Thrillers are designed, and why they were designed like that. I also looked at the effect that these posters had on the audience and the kind of things they gave away about the film.

              

 

This set of four poster from films that are all within the psychological thriller/drama genre, and the first thing i noticed, and what i think is probably the main focus in all of these posters, is the close up shots of the main characters face, and their intense eyes. For the first two film posters; The Butterfly Effect and Black Swan, it seems that the eyes of the people shown prominently in the poster are unusual, which could suggest that there is something wrong with them psychologically or something happens to them throughout the film that could change their mind set, which is expressed through their eyes. 

              

 

The second pair of film posters, Secret Window and Shutter Island, are not as strange and out of the ordinary as the first two, but the facial expressions of the two prominent characters are still as strong, and the eyes are still vibrant, even if not distorted or different colours. These posters seem to suggest something internal, something that is psychological but not as out going and in your face as the others. The eyes of these characters are still bright and the focus of the poster, but they are lit up by another form of light, either something held and from a window, but this kind of light caused shadows which suggests secrecy and suspicion, which are big elements for Psychological thrillers/dramas.

                        

This next set of posters are slightly different to the ones before. With these, rather than there being a facial expression to show the style of the film, these poster show full figures surrounded by unrealistic objects or images and light airy backgrounds, which can suggest could suggest isolation, and the psychological effects isolation can have on individuals, or it could be showing psychological isolation, which would mean the people seen in the poster have different minds sets to others, which makes them stand alone. 

This has helped see the kind of styles of poster design that i could go into when considering the poster design for our film.