Poster Research

A film's poster is very important for the success of the film. A poster is often the first thing a member of the public will see advertising the film, it has to give a rough idea of what happens in the film, the genre and often includes a memorable slogan.

The poster for "Suspicion" could be very similar to the poster for our film as our film takes place in a dark room most of the time with a light source (candle) in the centre of the room. On the poster, the vast majority of the space is blackened out however the light source draws the audiences' eyes to the poster and then sends their eyes to the title and the slogan.

On the bottom of the poster, the director 'Alfred Hitchcock' is stated along with the web address "SuspicionMovie.com" to find out more about the film. Also the bottom includes the names "Cary Grant" and "Joan Fontaine" to highlight two of the key actors in the film. The small print of the poster Lists "RKO Radio Pictures" in association with "Hasbro" followed by the directors name again. This is then followed on the next line by the names of actors who star in the film, "Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce Dame, May Whitty and Leo G. Carroll. The bottom line lists the music is by "Franz Waxman," the film is based on the novel by "Anthony Berkeley" and the screenplay is by "Samson Raphaelson,"Joan Harrison" and "Alma Reville"

Underneath this is the logo of Paramount pictures,

Unusually, this poster's main image is above the title of the film. On most posters the title of the film appears at the top of the poster making it the first thing you will see. This poster still works as an effective advertisement of he film however as the slogan is catchy and mysterious and the picture is very eye catching and equally mysterious.


The poster for Sherlock Holmes includes a picture of the two main actors along with their names "Robert Downey JR." and "Jude Law" above the title on the top of the poster. Unlike the "Suspicion" poster the title of the film is featured at the top of the poster, this is a more traditional approach to poster advertisement. The poster gives an instant idea of the setting of the film with the costumes that the actors are wearing and the old fashioned prop that the man on the left (Watson) is holding.

This poster features less information than the Suspicion poster as only the release date, the website address which is "www.sherlock-holmes-movie.com and the relevant companies' logos that helped get the film to where it is now such as "Warner Bros Pictures"