10 ways to use a cinema postcard

1. Analyse the image as a piece of advertising – denotation, connotation, placement, layout, message.
2. Use it as a creative writing starter – describe the image on it with as much detail as possible.
3. Use it as a creative writing stimulus – stare at the postcard intently for one minute (letting your eyes de-focus as if for a magic eye image) then close your eyes and see what floats up from the depths.
4. Create a character based on the image on the front, then write a postcard home from him on the back.
5. Reward card – sending it home to say well done.
6. Creative writing – reordering your story. Write a plot summary. Write each sentence on the back of a card. Turn all over and use the images to create a new order (images that fit, images that tell a story, pairs of images, chains of association). Then recreate your story in the order on the postcards.
7. Write ultra-short stories or flash fiction, that cannot be longer than you can fit on one card. Display/ distribute the cards around school to promote creative writing and reading.
8. Use them to write out poems on. Distribute around school in various places to celebrate National Poetry Day.
9. Write a postcard home from a character in the novel or play you are studying – the postcard has to use vocabulary and characteristics which you can show evidence for from the play or book.
10. Persuasive writing – either trying to sell the product on the front of the card, or persuade the reader to visit it. And you have a ready-made illustration!