Poster Evaluation: Inception

Analysing promotional posters from successful thriller films allows us to gain an insight into what a good poster will entail. Posters play a key role in the decision cinemagoers make with regards to going to see the film or not. They allow us, along with trailers, to paint a picture of what we expect the film to be like, (for instance, if you didn't like the poster and trailer of a film, you are unlikely to want to go and see it) so it's important to get the advertising aspect right.

The poster for Inception paints a successful pictue of what cinemagoers would expect of a psychological thriller such as this.

The photographic aspect of the poster is the most important component, and this is made clear by the man standing in the water being positioned directly in the center. The audience instantly know that this man is an important main character. In the background, there is imagery of a big city which is completely flooded with water. This makes the sub-genre of 'psychological thriller' clear to the audience along with the name of the film and the tagline.

At the top of the poster, movie star Leonardo Di Caprio's name is written in large, upper case lettering. By doing this the producers have another selling point, giving audiences another reason to go and see the film, as fans of Leonardo's will want to make the effort to go and see his latest project. Below this, there is a tagline of 'Your mind is the scene of the crime', further cementing the idea of a psychological theme to the audience. Taglines are designed to be slightly cryptic and create an enigma in peoples' minds about a film, causing people to go to the cinema to have their questions answered. The name of the film which is below the main part of the photo is red, in contrast with the blue-tint of the rest of the photo, which ensures it jumps out at the audience. Towards the bottom of the poster just under the title, there is text which reads 'from the director of The Dark Knight'. This is yet another selling point for the film as people who enjoyed The Dark Knight might want to go to see it because they liked the way he or she directed it.

All in all, this poster for Inception successfully portrays the basic structure of the film, leaving the audience with unanswered questions and an interest in the story, as well as many other selling points. When we design our film poster we will have this in mind and try to deliver our ideas in an interesting and creative way.