After I had carried out a textual analysis of film posters I carried out an analysis of various film posters relating to the genre of my film and its ancillary texts. The genre of my film and thus my poster is of a post apocalyptic interpretation of our current world.
The first set of posters where from the film “District 9” the above poster incorporates an iconic scene from what we can presume is the setting of the film, it shows an alien outline on a sign post with bullets dotted about it. This enforces the ideology of violence and conflict in a world that’s very similar to ours, but with fictional elements within it.
The text at the top of the poster is coloured in such a way as to give the impression that it a sign from the sky, this draws you to the spaceship hovering over the city, and this would make the viewer want to know what that is doing there in a setting that’s earth.
The title of the film poster has been given a military spray stamp, reflecting off the conflict vibe that the sign expresses. The “9” is in red, this is a convention to symbolize blood and anger. The slogan “You are not welcome here” gives the audience a clear message, you’re not welcome in District 9. This forces the question, why? This would provide an incentive to see the film.
The second poster is similar to various danger signs found in society; at first glance it is easy to mistake it for a typical danger sign, such as you might see for “authorized Personnel only”. But the key difference is of instead of a depiction of a human you see a very abstract and defiantly alien image. The poster is designed to be of the viral kind, not giving away any details about the film or, indeed, that it is a film. The only real detail it gives is a link to the film website. This gives people the incentive to talk about the film as it raises mystery and speculation.
My next set of posters is from the film I am legend
A running theme of these posters is that they are all in a sepia tone. This is correct in an ideological sense as the rusty yellow colour connotes the loss of the vibrant colours of life, almost as if a poison or pollution has started to kill off nature.Within each poster a very visual scene of destruction is to be found, the posters use very well known landmarks to show that film is set in a very similitude version of New York. In the bottom poster big sheets are draped over the buildings with the very iconic symbol of radiation, the colour of these symbols are red, fitting in with the threat to humanity.
In all three posters the lead actor, Will Smith who is globally recognized is to be found walking towards the viewer. He is placed in the centre in two of the posters and to the entire right side in the last one. His manner and clothing suggests that he is travelling with a purpose, given the background/setting this would be for survival.
The slogan in each is “The last man is on earth is not alone” This is very confusing to someone who has not viewed the film, he is portrayed to be alone in each poster, yet the slogan says he isn’t. This is most apparent in the second poster where the slogan replaces the film title and covers the majority of the poster. It is interesting to note that O in the second poster where Will Smith is placed is highlighted to contain his figure; this could possibly be to amplify him being by himself i.e. Zero. This is common practise for slogans for a film as it entices the reader to go see the film.
Finally the stars name is at the top of each poster always followed by the slogan; this implies that it is actually will smith himself that is the last man on earth. The positioning of the film title is done in such away to make almost pyramid shaped, as if to construct the person, the legend from the ground up.
The third set of posters I looked at was for the film Terminator Salvation
As with the I am Legend posters this makes use of a sepia tone, for similar reasons stated in the previous posters.
The pictures are very visually dynamic as they make use of heavy shadowing to bring out the details and give it a very weathered look. The first picture shows a dismembered robot (or Terminator) head held by a human hand. This symbolizes the dominance over this creature by man. This coincides with the title word “Salvation” as it symbolizes hope.
The eyes appear to be glowing red, which signifies danger and projects the feeling that all is not what it seems. The text used in this poster alternates between red and a corroded white, this unifies it with the background, where the slogan and actor names match the glowing eyes, and the corroded white title match the ruined city and the sky.
The second poster is more to highlight one of the actors in the film, it makes use of a sepia tone background and dynamic shadowing to make the character look imposing, I think it’s worth noting that he wears a red arm band which matches the characters name title.
The final set of posters is from the film 28 weeks later.
These posters I chose specifically as it highlights a running theme that I have found as I have researched and analysed posters. Where others are only red in places for the various reasons, such as hate, angry, love, violence and other emotions similar to these, these posters are almost totally red.
The first poster shows a female with a mask on and different coloured eyes. The entire background image has been turned a bright shade of red. The eyes are most prominent as they do not follow the same colouring as the rest of the image. This has the effect of centring the viewer to the film title.
The film title is also white and is surrounded by the same image I had spotted in the I am Legend poster, a radiation symbol.
As with every film poster that I have analysed a slogan is included to encourage the viewer to take more interest. The slogan “When days turn to weeks” works well with the poster image as the eyes to be looking towards this slogan, this makes the viewer look in the direction of the eyes, thus achieving the desired effect.
The second film poster of this film is much like the District 9 viral poster. It uses many of the same conventions used within the other poster, for example it is designed to look like a real warning sign, similar almost too Russian propaganda. It gives only a date and the website address with no mention of actor’s names or production staff.
Lastly, although not a Film Trailer but a Game Trailer, this poster I came across in my research and noticed striking similarities to the other film posters I looked at. From dynamic shadowing to contrasting corroded text and finally the red shade to it, I thought I should keep it for my work as a reference to the ideology that goes into making posters of my chosen genre
fanpop.com for district 9 images.
movieposterdb.com for I am legend poster images and 28 days later images.
screenrant.com for terminator salvation images.
oneposter.com for gears of war image.
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