Analysis of 6 Film Posters

• First StepsWhen analysing a poster, you should consider the following broad questions before you start to focus on the details:What are the main colours used in the poster and what do they connote?

• What symbols are used in the poster? Do you need audience foreknowledge to decode the symbols?• What are the main figures/objects/background of the poster? Are they represented photographically, graphically, or

illustratively?• Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?• Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster?• Given that all movie posters have the same purpose - to get audiences to go see a movie - what persuasive techniques are

used by the poster?• Which genre conventions are referred to?• Is a star used as a USP (unique selling point)?• Are "expert witnesses" (ie critics) quoted?• What pleasures (gratifications) are promised by the poster?• How is attention gained (humour, shock, surprise)?• How does the tagline work? (humour, pun, alliteration etc?)• Production Constraints

The poster can also give you important information about the production context of the movie:How much does the poster tell you about the institutional context of the movie's production?

• How important is this information on the poster (think about information hierarchies)?• How important a part of the whole marketing campaign is the poster? Where is the poster placed?• How expensive was this poster to produce?•

Critical EvaluationFinally, you have to pass judgement on the poster. Is it an effective poster? Why?

• Does it communicate effectively with the audience?• Are there any alternative readings which might harm the message of the marketing campaign?• Is the poster offensive in any way?

On the mans forearm there is a set of number that are in an electronic setting, this connotes to the audience that this film is going to include some type of SI-FI nature to it. This will attract a large number of si-fi fans. The set of electronic number on the mans forearm also give the audience a original question to ask, what are those number on his arm?. This question can obviously only be answered if the audience go and watch the film. The numbers on the mans arm also grabs the audiences attention and attracts them to the poster originally.

There is a clear relationship between these two characters as they are holding each other in a romantic fashion. This relationship is also shown by the eye contact the couple are making which suggests hat they are a new couple who have only recently fallen in love etc. This relationship raises questions about each character individually, this poster also shows the two main “good” character in the film, this introduction of the main characters before the film has even been released creates a relationship between the audience and the characters, this is important for the rest of the film when the characters are in trouble physically or emotionally; sympathy and emotion will therefore be shown from the audience due to the relationship they told from this poster. The relationship between these two characters is also obviously the main idea of the film and it the main narrative, this is shown due to the fact that they have the majority of the space on the poster

There is obviously a gun in the middle of the couple which is primarily pointed at the man. Gun are seen as dangerous and a sign of conflict and war, this gun could show the original conflict between these two characters. The idea of the female pointing the gun and the male is a opposite idea from the two holding each other romantically. This leads to question why there is a gun in between them and what the gun is being used for, conflict between them? Conflict between them and someone else?. This gives the audience a excised reaction to see what the gun will be used for and if it takes either of the two characters in the posters life.

In between the two characters there is a city in the background. The fact that the females is on one side of the city and the male is on the other could suggest to the audience that these two are from different ends of the city, the idea of two people being on the other end of the town and meeting to fall in love is very romantic and appeals to a wide range of audiences who enjoy romantic stories. The city in the background could also show a main part of the film, this could simply be an introduction to the setting of the whole film.

The poster gives a lot of information about the film and its characters/ settings. This gives the audience gratification and makes them feel comfortable in going to see the film because they know what to expect In a sense. The audience are also going to try decode the poster by watching the film. All the factors in the posters which creates questions and hints lead to the audience wanting to go and see the film to answer there questions and to be gratified.

Underneath the main pictures of the characters in the posters there are the actor names, the actor names are important to again make the audience comfortable with watching the film were they recognise or know the name of the actor, this gives them reassurance that the film will be acted as well as other films were the actors have been in. The poster also shows the actors names to show that this is a high budget, high end film that can employ these expensive and highly rated stars. The names of the characters also give the audience another reason why to go and see the film.

A lot of the information in this poster is given with images both photographically and computer generates images are used to give the audience clues and ideas to what the films about. The poster aims to keep people guessing to what the film is about and how it unravels to amaze , surprise and tense them up; all of which are expected in modern film in the 21st century.

This poster gives away some key information about the film, but not enough so that they don’t go and watch the film. It gives the audiences enough information to be excised about the film. The information the poster also gives across is to attract the right target audience, obviously this poster can attract many different types of audience, action, romantic, si-fi and drama. The poster is made cleverly to keep the audience asking question and to get to a point were the audience is in dire need to know the answers. Although this poster is not expensive as it is simple green screen behind a photo-shoot, it is well formatted and laid out to grab the audiences attention through the necessary factors, for example the gun and the electronic numbers on the names forearm. I believe this poster is highly effective due to the message it gives to the audience with keeping some key secrets for the viewing.

The movie title is given at the bottom of the film poster, next to the movie stars names. Ones the audience have been interested by the high end movie star names they are ten told the film title. The film title will then stay in the mind of the audience and they will look out for it and remember the title to go and see it when it is released. The title “In Time” connotes the idea of a rush for time or a target which must be accomplished in a time frame. The title it self makes the audience ask questions about the film. The title is also in a white bold font which stands out to the audience on a black background, these two colours being opposites it catches the audiences eye because of the opposites clashing. The audience noticing the is clash will also notice the name of the film, this film name must stay in the audiences minds to remind them to go and see the film which they had been impacted on by the film poster.

There is a dominant colours which surrounds the whole poster, a light blue covers the skin of the character and the space around them, this grey colour could connote the dark times that the couple are stuck in or the dangerous and bad situation they are in that they must escape.

The poster has a picture of three men standing, these three men are the main characters in the film and therefore are established in the film poster to introduce them to the audience. This give the audience a clue to who the main cast are in the film.

The background of the three men is bright lights which are high intensity, the light resemble city night life lights which flood the air. This background gives the audience an idea of a setting for the movie being a large party city, such as Vegas.

In the poster there are a few strange and unlikely things. For example one of the men has a baby wearing sun glasses and a hat, it is quite unusual for a baby to wear sun glasses, this brings humour and question to why the baby is wearing sun glasses. A similar pair of sun glasses is being worn by the man carrying the baby, this could suggest some type of relationship between the baby and the man carrying the baby.

The title to the movie is at the bottom “The Hangover” a hangover is something that society dreads and is a pain after alcohol. Similarly the title gives a good indication about what the film is about and gives away a rough idea of the overall plot of men having to much to drink and waking up in strange circumstances ( a random baby and a tooth missing). The title is created so that it is easily seen and remembered due to the odd title being something that the audience most likely don’t enjoy. The audience may also relate with the characters as they may of two ones had a hangover.

Since the humour that has come from the poster it Is quite clear that the genre of this film is a comedy. Comedy can attract a wide range of audiences and can be enjoyed my many ages etc.. Therefore the unusual funny aspects of the poster all contribute to attracting a well rounded audience.

At the top of the poster there is a small sentence which say “from the director of old school”. This is advertising the fact that this is a film made by an experienced director, it aims to hook member of the audience who have seen the directors easier films and to tell them that this film will be a similar standard to the film which was last made by the same director. The audience trust the name of the director to delivery a safe film that will be as enjoyable as the last. The reputation of actors and directors always attracts earlier/ similar audiences to larger box office numbers.

The poster attracts the audiences attention by the humour that the poster gives. The poster shows funny images such as a baby in sun glasses which attracts the audience attention, if the audience find the photo funny they will remember it and expect the film to also be funny with the same type of humour. The audience then go along to see the movie to gain pleasure in laughter.

There is a tag line at the top of the poster which gives the audience a main hint about the narrative of the film “some guys just cant handle Vegas” this suggest that the guys went to Vegas and had bad situation arise on them as a result. This confirms the setting that the audience get from the background of the poster ( bright lights).This tag line suggest that a lot happen and this leads t the audience questioning what else happened or why they went to Vegas, t therefore they will go and see the film to pleasure them self's in finding out the answers to their questions.

The poster mainly uses humour to grab the attention through visual pictures, these visual pictures can be interpreted in the audiences own way which why it is useful in attracting large range of audiences.

The bottom of the poster is bold writing here are the names of the reproduction companies and the film star in the film. This gives the audience trust in the fact that they have used these institutions before and know that they are good. Media reputation can go a long way and audiences are more likely to go to films with people they recognise in them due to the fact that they know that the standard of film that they were last in will be similar to this one.

This poster would be relatively expensive to make due to the amount of detail that has been put into it, for example all the main character being shown and various humours factors on show. Also the hours of editing that has gone into ensuring the background looks suitable and connotes the correct setting. There are also props in this poster which may be relatively expensive for example the baby.

The picture at the front of the movie poster is of two men. There is a strong connotation of conflict between these two men since they are facing away from each other, this gives the audience information that the film consists of a lot of conflict between these two character and the people with these characters.

This is reinstated by the smaller picture below them which shows two lines of men, one line wearing white and the other wearing black. These are similar colours to the men in the main picture.

The men's facial expressions on the front of the film poster also give indication on what the characters ( and his group) are like. The man on the right with the guards uniform has a angry and disturbed look on his face which connotes that he is trouble in the movie, the compared with the more innocent and confused look on the other mans face gives the audience reason to prefer he man on the left because he is more submissive with the violence.

Behind the two men there is some bars (similar to prison bars). These bars show the audience that in this film it is based in a prison or around the prison.

Therefore from the front of the movie poster the audience has gained a lot of information about the plot- There are two groups of men in a prison where some are guards and some are inmates, the whole situation is a experiment and there are a lot of things that happen in the movie that will “keep you guessing” as is said on the front of the film poster.

The black and dark clothing of the guards represents evil, destructive and violent. The white clothing which the inmates are wearing gives the connotation of innocence and peacekeeping. This representation is two give the audience an entail thoughts of the characters before they watch the film

The dark colour of the prison like background gives the connotation that the prison is not a nice paly an is home to many dishonest and unmoral things. The prison is represented to be a dark evil place which is not a normal suitable prison.

When society sees connotations of prison they think of being trapped and not being able to leave, this gives more information to the audience that the inmates cannot leave for one reason or another.

The title called the experiment basically describes the main narrative of the film being about an experiment. In the title the “X” in Experiment is enlarged to suggest the danger and caution that tis usually associated with an “X”. This connotes to the audience that the experiment is highly danger and does not go as planned.

The critics quote at the bottom gives the audience a good reason to go and see if it there have been strong review on it. The quote also gives the audience an idea on if they’ll like it being that this film will “keep you guessing” this gives the audience an active involvement in the film because they will be many questions asked during the film that can only be answered if they continue to watch the movie and gain gratification from eventually.Audience are attracted to the movie from

this poster due to the quotes and large and deviant looking title which gives the audience the indication that the film is not as that it seems.

The main colours in the poster and dark purple, black and grey. These colours connote evil, Villain and danger to the audience therefore they get a idea of how this character will act in the film of “the dark knight”. This is then likely to spark there attention with going to see the film to see how this character causes destruction and how he is then stopped.

The man in the poster ( The Joker) is at a slant, this connotes that he is unusual, at a difference, not a straight character. This reinstates the audiences idea of this character as being “not a good person”.

There are lots of ashes and sparks flying around the man in the poster, tis connotes that he is the one who is responsible for the destruction in the poster and that he is comfortable in the surroundings because of his usual behaviour as being the villain.

The poster grabs the attention of the viewer with the darkness and the disturbing evil that the poster has, the poster shows the villain instead of the hero which inclines that in the film , the villain has the upper hand and the power. Questions are going to be asked by the audience, to answer the questions they must watch the film.

There is a bright light behind the villain , this could represent “good” or “innocence” , in the poster the man is turned away from this light, this connotes that the man is not “good and innocent” and instead is the opposite with walking away from the light and into the darkness. All of these message are being picked up by the audience and a opinion of the man in the poster is being made before the movie is even released. This sets a tone for the film before its even out with the audience already having primary information about some of the characters.

There is a strong connotation of the poster that this man is the “villain” in the film, as well as many colour and stance factors there is also the destruction around him which connotes that he is in a natural environment and that this is his usually environment

There are other cast names at the top of the film poster which shows the audience what other characters are in the film, it give the audience other reasons to be attracted to the film and to go and see it. If they see an actor that they recognise and know to be a good actor then they are more likely to go and see the film.

When the audience see the villain in this surrounding of destruction they see that he is ultimately to blame for this, the audience will then want to see how and why he caused this and who and how someone is going to stop him, as well as these various questions are going to be needed to be answered by the audience, for the audience to find the answers they are going to have to watch the movie, when they do they will be gratified by watching the film and finding out the answers to the questions they get from this poster.

The dark knight logo is a bat, behind the bat there is a bright light that bleeds through the edges, this gives the connotation that behind the dark exterior of the batman there is a light soul that will defeat and punish villains.

This poster shows the main characters in a detailed and emotional way, the poster shows him with dirty clothes and blood on his face, this instantly connotes violence and a “hard man” attitude to the audience. He also has a gun strap on his shoulder which gives the impression of war and anger.

The character is also in front of a state building which suggests he is employed by the government to do various mission. This gives the audience the impression that he is in the FBI or police of some kind. This tells the audience that he is a legitimate authority figure that works for the state not against them; this basically classes him and being a “good guy” that the audience are subject to like due to him fighting the “bad guys”.

From below the main characters there are sparks coming from underneath him. This suggests that there is fire, explosions or heat coming from underneath him, this often suggest danger and near death which gives the connotation that this characters live life on the edge.

Below the title of the film there is a release date, this keeps the audience in quick knowledge about the name and date of the film which are the two main things they need to go and see the film.

The audience for this poster will be young males due to the clear action content.

As well as the poster showing a lot of hints towards action content which will attract eh audience, there is also questions raised from this poster that can only be answered if they audience go and watch the film. These questions will stay with the audience until they watch the film to find out the answers, when they find out the answers this will gratify them and they will relate this gratification with the movie thus giving the film a positive impression.

The main picture of this poster takes up the whole of the poster. The picture is of the moon as night and a person riding a bike in the sky with a large object in the front basket. There are firstly questions raised for the audience to think about such as “what's in the basket”, “how is the bike flying” and “who is riding the bike”. All of these questions are things that the audience can find out the answers to if they go and watch the film. When the audience go and see the film and find out the answers they will be gratified from knowing the answers and relate hat positive feeling for the film, thus giving the film a good name.

The title of the film and the fact that there is a large moon in the poster gives the impression that the film has relation to space or aliens of some kind, this is obviously a “believe or not believe” matter which would intrigue the audience to find out more. The audience will want to go and watch the movie to see how the film is showing this controversial subject through cinema. Because the idea and aspect of aliens is extremely strange the audience will want to see how the film shows aliens and how they come across in the movie whether is be evil or good.

At the bottom of the poster there are various intuitional and actor references which the audience can look at and see if they notice any actors that they have heard of or seen before. This gives the audience a feel of reassurance is they see an actor or institution that they know has a good reputation, this makes the audience more likely to watch the film.

The audience attention is gained with the surprise of a bike flying, this is obviously imposable therefore grabs the readers attention because it is not a sight that they would usually see.

Since there is no obvious sign of horror or action I believe that this film is targeted towards family's due to the innocent nature is has. The poster does not connote anything that would give the impression of anything that any age group would be offended or disturbed by. Therefore I believe that this film is suitable for all age groups.

With film that have aliens and other fiction factors in them it is often said that the main convention and attraction to he movie is not knowing many answers to many questions, the main attraction to this film is that there are many questions that have not being answered.

This poster would have been relatively cheap to make because of the simple task of taking a photo and then cropping a silo wet of a bike into the picture.