Shown above is the poster for Dirty Harry. The poster features an artist impression instead of photos or stills from the film. This is possibly due to lack of computers which facilitate editing programs (e.g photoshop.)The poster features a simple white background with the main character as the main image. The films title is in red to stand out and is in the largest font size, however the second largest font is the name of the actor, Clint Eastwood. This enforces the idea that the film company are relying on Clint Eastwood's popularity to sell the film. The character is shown to be holding a gun, one of the conventions of the action genre. From looking at posters of action genre films its clear that they almost always feature a gun/guns, this means that over time audiences have become accustomed to the idea that a gun in a film poster means its probably an action film.
The poster for Scarface shown above also enforces my previous point about guns as the character is holding one too. The poster uses almost exclusively only black and white, playing on the idea of good and bad,with just the film title in red to stand out. The poster is still very simplistic and features a detailed "tease" of the plot. It is significant that in contempary film posters, teases are reduced to sound bites and give little of the plot away. Compared to the Dirty Harry poster it seems to be a step backwards, however it doesn't try and sell the film on its star actor so the use of more text to intrigue the viewer was possibly necessary.
The above poster for Die Hard features a still from the film. The large image of Bruce Willis along with his name being in the second largest font shows that they too are trying to exploit the actor's popularity, in the same way as they do on the Dirty Harry poster. It also has some text explaining the plot slightly and also describes the main character, similar to the Scarface poster.
The poster for Transporter 3 shows the biggest change. It clearly relies heavily on photo editing software that designers in the 70s and 80s didn't have access to in order to create posters. It also features many conventions of the action genre: guns, subservient women, fast cars and explosions. The whole image connotes action with Jason Statham's character diving across the screen and the previously mentioned conventions. The poster is also headed in bright blue with Jason Statham's name which stands out against the white back ground. The poster uses all the techniques from the previous posters, such as the main actor's name is clearly visible to sell it on his popularity. It clearly defines itself as an action film with the guns and the character actually midway through a dive and features a short tagline explaining the plot in the briefest way possible. This may reflect the idea that we are moving from a text based communication culture towards a computer based one.
Its clear that posters leave more to the imagination of the audience today but also give a clear picture of what type of film it is and what to expect. The amount of text on the modern day poster has become shorter and shorter, and now is usually just a short sentence giving a very basic impression eg "if you need it to arrive safe and in one piece- Hire a professional" This gives a hint that the character will have to protect someone or something, and that the object may be in danger.
Films today don't just rely on posters for promotion but the internet too. This new method of cinematic advertising is a far cry from just using posters and trailers and offers the audience a new level of interactivity. It often offers very little information on the films plot but immerses you into the film's world/fiction. Numerous films like The Dark Knight and Cloverfield have used viral campaigns. This method of promotion relies on the audience getting intrigued by either video clips, flash games or various other promotions. The Dark Knight is possibly one of the best example of a viral campaign. The campaign resulted in gatherings of fans wearing joker make up or championing their faith in Harvey Dent, a fictional character in the Batman universe. This occurred through the use of numerous websites, word of mouth, and projections of the "bat-signal" onto public buildings and even news readers wearing Harvey Dent pins. This method can often be cheaper then paying for TV spots and poster/billboard space and can often create additional interest in the film or even attract audiences who may have not engaged in this kind of activity before. However its also a big risk as the whole promotion could fall through. A good example of putting a lot at risk is shown again by the Dark Knight, where they created a real life joker army,a full example of the viral is given http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/12/05/the-dark-knights-viral-marketing-gets-very-real-cakes-cell-phones-and-all/
