"Harry Potter" movie poster analysis

by akatsuki (student)

Poster Analysis

The purpose of this film poster is to advertise and to persuade the audience. The companies that produce a film want their end product to be known worldwide; so they put all their effort into making the best film, as well as creating the most eye catching and interesting film poster. They make a film poster to persuade more people to come and see the film, and so earning more money. The film companies need to get the most money they can so that they can earn back the money spent on making the film, as well as the payment of the actors/actresses and the rest of the staff. The genre of this film is fantasy, adventure, action and thriller. It is targeted for people of any gender and for people aged 12-40. The producers want the younger audience to watch the film so that they can get even more money out of them. For example, young teenagers aged 13-15 may not have a job and so therefore get money from their parents. By doing this, more people would be watching and thus more money for the company.

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The main picture consists of the main character, evil villain and a metal object. This suggests that the main character may be trying to stop the evil villain and that they are the two characters that the movie focuses on. The metal object tells us that the film focuses on it as well; it is placed in between the two characters so this suggests that the object may come between the two of them. This object and the two people are the most important things in the film and so are put in the poster to make the audience more interested. In the background, there is the bright shining moon hidden behind some grey clouds, the Hogwarts school/castle, some rocks and water, lit lamp posts and a starry sky. The dark starry night and the moon suggest that the majority of the film may be set in the night time, or the film just has a dark feel to it. The clouds signify that there may be a dark and mysterious secret hidden within the film. The lampposts tell us that in the dark, the characters might be given some help. The rocks and the water tell us that the characters may come across an environment like this. The Hogwarts school/castle tells us that this building plays a big part in the film, the way all the lights are on in the castle suggests that the castle would be ‘alive’ and active during the film. The colours used in this poster is very dark but with a few lights dotted around at the bottom of the poster. The dark background gives the feel of secrecy, but also the feeling that there is something hidden within the film. The facial expression on the first character is very mysterious and evil. He looks like he is annoyed at something or that he is serious about what he is aiming to do. The second character looks a little worried and confused. The main title of the film is printed on bigger than the other text in the poster; this is to attract the audience’s attention as the ‘Harry Potter’ series has become a major hit worldwide. The sub heading/the title of the sequel is printed on smaller because it is less important from the main heading. The title’s font is sharp and metallic. The ‘P’ on Potter is the same shape as the scar on his forehead. There are no taglines, quotes or actors names in this poster. But there is a web address advertised on the bottom, by putting in a web address the website would become more successful and the company will earn a little more money.

To conclude, I like the way this poster is laid out and the chosen images put in. This is because the poster does not tell us everything about the film, only some information is given and this leaves questions in my head. I think it was good to put Voldemort and Harry Potter in the poster as this shows there might be conflict between the two. The object in the middle is the very important information in the poster because the whole film is based on the findings of the different parts to it and if it is not there, then this does not really tell us much about the film and what it is about. I think this film will be very interesting and successful.