Harry Potter - Billboard Advertising

Advertising is an effective way of promoting films because it gets it out in the open for the public (the people who make the profit) to see.

Harry Potter is a widely known film and book all around the world and has remained successful throughout its book releases, film production and post-film production - it is still a very beloved film today and will continue to be for years to come. The fact that Harry Potter has such a hybrid of genres and sub genres (fantasy, action, adventure, science fiction, romance...) makes it perfect for most consumers to enjoy, which is why mass advertising was very necessary as is with all profited and successful films. It is important to maintain interested from the consumers even when they are waiting a year or two for the next film/book/episode. That is where advertisements come in:

Here is a billboard advertising the 7th part of Harry Potter. Immediately we recognise this as being a Harry Potter advertisement due to its typical house colours - very dark with greys blues, with that contrast of colours. We recognised these house colours due to the films raging popularity and numerous films produced - it is a known film, name and picture.

Also, we have the very conventional contrast of colours to represent the good and evil more clearly on the dark advertisement as the characters are submerged in the background. With green we usually associate negativity, jealousy and evil, where as orange is a much more vibrant colour and this connotes positive things such as sunshine, light (also something associated with good, angelic almost) and so on. This means the consumer doesn't need to take the time to look at the picture in order to see the two sides and main antagonist and protagonist in the film, they can simply assume it from first glance. 

Advertising this film and style 'banner' on this billboard is an effective way of grabbing the attention of the public because it is large therefore it is firstly noticeable in size. Also, the visual orientation can remain quite simple because the audience can already suspect what it is at first glance due to the films house colours and typography of Harry Potter (HP) - it is always in the same font/style. This then means that money isn't wasted on making a complex design for the advert therefore money can go towards more advertising/promoting.