film posters

Film poster analysis -

titanic - 16+ target market 

what is the basic role?

The basic role of this poster is to promote the film, with the end goal to motivate people to watch it. It highlights a important on-screen character – Leonardo DiCaprio and important performing artist Kate Winslet on the front, so we can straight away see that it will be a decent film, as it would have taken a great deal of cash for them to included in it. It is likewise a true story, so individuals are more inspired by watching it to discover what really happened. Kids who are fans of these specific performing artists would likely hang this poster on their walls – so it can be used as a presentation as a part of their rooms and so on and also promote the film.

What colours have been used? What associations do these colours have? Are they unusual for a poster? 

The ship is black which depicts threat and obscurity highlighting the emotional, frightening storyline. In Western societies black is a colour that is strongly spoken to sadness, passing, threat and grieving. represents the dark ending to the story. The dull colours likewise highlight the quality of the iron watercraft. The line around the vessel is yellow – this nearly symbolises a risk or threat going to happen, which is a reference to the storyline. Pale, subtle, pastel colours are utilised for the characters, which imply the sentiment and trust between them. The base of the photo is stands out from the highest point of the photograph where they are coasting in the blue sky, which looks serene, and practically represents paradise. The highest point of the boat, as it gets closer to them changes to white, this symbolises the purity and sympathy between the two characters. This is additionally shown through the white mist.

What is the key (main) image we see? 

The main picture that we see is the huge vessel in the focal point of the publication. This highlights a voyage, and also demonstrating that it is the principle highlight of the story. Over the pontoon, the two characters are held in an enthusiastic, delicate, sentimental position with Leonardo DiCaprio's head inclining toward Kate Winslets shoulder. This highlights the bond between the two in the film. They are highlighted in the sky, so they nearly seem like heavenly attendants, delineating the topic of death and shock inside of the film. 

genre 

Titanic falls into both the drama and romance categories this means appeals to a slightly younger audience than paranormal activity and it appeals to a completely different kind of movie goer an audience that would be drawn in by this poster is similar to the kind of audience that would enjoy forrest gump and other big films starring big names from that time period these are mainstream movie goers. A later film poster that bares similarity to titanic poster is 'pride and prejudice' in that poster the classic rom-drama stereotypes are again abundantly clear with the man following the woman in a romantic manor mixed with the beautiful and powerful imagery.

paranormal activity 18-30 target market

The target market of this film is about 18-30 this i because it is a paranormal horror so will be unsuitable for viewing from young impressionable minds, the content is quick and the trailer is creepy and builds up tension to breaking point all of these factors make it very appealing to people aged 18-30. This trailer has a lot of the classic conventions used in horror trailers and if you compare it to another trailer from the horror genre like the trailer for 'the devil inside' you can see in this trailer they have also left out the music and gone for the use of sound effects instead mixed with the jumpy cutting it again creates a very tense feeling throughout the trailer which will appeal again to a slightly more mature audience than titanic.

You do not see the name of the film until the very end of the trailer this makes it more memorable for the audience as the tension is built through out the audience and the trailer is left on a cliff hanger which leaves the audience excited to see more so by showing the name at the height of tension means that the audience will remember the name and want to watch the film.

Another interesting element of the trailer is the the lack of information that is given about who is in the film, usually in a film trailer the starring actors will have there name displayed on the screen in the hope that member of the audience will recognise the actor and that will entice them to watch the film, this trailer serves a different purpose and does not rely on big names to draw the audience in and relies more on the notoriety of the first film and the tension that is built in the short trailer. The audience in shown several disturbing clips in order to capture its attention and reflect the content and tone of the film onto the audience, the trailer starts with a clip from the first film which then interlinks to the second film, the trailer shows us some shots from the film that are still and set the scene in a cliche horror style, they then show the style of horror the film is with a dog barking at an empty room and a woman standing in the door these shots are creepy but really only used to set up the film for the more scary set pieces in the full length feature. 

Music usually has a massive effect on the general tone of a trailer it can be used to ease and build tension or for comical value and almost limitless functions but deciding to cut music can have an equally powerful effect this is the technique they have used in this trailer although the trailer has got sound all the sounds you hear are sound effects that are synonymous with horror films this means that the trailer will fit into a genre in the viewers mind which will make it memorable, the sound effects are used in a way that means it does not feel like you are missing a backtrack the effects are used to make the viewer feel edgy and jumpy and gives the viewer a taste of what the film will come out like. Much like the lack of music the trailer also lacks another common convention the use of a narrator now an iconic feature of trailers where as most big feature coming out will have a booming narrators voice reading any textual information that they want the viewer to know without taking up screen real estate, but in this trailer the decided that the images and sound effects would be sufficient for the audience to make up there mind on whether or not they want to pay to see the film in place of voiceover a few lines of text appear on screen to give very basic information this is effective as it makes it seem the film in shrouded in mystery.

The information that the trailer leaves you with with its final frame leaves the viewer scared and confused there is a woman's silhouette in the doorway this leaves the viewer wondering what will happen next and keeps the audience on edge right up to the final frame even if you are not interested in the horror films the way this trailer is pieced together is sure to capture your attention.

I think film trailers are much more effective than posters at capturing the audiences attention and making them want the see the film this is because the amount information that can be conveyed over a trailer is much greater than the amount of information that can be conveyed in a poster, a trailer can give you a taster of the pace and story of the film where as a poster is limited much more by the the constraints of the borders of the paper its printed on although a poster will appeal more to an older audience so if you were marketing your film towards an older audience a poster may be appropriate where as if you were going for a younger audience with a film that has a lot more going on in terms of action a trailer is a more effective form of marketing. Before the trailers release the production company will have conducted focus groups and surveys to find out exactly what the consumer wants to see from the film and what will get the audience excited this will effects final cut of the trailer that gets released.