Digital Sketchbook: Film Festivals – Poster Research

There are many local, national and international film festivals every year, which are promoted through various different poster designs. After looking at a variety of film festival posters, I noticed that there are two main approaches to the design.

The Simple Approach

'Vienna International Film Festival' Poster, October 2006

'San Francisco Silent Film Festival' Poster, July 2004

The two pictures above show posters advertising previous film festivals. As you can see the focal point of the design is the festival name or ‘title’ and there are no images on the poster. This is effective as it is easy to read and to the point.

'Cannes International Film Festival' Poster, May 2007 (Paris)

The Cannes Internatinal Film Festival poster is effective as it establishes a brand image. Although the text is in French it is easily understood because the Cannes film festival is one of the biggest and most heard of. Therefore just the word Cannes is enough to fulfil the purpose of the poster.

'Bargain Basement Film Festival' Poster, August 2003 (Columbia)

'Festival International Du Documentaire De Marseille' Poster, July 2006 (France)

There are also posters that use images only [above]. They can also be very effective, however I feel that the image should have a strong connection with what it advertising and you should be able to easily associate it with the subject.

The Type-Based Approach

'Medfilm Festival' Poster, November 2005 (Roma - Italy)

'Mercy Hot Springs Film Festival' Poster, date not specified (Firebaugh)

'Festival Gay & Lesibian' Poster, date not specified (France)

'Slamdance Film Festival [Park City]' Poster, January 2007 (Los Angeles)

'2004 Bike Film Festival' Poster, May 2004 (Leicester)

On the other hand there are posters that use images and text combined to advertise the festival. Some posters have text but limit it to just the film titles and location details. However some posters can have a lot of detailed information. For example the Bike Film Festival has information about the films being shown, the film plot, ticket prices etc. I found that local and less popular national festivals had more information to create further awareness. Whereas the international festivals are more known of and don’t really need details like ticket prices or location. In addition to this the less popular festivals have an emphasis on logo design and sponsors.

http://filmfestivals.com/servlet/JSCRun?CfgPath=ffs&Cfg=festlist.cfg&obj=FestPosterListPro 2006