2. Modern Promo Poster Marketing
Have you ever heard the phrase the first bite is with the eyes? Well the very same principal applies with film. You use more than one sense when you watch a movie; sight and sound both play huge a huge part in the realm of the physical, but in the realms of the mental youre also using an innate ability to perceive and understand things like subtext, dialogue quality, performances. A lot goes in to how you view a film, which is why making a film itself is so difficult. However, about a fraction of that goes into the viewing a movie poster, which is why its possible to make a movie look awesome from its promo material, even if how bad it actually is is bordering on an affront to mankind. Modern movie marketing is manipulative to a degree you wouldnt believe. Just take a look at this poster:
You might think: Yeah, that looks awesome, 3 guys and the obligatory girl using guns to dispense justice. And one of them is Samuel L. Jackson! Heres what youll think afterwards: God, that movie was so bad, I might willingly gouge my own eyes out with a teaspoon when I get home. Its funny how something as inanimate as a poster can influence our decision to pay our money, but it really can and Hollywood knows this all to well. I can practically hear the Studio exec setting the brief for the designer who made the above poster. I imagine it goes a little something like: Make sure every star weve got is on there looking pissed off so we can appeal to each fan base. And make sure there are guns on it, plenty of guns. Kids like guns right? Yes, kids do like guns. But you already knew that.