Ancillary Task : Audience Research Into Film Posters...

I decided that although the Internet is a great resource to findings out key information about poster, from the variety of posters to the code and conventions, a computer cannot give you a human response. Therefore it was crucial for me to conduct some audience research into what my target audience generally think of posters, what key elements they feel should be included and whether they actually take any notice of posters. I asked 10 people ranging from a variety of ages from 15 to 56 both male and female and have created a summary of the knowledge I gained from this :

1. What elements would you expect to find on a poster?
From the responses I received although only one of them had studied media studies at A-level (and that was a few year ago) everyone gave responses of which summarised the conventions that you would find on a film poster "main image, main title, main actors name, cast and crew, release date, possibly a key tag line from the film and maybe an age certification".






2. Would a film poster persuade you to see a film?
This was a response that I came across was that for some film posters are influential, especially ones that are more unique and stand out such as "the black swan poster". For many the poster is the the sole component that will persuade them to see a film but a collection of elements such as the review and generally hub about the film. If a well known actor was on the poster, one of my audience responses stated that they "may be more persuaded to see the film as they knew from the past work that they have done that
they are good".



3. Do you have a favourite poster?
This was a question that was open and could include any posters, some of my younger target audience said that they had favourite posters of music stars, whereas my older audience said they didn't particular have a favourite poster. The response I received specifically about film posters was that one on their "favourite poster is 'The Cabin in the Woods'", which was also rated on total film as the number one greatest film poster another of poster that came up as a favourite was "This is 40, due to the comical aspect of it, it cant but make you laugh" (surprisingly enough this was young adult males sense of humour!).



4. Do you buy any other products that are inspired by the main image on the poster, such as T-shirts or larger copies of the poster?
Many of the responses were I buy DVDs which have the image on the font of the cover, but I do not buy it specially for the cover. In the past some have brought larger copies for bedroom walls, however out of my target audience members none had brought t-shirts with the poster image on.

5. What kind of image would you like to see on a poster?
Many stated they would like to see an image that either included a main actor which would persuade them to see the film, or an image that left a bit of mystery was simplistic and made as an audience member you wanting to watch the film to find out what it was really all about. For example the response from the one whose favourite poster was 'The cabin in the woods' stated this was so "because it was so simple, it didn't give away the film and though just a single object created a feeling of the genre of the film".