DVD AND POSTER ANALYSIS
OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN
The front of the poster has three men at the front. The man at the front looks like the one who is in charge of everything whereas the two men behind look like they’re there to help and the one of the far right hand corner in particular looks like he’s a soldier or is going to fight in the film. The American flag connotes their country that they live in. It's flying in the foreground of the picture which already sets the scene and shows where this movie will be mainly set and prefigures events that may happen. The fire connotes heat and warmth but, as its burning the corner of the flag it depicts destruction and dennotes something bad is going to happen to the people that live there. There are splats of blood that you can see at the bottom of the helicopters that are flying in the air. Blood is a symbol of death, but also life and this connotes that something bad is going to happen in the course of the film. The name of the film ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ reflects on the film and gives the feeling and appearance that the government are going to be deeply affected by the occurrences of certain situation’s in the film and by what certain people do that make this happen. The man in the right hand corner who looks like a soldier looks like he’s fading into the poster. This may portray that he may die in the course of the film or may be dying… The background foreshadows the disruption and havoc that will happen as the black at the bottom of the poster almost looks like its trickling up the poster and soon will fill the whole page with chaos and darkness which reflects the later. The government building in the poster denotes eroding and disintegration. This could connote that the building may physically fall down or the people who are in charge can’t handle what’s about to happen… Dark colours connote something bad may happen and the government building is being surrounded by it.
Sian Elias
SHUTTER ISLAND
This poster for the thriller 'Shutter Island' has a very eerie and creepy look to it, with Leonardo DiCaprio's face being half-lit and the other half lit by a match, looming out of the darkness with a worried and suspicious expression on his face. This poster is extremely effective and representative of the film's mystery/horror/thriller genre. The island has a blue glow around it, making it glow from the surrounding darkness and drawing attention to it on the poster as it is clearly a focal point of the film as the film title is in distorted white letters above the image. The use of red text at the bottom of the poster gives connotations of violence, anger and blood, hinting that the film may have a gruesome undertone to it. This bold colour is used to highlight the extremely positive film review that is chosen for the poster. The use of this colour and this specific quote/review draws attention to it which would persuade or influence an audience to take interest in the film and build anticipation among and audience. The use of the black space in the background if important when representing the general, dark tone to the film, with all the images looming out of this blackness, implying that it is a very dark film.
Laura Rojas
SOURCE CODE
The character in the picture is holding a gun, which signifies death and danger. The character is running which signifies that something bad is happening.
Time seems to be the main source of the problem because the floor behind him is falling/breaking apart, which connotes that he is running out of time, this could signify that he is in competition with time to complete something. Also the font which the title is written in is the same font style as a digital watch or even a bomb, which could be the explanation for the explosion behind him as the letter ‘O’ in the title, look’s like the number ‘0’ instead, this could connote that he has run out of time, yet the character still seems to be on a mission to change things.
The audience can see that he is not the one who caused the explosion in the background or is the bad guy because of his facial expressions and what he is wearing. The suit connotes that he could be in a serious situation that involves only him to sort things out, as the suit signifies authority and he running by himself. His facial expressions signifies that he is serious about what he is doing and, the audience can also see that he is the good guy because his identity is not hidden for example he is not wearing a mask to hide his face so the audience can see who he is. However, this poster show’s that it’s a long shot of the character, this connotes that he is quite small compared to everything else happening around him, there’s not much he can do because the problem is too big for one man to sort it out himself, but the serious facial expression and his body position in the way his it running could signify that he is not giving up.
All the scattered picture’s behind him seems to be his memories, which look as if they are flying away from him. This connotes that he’s had memory lost or he’s trying to find his memories back. This signifies that this is important for him which explains as to why he look’s like he’s not giving up even though something already exploded behind him. Another thing which also could signify that he’s trying to get his memories back or maybe even the woman in the picture is the smoke that the picture seem to be flying into, this connotes that his vision may be clouded so he can’t figure out what is actually going on, the truth is hidden from him. All the picture at the bottom of the page are still together which is also the place to where he seems to be running towards, this also connotes that he is trying maybe remember things or bring something back together or either keep things together. One of the picture which is scattered is a picture of a train with a explosion behind it, the train’s speed is very fast which connotes that whatever the character need to do has to be done fast which also links it back to time being the main source of the problem. Some other scattered picture’s are of a woman, who he seems to be in a relationship, because the picture’s of her are scattered it connotes that something may be going wrong with her involved. Some of the pieces of the picture’s are twisted so the look quite a bit like weapons such as knives this signifies death and danger.
Marija Gustainyte & Amy Miller
THE PRESTIGE
The main focus of the poster is the three main characters from the film; Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. There positioned either side of the poster which suggests that their is some sort of conflict between the two characters. The conflict is indicated to be over the female character in the middle which is partially visible also suggesting that she’s not going to be a very active character in the film probably because she’s killed early on in the film and this event is the catalyst which sparks the conflict between the two main characters. Another star which is a main selling point and is listed at the top of the poster is Michael Caine.At the top of the film it also says two successful films which the director had directed in the past and this is used as another selling point for the film as fans of these films will encouraged to see this film if its by the same director.The mise en scene of both characters is quite dark supporting the fact that theres conflict present in the film and that the conflict is based around light vs dark as Christian Bale has a lighter background than Hugh Jackman.The tagline of the film is ‘Are you watching closely’ which links to the main theme of the film which is the conflict of two magicians. It also links to one convention of a thriller which is enigmas and questions which answers at the end of the film.
Laura Rojas
THE PURGE: ANARCHY
This film poster denotes a group of masked men around a dark background.
The poster connotes that it is a thriller film by the use of the word ‘Anarchy’, suggesting that there is no control. The colour of the title connotes that this film is set in America, due to the faded colours of the American flag. This signifies the loss of community, because it seems that the sense of togetherness has gradually started to deteriorate. Additionally, the use of the colour red in the title signifies blood, as it is smudged and dark. All of the text is written in capital letters, giving a hard appearance.The use of the text ‘survive the night’ also signifies danger as it gives the audience the idea that it will be a challenge to stay alive. This connotes that the film will have violent scenes and will not be suitable for younger viewers, which means that the target audience are people who may not find it as disturbing.The background is mainly black, with the only lighting coming from the flame on the back of the motorbike. The use of the fire signifies fear and you can see a street lamp, which is turned on in the background, this means that it is the evening which signifies danger as it is more dangerous late at night. Also, the fire looks like it has just started which can portray the idea that what is happening is just the start and there is worse to come.
The characters are a group of males, which can be steryotypically compared to a gang, and gangs are associated with violence and crime. The colour of the background is mainly dark, this connotes fear and evil. However there is light from the fire, which could connote good trying to come through, but the character on the motorbike is standing infront of the fire blocking the light, this could portray the idea that evil is over taking any good. In addition, around the background of where they are standing is dark, however there is light in the far city behind the charaters, this can portray the idea that these characters are moving away from the light and they walking towards the unknown darkness insead. This connotes that the characters are fearless, brave and know what they are doing. Plus, the characters on the on the poster are on skateboards and bikes, this could signify that this is a game to them because skateboards and bikes are usually associated with teenagers/children as they use them to have fun. This could also connote a loss of control becuase the grown up people who are suppose to be role models for the younger people are playing games themselves and acting in violent ways.
The use of masks on the characters signifies that there is an element of danger, as they cannot be identified. Additionally, one of the characters on the poster is seen holding a weapon, signifying danger and death. The characters are holding the weapons in a way in which to show that they want eveyone around them to see that they are preparing for something bad, this portrays the idea that they want to scare the rest of the community. Also, the masked character in the centre has a cross on his mask, which signifies Christianity and religion. However, the weapons and fire contradict the cross symbol, this is called binary opposition. The charaters are portayed to be the 'bad guys' and the cross on his mask connotes that they do not have respect for other people views or feelings about religion or anything else. This could also connote that they have got no sympathy for what they are doing to others and do not care if they hurt anyone, it also links back to the idea of a loss of community.
Amy Miller & Marija Gustainyte
We analysed film posters to understand the particular colour schemes and font used in the genre Thriller.
Laura Rojas
PSYCHO
This is a thriller which was released in 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock. The first thing we can see is that there is a half-naked woman on the cover. This highly appeals to the male gaze… Not to also forget that this was a shocking image in the 60’s. She’s also the biggest image in the poster which shows she’s the main actor in the film.
The man is topless and is in red. Red connotes danger or anger and he’s topless. The Mise-en-scene behind this could suggest that the danger is going to occur during a sexual interaction. Alfred was very famous and so his name is appeared fairly big on the cover which is a unique selling point for his fans.
The title is ‘PSYCHO’, the style it is and written in and how the top part separates from the bottom gives us the observers a feel that there is a psycho in the movie. However the colour of it contradicts the name of the movie as its yellow and yellow represents happiness and joy. However when you do watch the movie everything in the beginning is normal and everyone seems happy.
On the right hand side you can see a list of the actor’s names; they were done large enough to appeal to the audience and any of the actors fans to raise the popularity of the film. Their names have been written in white against a purple background to make it stand out even more.
Both the title and woman are both coloured yellow which shows that they may have a link throughout the journey of the film. We can see all images have a black background; this could represent death, evilness or mystery. This then leaves the audience wondering what mystery is laying around which attracts people to the movie.
The border around the woman’s pictures looked as though it’s sliced at the edge. This could suggest that there will be a use of a knife as a killing tool to maybe kill the woman.
Sian Elias
