Analysis of 7 film posters

1. Ancillary Task 1: Poster Analysis By Kym Tran

2. SIN CITY MOVIE POSTER Purpose: This poster is to advertise the film, but also shows who the films is directed by, who stars in it and who the special effects are by. But it does still look modern. Colour: Red, black and white colours are used. The red lips of the woman stand out within the picture because of everything else around her being in black and while except for the film title itself. This draws the eye in to look at the surrounding detail in the poster also. Key Image: The poster depicts an action film. The large gun the woman is holding ready to fire proves this to us, but the feminine touch of the red edited lips lead us to believe maybe this film has an air of romance, passion or just simply death about it too. Background: In the background of the poster we can see a brightly lit city, which matches the title of the film, so it lets us know where the film is going to take place, it is dark and raining.

3. SIN CITY MOVIE POSTER Realism: The poster doesn’t look very realistic because of the edited colours and the cartoon like rain, we can tell this film will have some form of animation in it. Text Colour: The text colours are red and white. Obviously the white text has been used to contrast from the mostly black background so we can read what is on the poster. The main film font is bright red to catch our eyes and make it clear as to what the film is actually called. Text Font: The film name itself is in a much larger font size to make it stand out. There is also a comic book like description in the corner of who the actress is and who she is playing. Tag line: The poster doesn’t appear to have a tagline, which means less is given away by wording and more is given away by the image itself. The small box in the top right hand corner is not a tag line although from far away we may presume it is.

4. SIN CITY MOVIE POSTER Lay out: The layout of the poster is very clever. Although the image is directly centre stage of the poster, like most film posters are, our eyes are drawn to the surrounding features of the poster, for example when we look at the title of the film, we then look straight to the woman’s red lips because those are the only two times we see colour on it. When we see the comic book style box at the top we then look at the directors because that is the writing in black and white, the small print isn’t as significant. Target Audience: Other sin city posters have a sexual vibe to them too, normally highlighting one other thing in red as well as the title, or showing a person in colour but the rest on black or white, it is aimed at 18+ who likes violence and passion, or comic books. Reaction: I really like this poster, although I have seen the film, before I had the posters always intrigued me, I never understood exactly what the film would be like. The posters encouraged me to watch it.

5. THE DARK CORNER MOVIE POSTER Purpose : The purpose of this poster I think, is to shoe what the film is about, perhaps the man behind the blind is peaking through at the woman’s life, and she is shyly letting him., it shows you who the film was made by, who it stars and it’s directors and creators. Key image: The two key images are the man behind the blinds and the shy woman in a bold colour. We presume this must be a drama or romance from the way the woman is standing, slightly off to one side, she may be embarrassed or hurt. Background: What seems to be a peeping man looking at a small woman, obviously is meant for us to think in a more metaphorical way. Maybe about the importance of each characters, perhaps they play large roles, depending on their picture sizes. Colours: A very strange pallet has been used for this poster. A really dark green is the background colouring, which is rather different from your classic black background. The woman wears a mustard yellow Mac which matches the film title this shows us the film will be about her.

6. THE DARK CORNER MOVIE POSTER Realism: This film poster isn’t very realistic, because nothing is real in it. The characters and fonts and backgrounds are all hand painted and edited. It is not a photograph of actual people or anything real. Although it is painted it is done so dramatically we can see the emotions of the characters almost better because of the colouring Text Font: The font is very clear to read, bold and good colouring, draws our eyes to it, rather than it being some boring font for the main title, it is italic, unlike the rest of the text to make it stand out. It gives the poster a 50’s feel. Tag line: There are no tag lines in this poster, only the names of the creators of the film and the actor and main actress who the play the two characters we can see painted in the poster. The title of the film is supposed to speak for itself. Title Colour: The title colouring consists of three main colours…mustard yellow, matching the woman’s clothing, a muted white and a bright white for the main actors and actress’s names.

7. THE DARK CORNER MOVIE POSTER Layout: The layout of this poster has a real 50’s American feel to it, the font, the clothing of the woman in the Mac and almost matching hair colour and heels along with the subtle dark lighting takes us back. Perhaps the theme of the 50’s also runs clear because still women in America were seen as the housewives more in the suburbs, as this lady is dressed like a middle classed mother we presume maybe that the man behind the blind is her lover or her husband. There are many things to think about within this poster, everybody will have different ideas from how the poster is laid out. Target Audience: The target audience would be people who enjoy older films or films set in a time of the 50’s. or maybe just people who like the particular actors and actress that star in the film. Reaction: This poster makes me want to see the film, as it has me wondering why the artist of it has made the lady smaller on it. I cannot tell if they wants me to think she is less significant or that she is trying to hide. It is intriguing and I am also fond of the colour palette throughout the whole poster, it is different to what we see nowadays.

8. LETTERS TO JULIET MOVIE POSTER Purpose: The poster has very small printed details at the bottom, so the picture tells us the story, clearly a romance is involved. Colour: This is very much an autumn like palette of colours used in the posters. The film is set in Italy and for me before I knew this I felt like the poster had a European romantic element to it, just from the colouring used. The woman’s eyes match the green tree leaves behind her and in the picture she is holding, which draws everything together. Key Image: Background: The background of the picture is blue sky and dark green leaves, framing the beautiful woman’s face holding the picture, it makes us focus on the love story she is holding in her hands. The key image in the poster is split into two parts, one part is the woman holding the love story in her hands, the part underneath her are the mature couple we see holding hands in what appears to be a rather romantic vineyard type setting.

9. LETTERS TO JULIET MOVIE POSTER Realism: The images used in the poster have realistic qualities. The woman looks like she is standing in front of a painting and holding a painting on an envelope herself. Text Colour: The text colours are A sort of mahogany reddish brown, a mustard yellow colour and black . The text colours individually draw your eyes to the priorities of the poster. The title in the more eye catching and contrasting colour of the envelope, the question in black and the small print fading into the bottom of the poster. Text Font: There is not really anything special about the font in this poster. It is very simplified, so as to not take away meaning from the poster itself. Tagline: The tagline of this movie, as we can see written on the envelope in black writing is: “what if you had a second chance to find true love?” it is a rhetorical question to make the audience think. Of course from this we realise the film is one of a romantic genre.

10. LETTERS TO JULIET MOVIE POSTER Layout: The layout of the poster has a European romantic element to it. It makes the audience think of autumn because of the colour scheme and of romance because of the couple at the bottom holding hands. The rhetorical questions makes us question romance ourselves and we are enticed by the name of the movie because when we hear Juliet, most will refer back to the play of “Romeo and Juliet”. Target Audience: The target audience for this I think would mainly be women, as the style of the poster is very romantic and picturesque. Although the beautiful woman in the centre, may attract a male audience too. Reaction: I think this poster is very good in terms of matching its romantic genre. I think it’s a beautiful poster, I really like how everything is put together and the metaphor of holding a love story in the woman’s hands.

11. Purpose: The purpose of this poster is to invite us into the fantasy land of the film, just as the small girl in the picture looks invited into the bright light. It also has details of the film at the bottom. Colour: The colour palette of the poster is very basic, black, blues and bright white where the light is in the centre. It gives the poster a sense of darkness and mystery, quite obviously a fantasy colour palette, it matches the genre of the film and makes us focus on the intriguing picture in the middle. Key Image: The central image is a small girl walking towards/ standing in front of what looks like an old time portal, the shadows and shapes of the lurching trees surrounding her and the goblin type concrete arch show us this is a dark film. She may be stepping into the unknown. Background: The edges of the picture are jet black, which means we are supposed to focus on the central image, behind the title of the film we see a bright light, this may indicate that there is something on the other side. PAN’S LABYRINTH MOVIE POSTER

12. PAN’S LABYRINTH MOVIE POSTER Realism: There is nothing realistic about this image on the poster except for the human girl standing at the bottom. Everything else looks to be pure fantasy. It does not look like a photograph, therefore it doesn’t have much realism about it. Text Colour The small print at the bottom is a dark blue, and some white under that, it doesn’t appear to want to stand out, the dark brown/gold colour with the title of the film contrasts to the bright light it Is in front of., which is why it draws our eyes to it. Tagline: There isn’t a tagline on this poster. I don’t think the film itself has one, but I know that from this image it doesn’t need one to be able to attract your attention. It is eye catching as it is, without a question or a tagline on it. The picture speaks for itself, let’s you interpret it however you want to. Text Font: The text font looks to be a sophisticated type. The letter “R” has joined with the trees around the border of the picture, showing it is intertwined.

13. PAN’S LABYRINTH MOVIE POSTER Target Audience: The target audience for this would be fantasy lovers, and even though it looks dark, perhaps children as it has an element of mysterious adventure about it. Also lovers of European films. Reaction: I think this is a great poster, it really matches the film itself, its genre and its mystery. It shows us there will be an adventure and although we don’t know the significance of the girl, we assume she will be part of it. There’s lots to look at, but its not overly busy. Layout: I like the layout of this poster. I think it is very clever how the edges are blackened so you only see the central image. When you look in the centre, then gradually look further out, you notice the giant moon above what looks like a portal, you see the trees and the gremlin/goblin type sculpture in the arch. It is very detailed, even the smallprint at the bottom has the details of the creators and everything, but the main focus of the layout is the image.

14. Purpose: The purpose of this poster is to show us the main characters, the dramatic emotion of these characters and a list of the seven deadly sins. Key Image: The key image is of the two main male characters and in the middle of them, a list of the seven deadly sins. There is pure emotion in the eyes and faces of both the characters and the list of the sins is crossed off one by one with a red dash. Background: The background is a mixture of dark colouring at the top and at the bottom right hand side, it looks like there are scratching in a wall, showing patterns with different colours. Colour: There is a fiery colour palette to this poster. The red and rustic golds, oranges and yellows even in the characters faces make us think that this will be a very emotional film, filled with violence and struggles. The mix of colours and characters faces make us perceive the poster and film this way. SEVEN MOVIE POSTER

15. Realism: The emotions on the faces and necks of the characters look realistic, but the background is obviously edited. We can only see the heads of the characters, the rest is just edited background. Text Colour: The text colour of the list of sins blends in with the yellowing colour on the main part of the poster but then crossed off with a vibrant red colouring. The title is in bright white, the most stand out thing about the poster. It is clear and central positioned at the bottom. There is no small print to this poster though. Tagline: The tagline is right at the bottom of the poster, barely noticeable from far away it reads “seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die” this gives us the message that there will be death and violence within the film, and the deaths will be related to the seven deadly sins. It it perfectly suited to the film. Text Font: The font of the title stands out, because unusually all of the letters are lower case whereas the actors names and sins are in capital letters. SEVEN MOVIE POSTER

16. SEVEN MOVIE POSTER Target Audience: I think this poster would attract lovers of horror and dramatic impacting films, it looks like a dark film full of emotion and fear. We can see this purely from the eyes of the characters, one looks angry and the other scared. Plus the use of famous actors will draw the eyes of fans. Reaction: If hadn’t already seen the film this poster would definitely made me want to. The image is interesting and the tagline to match makes me want to know how the film relates to the seven deadly sins. Layout: The layout of the poster, I think, is split into three parts. On the left Brad Pitt, in the centre the sins and the title, and the right Morgan Freeman. I think this layout is supposed to be so we give everything a proper look at. It is like the sins are between the two characters and that they are standing back to back. Whether this means they are against each other, we don’t know but it does create some form of separation between the pair.

17. Purpose: The purpose of the poster is to show the dilemma Edward – the main character – in in. He is in love with the girl who is embracing him, the his deformity doesn’t allow him to return the affection, the poster gives us the details of the film, who it is created by, directed by. Key Image: The central image is of the gothic main character looking hurt while the beautiful girl is embracing him. He cannot return her affection, hence the hurt expression on his face. We see how helpless he is because of his scissor hands. Background: In the background of the couple, is a blue sky filled with lots of soft white clouds. It gives a sense of purity and innocence about the film, matches the word “gentle” used in the poster. Colour: The colours in the background contrast with Edwards gothic look. The poster is split in two. Picture and information, quite clearly separated, by the bright white and the cloudy scene behind the characters. EDWARD SCISSORHANDS MOVIE POSTER

18. Realism: There isn't an awful lot of realism about this poster, the background of the sky for starters shows us how fictional the story is. As well as the main character having a variety of scissors, knives and garden tools for hands. Text Colour: The text colours are black blue and blue. They are used to contrast against the part of the poster they are on to make the lettering stand out. Black at the top over light blue and white. Dark blue over bright white at the bottom. Tagline: There appear to be two different taglines in this poster. The first talking of a gentle man, making us sympathise with the gothic looking deformed character we see in the picture. And the second describing the feelings of the couple we see. How they feel about their situation and each other. Text Font: There isn’t anything special about the font. It is quite plain. The word “Scissorhands” is in capital letters though, emphasising the main storyline. EDWARD SCISSORHANDS MOVIE POSTER

19. Target Audience: I’m really not sure what audience this film poster would grab the attention of. In a way it is funny because of how silly the situation is, but at the same time we sympathise for the main character. Reaction: I like this poster, but I think there could have been more to it, a little less writing and perhaps a larger image with a more enticing background. It isn’t as interesting as the film itself, I think it could have done better if it matched with the vibrancy of the film more. Layout: The poster is split in two. Picture and information, quite clearly separated, by the bright white and the cloudy scene behind the characters. By having it this way, it is easy for us to focus just on the image and emotions in the picture of the couple, then to read after what we can in the small print and the title. There is a bold tagline at the top of the poster and one more in the beginning of the white box filled with text. We focus mainly on the bold black line as it is much bigger. EDWARD SCISSORHANDS MOVIE POSTER

20. Purpose: The purpose of this poster is to show the mixture between romance and violence of the families within the movie. . Key Image: The main image is a young couple kissing with the surrounding families looking like they are ready for a gun battle. Regardless of how violent everything else is around them, there is a shining heart at the top of the page showing how powerful their love is for one another. Background: The background is a swirl of strange colours, fading into each other with families and the couple in front of it all. Colour: The colours used give the poster a surreal feeling, the purples and greys make it look like a storm is coming at the edges of the pages where we can see the families ready with their weapons. And the orangey golds everywhere else make it seem like the heavens are opening for the young couple in the centre. ROMEO + JULIET MOVIE POSTER

21. ROMEO + JULIET MOVIE POSTER Realism: There isn’t much realism to this poster, we can see that nearly all of it has been edited, the surreal colours and the families at the sides have been colour editesd. Text Colour: The bright white is used for the title of the film, contrasting against the other colours. It makes it easy to read and makes it stand out, over the couple. The tagline is in black with a yellow outlining under the shining heart. The small print is in dark orange at the bottom, so it doesn’t stand out much and the date in the small print is white too. Tagline: The tagline, although small reads “my only love sprung by my only hate” this helps us make more sense of the battling families at the sides of the posters. This hatred has bought a young couple together despite everything else. It is a very strong, very romantic powerful tagline. Text Font: The font is very bold for everything, makes it easier to read the names of the actor/actress, the title and even the tagline too.

22. ROMEO + JULIET MOVIE POSTER Target Audience: The target audience for a film like this, of course would be Shakespeare fans, and also lovers of romance, violence and drama. Reaction: I think for its time that it was made this is a very well edited and good take on surrealism for a film poster. It has everything in it that we need to know. The love is streong between the couple and the families are clearly very violently at war with one another. Layout: The layout of the poster is well spread out. Even though there is a lot going on we can clearly see there is a young and in love couple at the centre of this battle between the violent and heavily armed families that stand either side of them. The metaphorical love heart about them and the heavenly light stays central to the poster. So the violence does not take centre stage over the love of the couple.