Every poster made must be appealing, eye-catching, and different in order to grasp the attentions of the viewing public. Film posters tend to stick to similar layouts to each other too, and below are several of the conventions that can appear on film posters.
- Tagline - This can set the tone for the poster, as an engaging or mysterious tagline can leave the viewing public wanting to know more. A Tagline should leave the person who has just read it wanting to look on further into the poster.
- Title for the film - This is clearly a big importance to the poster, as it defines the name of the film. The style for this tends to vary although the concepts of the title for the film will always have the same aim, to grasp the attention of the public. A large font and special text will do this.
- Actor names - This is also a frequent feature among film posters, although the names of the credited actors tend to be more discrete and placed at the bottom of the poster for example. The main actors names will appear at some point on the poster and also the actors themselves in their roles may appear also.
- Film related images - It will always help if film related images appear at some point on the poster, this can be to unveil more to the viewing public. Although depending on the film genre this can vary, as a genre such as horror may have not many images relating back to the film, this could be to create a sense of mystery amongst the viewers and also to leave them guessing.
- Release date - This is a key feature also, as once the poster has been examined and the ideas of the film have been discovered, the viewer will want to know when the film is to be released.
- Website for film - A link to the film is always useful to the viewing public, especially if they are interested in gaining more of an insight into the film, or perhaps they want to explore the concepts of the film further such as explore the soundtrack to the film, look more into the characters or even engage in a Twitter or Facebook conversation.
