Textual analysis: Film posters;
For my A2 project I am creating a film trailer, and as I am doing that I also have to create a film poster for my film trailer. As I do not know much about film posters I am going to analyse four different film posters, for four different film genres. The first one I am anlysin is a romcom film poster, for the film 'The Ugly Truth'.

Film posters have their own codes and conventions that most of them follow, these are the name of the film, a main image of the film, usually including the actors in the film, and if there are big name stars in the film, they will put there names on the cover in bold letters to attract the audience, they also sometimes have a certification on the poster, and on action film posters and horrors they're usually around 15 or 18. Another convention is that they have credits on the bottom of the cover, usually in small writing so it doesn't detract from the poster, they also sometimes have a logo on the poster for the certain film, and this is a way of attracting the audience, and there is also some sort of persuasive language to attract the audience.

The Ugly Truth:
The ugly truth is a romantic comedy made in 2009.
Title/name: The title is at the bottom of the poster, and this goes against conventions of most film posters as they're usually at the top of the poster, as you take more notice of a poster if the title is at the top. The title is in bold, black letters, and this is a convention of film posters as the titles of most posters are in bold as they stand out more, and as the background is white the black really pops and draws your eyes straight to the title, the word 'ugly' is bolder than the other words, and this suggests that this is the main theme of the film, people lying, and how it is ugly when you lie, and as the image is of two people, and the man is in black the same colour as the title, it suggests that he is a compulsive liar about everything, and the title subtly conveys this to the audience so that they go in to the cinema with an opinion on him already, and this is what the producers want as they can then shock the audience by changing this opinion. The font of the title is quite simple and not over the top, and I think it is better like this as it goes with the theme of the poster, as the poster is quite a simple poster with a plain white background, if the font was very over the top it wouldn't work, and would detract from the message of the poster.

Image: A convention of film posters is to have an image representing the film, most often with the actors in the image, and it usually takes up the whole poster, and this poster follows all these conventions. The image is in the centre, making it the focus of the poster, and the image helps convey to the audience what the characters are like. The women, Katherine Heigl is in a red dress, and this is a code of films signifying danger, but her expression contradicts it as she is smiling and happy, and it conveys to the reader that maybe she is dangerous for Gerard Butler, as he is portrayed as being a bit of a womaniser, it suggests how she is dangerous to his bachelor life and will stop it, the dress and shoes are very smart, and this suggests that maybe she is a career woman, and this also reflects the target audience for the film as it is aimed at career women, and the pose is also quite seductive suggesting how she does like him, but as he is a womaniser she cannot trust him, and I think that is also what the barrier represents, how she cannot break his wall and get to know him, as all he wants to do is date and have fun, and the wall can also represent how they want different things in life and that is separating them, she wants a family life whereas he wants to date lots of women, and this is also represented by the hearts they're holding. Katherine is holding her heart next to her head, and this conveys to the audience how she is sensible, and professional, as sh thinks with her head, and the heart represents how the people she is attracted to are also smart, and think with their head, and she values intelligence over looks. Gerard Butler is holding is heart on his pants, and this immediately conveys him to be a womaniser, as it suggests that he just thinks with his pants, and the wall represents how opposite they are, as he thinks with his pants, and just values appearance and is very shallow, whereas she values intelligence. The smart suit also reflects how he is bachelor, as in romcoms womanisers are often in smart suits, in good jobs, and he is so the poster shows him to be the stereotypical womaniser, his pose is also very casual, and the way he is looking at Katherine suggests he is going to hit one her, and as the audience already have their opinions on him, they don't want him to as they think he is going to break her heart. The image follows conventions as it allows the audience to create an opinion on the characters, and the image is also the main focus of the poster. The image also represents the audience for the film, as most romcoms are aimed at women, but the poster shows that their are two main protagonists a man and a woman, and this suggests that the film is aimed at both men and women.

Stars: The film poster has the names of the stars at the top of the poster, this is a convention of film posters who have big name stars in it, as it attracts people to the film, because if they're very popular stars fans will come and see the film to see what they're like in it, and also the actors fans may not like the film they're in or want to go and see it, but if they like these actors they may go see it just because they're in it. Also Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler are known as romcom actors, and are probably the best romcom actors, so putting these two together appeals to many fans, as they may want to see what they're like together. They also have put their surnames in bold, as their surnames are quite unusual and no one else in Hollywood have their surnames, so people recognise them immediately, and they recognise the actors more with their surnames in bold rather than their first names in bold. The names are also in black and in bold, and this is the same as the title, and it is because their names will stand out against the white background, and the producers want their stars names to be noticed.

Credits: A convention of film poster is that they usually have credits on the poster, and they're usually at the bottom so it doesn't take up much of the poster, and it doesn't draw your attention, as they don't want the credits to be the main focus. The credits are usually on the poster because they have to be there, and on the poster they're in quite small font, and again this is another convention of film posters, as they're not the main focus of the poster. The credits on the film poster are in grey, and this follows the colour theme of the poster, but they're in grey as it doesn't stand out as much against the white background then the black does.

Website: The poster also has the website on it at the bottom of the page, I think it is at the bottom because they would rather people go and see the film, than look at the website, but it is there as it further promotes the film, but at the bottom it makes it seem like it is not the main focus of the poster, the website is just an added extra. The website is in red, again representing the colour theme, and it is in red as it stands out against the background, and it is different to the title. The website is a convention of film posters, as the website of the film is usually on the poster as it brings more revenue to the film.

The poster does go against conventions as it doesn't have a phrase or line that is specific to the film, many films have this such as Titanic, their line was 'nothing on earth could come between them', films usually have this as it makes the film much more rememberable, and it is unique to the film. The film poster also doesn't have much persuasive language, which are seen on most posters, as the language encourages the audience to go and watch the film, and is also a way in subtly conveying the plot to the audience, as for the Titanic, the line suggests that something is going to separate them, something they have no control over, and this air of mystery makes the audience want to see the film.