Analysis of Film Posters

Film Posters

The Avengers:

• Iron Man’s hand draws audiences' attention to slightly above the middle of the poster – causes audience’s attention to move around to the other characters who fill the middle third of the poster.

• Background colours are faded compared to colour used in the foreground – shows dystopian future with crushed buildings and spaceships.

• Names of the actors fill the top of the page, drawing the attention of the audience because of the white text on darker background.

• Title is ¾ of the way down the poster and fills the whole width of the poster. Typography is white and has a scratched metal look – further shown in the metal of Iron Man’s suit and Captain America’s shield. This typography hints at the sci-fi genre.

• The ‘Marvel’ logo stands out against the relatively neutral colours as it is bright red – makes the genre of the film obvious, as the target audience of the film will know the logo if they are interested in superhero films. 

Inception:

• The colours in the poster are dark, faded blues and greys, this contrasts to the bright red title - drawing the attention of the audience to the top of the poster.

• The characters of the film fill the bottom half of the poster, drawing the attention of the audience to each one individually.

• The genre of the film is obvious as two of the characters are holding guns which insinuates action thriller – drawing their target audience.

• A single review is placed at the bottom of the poster, a star rating and two words – this makes it quick for the audience to read and therefore keeping their attention on the poster for longer.

• The background shows the street the characters are standing on at a vertical angle – creating an imbalance and an enigma over what the film is about.

• Leonardo Di Caprio is the main selling point of the film, so his name is written larger than the other actors at the top of the poster. His part in the film is also used as part of the golden rule. He is in the centre of the poster, making the audiences’ attention move up his body to his face and then follow the road up to the main ‘Inception’ title.

• The background of the poster is slightly cloudy, which could be foreboding the dream state used in the film.

Trainwreck:

• The poster has a faded sepia filter –highlighting the use of yellow in the title and her dress.

• The genre (comedy) is obvious through the use of informal language – “the guy” and the tag line “we all know one”. The use of the personal pronoun “we” allows the audience to relate to the film.

• The majority of the poster is taken up with the two main characters, the woman taking up about two thirds while the man covers one third.

• The woman is drinking a bottle from a paper bag while the man behind her looks shocked/surprised – This draws the attention of the audience around the poster and creates enigma around the relationship between the two characters.

• The plain grey background (with a slight white gradient), allows more of the audiences’ attention to focus on the characters.

• All of the text is the same font but different sizes. The main title is large and fills the width of poster whereas the tag line is small.

• The use of yellow on the words “Bridesmaids” and “Trainwreck”, allow the audience to easily associate the two films together, targeting the correct audience as the people who enjoyed Bridesmaids will be interested in this film.

• The text used resembles handwriting, which makes the poster look less professional, adding to the ability for the audience to relate to the film.