` Codes and conventions

Short film posters

Title

A common convention of short film posters is that they have white font for the title. This may be because it is simple and stands out, catching the eye of the viewer, especially when it is on a dark background.tAnother convention is to have bold typography so create an impact and get interest from the viewer.

Examples

Subject

We found that some short film posters don’t have the face of a person in but instead either their hands or feet.This could show the importance of said hands or feet within the film or to not reveal the identity of the character as it a major part of the plot.

Examples

Facing away

A common convention of short film posters is that the characters in the poster is facing away from the camera. A reason for the lack of direct mode of address could be that the character in the poster is trying to prove something in the film, like a journey of discovery.

Examples

The main image of this poster is screaming romance. From the tree in the convenient shape of a heart with a teenage male and

female (stereotypical, hegemonic film couple – young, heterosexual and romantic) as well

as the beginning of a sunset with warm colours with has connotations of love and

romance. The framing of the shot also speaks about the film. Both male and female

are taking up the same space suggesting they are equal however the tree in the

centre of them both splits them up showing there will be a conflict of sorts between

them both. A stereotypical romance which seems to be the preferred reading of the

poster

A typical convention a short film posters is to not have anchorage in a tagline.Like in examples such as Call Me Home, Sevilla and Fable

The tone and register of short films can vary dramatically as they cover all subgenres, however we are trying to focus more on the seemingly romantic tone with a light degree of formality, like young adults.

Previous credits is also a convention of film posters and is used a a form of guarantee and a means of prompting audience expectations. This couples with a positive quote, something a newspaper, similar demographic or respected critics write and give stars for the film, which again is a big form of advertisement for the films and can reference aspects of the film which are not shown within the poster

Barthes and Short Film Posters

The Proairetic Code is the idea that little actions that do not particularly raise questions creates tensions and builds suspense for audiences to guess what happens next. This could be used in short films posters, as little parts of the poster may not straight away raise questions, but may have an impact on the film as many short films contain a plot twist at the end.When a text is not being fully explained, it is considered to be a Hermenutic Code, as audiences want to find what happens as so far everything is a mystery. This is very common in film potters, as the viewer does not have the whole story, so they are curious to find out more.

Two other codes from Barthes are the Enigma Code; which pushes audiences to ask questions about the films plot, which they can do by trying to read the plot from the posters, and the Semantic Code; which looks at symbols and connotations and the meaning of these and what they imply

This poster has an example of Hermeneutic Codes. As the only thing in view is a computer screen and a chair. The audience wants to know what it has to do with the film and what is on the computer screen.It also has Enigma Codes as a computer could have connotations with sharing and lack of privacy which couples with the title to suggest the plot to the audience