Sunday, 3 April 2011

Poster Analysis


The poster here is from the film 'The Fighter' (2010). Although the narrative of the film is very much different to the production we have made, the genre of drama is the same. The film mainly focuses around its narrative, also similar to our film, therefore the poster is ideal to analyse.


What is clear about the poster, is that the image of the two main characters is displayed centrally, and the image is the largest item on the poster. This indicates that the film is focused around the two characters pictured here, and thier story. The characters quite clearly stand out, they are not posing in any way, they appear in their natural environment looking natural also, it is a sort of action shot of the pair. This suggests that the characters are not involved in anything too dramatic, nothing which can be related to fantasy or fiction, that the film is about their lives and is based on a true story (as said at the top of the poster) The image is clear, it is made to standout on a black background, clearly emphasising that the film revolves around these two characters.


The title of the film is placed top right of the poster, which is not a usual convention for a film. Usually, we would expect that the film name is displayed clearly, centrally and is quite bold and standout. This is not the case here. I believe this is due to the fact that the film is based on the character's lives, it is not too dramatic, it does not contain anything that is too realistic, infact being based on a true story, the film contains real life events. Therefore, the title of the film is less important, and being smaller and less standout, this sort of adds to the effect of the film. It breaks the conventions of a film poster by not being placed centrally and standout. The colour of white also promotes innocence, maybe even surrender is usual cases. However, the film is based on the life of a boxer, therefore in this set of circumstances, the colour white doesnt indicate surrender or innocence, more of a unknown feeling, that the story cannot be defined by colour.


This is the same as the actor names displayed top left of the poster, they are not as standout, maybe showing less importance than the narrative of the film. The actors are famous, the actors are well known and known to be brilliant actors, but this doesnt take centre stage as is usually the case with film posters. The actors are not as relevent as the film, the actors are not as big as the film, the film is bigger than the actors, by which I mean that the film wants to be remembered, known and recognised by the storyline, not by the actors in it, which I believe suggests a brilliant film.


The colours of the poster are extremely basic. They are black, white and gold. These colours can be associated with boxing, as these colours are popular for boxers, but also, the colours show that the film doesnt need to have allsorts of different colours on the poster to make it interesting, the basic colours work.


The details of the film are placed in an unusual place for a film poster. They are above the central image, again showing these details are less important than the image. Infact, the more important details of the poster are shown in a goldy colour, 'Based on a True Story' and 'December' are the only words on the poster that appear in gold. This suggests that these are the only details the public needs to know about the film, giving an air of mystery, yet not giving the plot away at all, this intices people to want to go see the film.


In summary, I believe this film poster to be extremely effective in promoting people to see the film. It prompts people to go and see it by not giving too much away, but also doesnt over emphasise less important details. The film says to the public 'our film is all about the story, nothing else' and we see this from the large image of the two central characters. The actor names, the title of the film and all other details can be seen, but they do not overpower the image, suggesting the narrative of the film is what makes the film brilliant, not the actors or any other details. By breaking conventions of a film poster, the poster prompts the public to see the film more so than a traditional poster in my opinion, as the mystery it creates and the straight forward basic look of the poster gives the impression of a impressive storyline with no over exaggerations needed.

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