Codes and Conventions of Film posters

The majority of film posters all have the same codes and conventions. They all contain a main picture that is placed in the middle of the poster and usually covers the whole poster. Horror film posters usually use quite dark colours such as black around the edges of the poster. They all have the main credits placed at the bottom of the poster, usually in a white font. This is called the billing block and shows the directors, producers, actors and actresses in the film. All film posters have the title of the film in bold near the bottom of the poster, under the picture. On horror film posters, this is usually in a red font. Underneath the billing block, the distributors logos are placed here and the website is usually written in a larger font than the billing block so people can see it. Also, if the film has a release date, it is placed here as well. Lastly, at the top of the poster, the slogan of the film is usually placed here to give the viewer a brief idea of what the film is about.