Genre and Institution Research

Layout: I would expect to see a significant object of the short film placed somewhere in the centre of the poster. It doesn't necessarily have to straight in the middle of the poster, but I would want it to be near enough in the centre of the page to draw the audiences attention to what genre this film is.
The cast names can be either in the centre to add a more of a stylistic approach to the poster, or the text can be along the top, much like this poster. Normally you would have the actors names along the top in a reasonably sized text because they are ultimately the selling point for the film.

The information about the crew is usually shown at the bottom of the poster because of the fact is less important to the audience. The audience want to see what actors are starring in the film, rather than seeing who the cinematographer is.

Colour: The colours of this poster stick to the common conventions of a thriller short film. You would normally associated a thriller film with more darker, secondary colours for its posters. This poster has used a very dark blue starting at the bottom of the page and gradually gets lighter with the use of a gradient effect. They also have a brighter colour which is positioned directly down, on what we perceive to be as the protagonist. Ultimately, most short film posters keep the colours to only 2 to 3 to make the poster look more professional. If you cram a load of different colours on a poster, unless its completely necessary, doesn't look as professional as having only 2 to 3 colours. The light, whitish colour of the light shining down on the 'protagonist' allows him to stand-out to the audience, which is a critical aspect when you have the protagonist on the poster, you must make them stand-out.

Text Use: The use of text on this poster is kept to a minimum, which is a typical aspect of a short film  poster. On the top of this poster it says who the creators are of this short film. Normally, you would have the actors names on the top of any film poster, the audience care more about who is starring in this short, rather than who the creators are. The actors in a short film are the ultimate selling point to the audience. Even though the creators must be taken into account, the actors should always be the main focal point in terms of text, unless the creator is of  a high status in the film industry.

They have show the name of their short film in quite a large font. This allows the audience to focus their attention on the name of the film. They have positioned the name of the film near the protagonist so the audience's attention is automatically drawn to that space in the poster. The text is professional looking and fits with the style of the poster. The font is modern which fits with the modern stylistic design of this poster.

Content/ Image Features: This poster features the protagonist in the centre of the page, with a shadow mirroring him on what seems to be the floor of where he's sitting. This gives us an idea of what may happen to the protagonist, which allows the audience to start guessing whats going to happen. This automatically gains the audiences interest because their guessing what will happen. Common conventions of any film poster gives the audience a significant aspect of an event or an object associated with the protagonist to give them almost a 'teaser' of whats going to happen in this film.

Another common convention of this film poster is the fact they've shown the protagonist. This is a typical aspect of many film posters because it allows you to see the what emotional state the protagonist is in in this certain situation. It allows allows you to get a glimpse of what kind of character the protagonist is based on their appearance and what emotion their inflicting to the audience. Also, if there is a big actor in a short film, they will normally be shown to again draw the audience in, which sparks their interest in watching this short film even more.

Short Film Institution

How are they created? 
The director/ writer of this short film, Andreas Climent, also shot this film and edited it. So, he was the one who most likely created this poster with the help of Andre Hedetoft, who also helped create this short film. Therefore, its most likely that the two creators of this short film created this poster, possibly using the program Adobe Photoshop. Firstly though, they would of had to get a shot of the protagonist to build the rest of the poster around him. They probably also had a few opinions from other people associated with this film, and maybe even a graphic designer before finalising this poster for advertisement.

The cost of creation?
Graphic designers will usually charge an hourly rate from around $50 to $100. In addition to this price, the material, shipping costs and other things involved within the making of the poster will be extra money on top of the graphic designers price. The size of a film will vary in prices in terms of the creation of the poster. The background of the film, actors involved, and ultimately the popularity of the plot, will vary the prices of the film poster. The price could range from $2,500 to $5000 for a Hollywood film. Also, the graphic designer will normally take around 15% commission on the printing cost.

How much does it cost to have a poster displayed?
When making an independent film, whatever your budget is, you must always set aside at least 10% of that budget for marketing. To attract your desired target audience, you need to have effective marketing for your films (i.e. trailers, film poster) which will firstly gain an audiences attention.

How film companies use posters
Ultimately, film companies use posters to attract an audience to their film. More publicity and marketing of the film will gain more attention from audiences. Companies also like giving teaser poster which include an illustration which will give audiences a sneak peak of the film, and then eventually the final poster will be released. Not all film companies do this, but the ever rising use of fan-art has sparked interest in production companies, with the added effect that designers can play around more freely with design, rather than worrying about the commercial pressures.

Successful Examples 

One of the most highest grossing films of all time, Titanic, used this now iconic movie poster to firstly market their film. As you can see, both main characters are shown on the front, and the added effect of the Titanic ship, which is untimely what the film is based on. This poster looks relatively simple, but yet it gives you a sense of the tone of the film and the relationship between the two characters on the front lead us to believe that this also a romance.