How are film posters made?

Below are a selection of film posters I have analysed in order to understand just how to compose a professional-looking film poster for our own film.

This film poster for the film Mirror Mirror is a new take on the original fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After looking at this film poster, it is really clear that film posters should make it clear what genre the film is, and what the general story is. They should be interesting and eye-catching, whilst including all the important information such as the release date, the name of the film, and perhaps information about whether or not the film will be viewable in IMAX or 3D.

This film poster focuses on the genre too by way of using the background image and a tagline intended to inform the audience of the general story. As opposed to the first poster for Mirror Mirror which focuses on the fairytale, fantasy aspect of the film, this one focuses on the character relationships and the war context of the story. Because this is a drama film, we can take inspiration from it because it is of the same genre of our film.

This film poster focuses more on the fantasy genre. Just from looking at this poster, the audience can ascertain that it might be mildly frightening from the expressions on the character's faces and that it will be set in exotic locations. Again because this is not just a drama genre, the poster is more likely to always focus on unique locations and the action.

This poster is again another we can draw inspiration from because it is the same genre as our film: a drama. Within that however, this film contains action and suspense which can be seen a little in this poster through the expressions of the characters and the fact that they are clinging to each other desperately. Just like the War Horse poster, this one focuses on the situation of the characters and their relationship.


http://www.sixsix8.com/2009/12/the-movie-poster-font-you-were-looking-for/ - this website shows the font of the text which is used at the bottom of film posters. It is called 'Steel Tongs' and is used by all film companies when they design film posters. This will allow us to make our poster look really authentic.

http://justcreative.com/2008/05/13/how-to-design-a-movie-poster-with-an-example/ - this link will take you to a website which clearly takes you through all the different stages of making a professional-quality film poster. They describe each stage of the process in detail and display the finished product at the end. They give tips on how to make the film poster a good-quality looking poster, and the website is available to anyone on the Internet.

Below is a screenshot of the bottom of a Harry Potter film poster. This will allow us to include all the important text needed for a professional-looking film poster.