Analysis of Film Posters

The Lovely Bones

This poster of the 2010 film directed by Peter Jackson, displays, clearly, the films title, which is the main focus of the poster itself. The most prominent detail of the poster is the tree overlapping the title, and the birds flying together into the distance. The bare tree displays the films season, and provides the poster with a sense of coldness. The fact that the tree stands alone also portrays the idea of isolation and remoteness.

The tiny detail of the silhouette of the girl running gives the observer an idea about the contents of the film. The fact that the girl is running has ambiguous meaning; it could either display fear and horror or freedom. However, the bare tree and the dark and eerie foreground suggests fear and running away. The only colour evident on this poster is the delicate pink of the sky, which connotes the idea of innocence and femininity. The light break in the clouds, and the rays of light which come from it suggest heaven and godliness, therefore suggesting the nature of the film; death.

The text tells the audience immediately what the film is basically about with the line beneath the title; "a story of a life and everything that came after." This tells us straight away what the film consists of, and a brief idea of the films structure; following the characters life over a certain amount of time, and then continuing after it has ended. So the audience now has an idea that the film is about death, and therefore has an idea of the films genre being more poignant rather than upbeat.

The Lethal Innocents

This New Zealand short film poster has a substantial element of bleakness and misery to it. The out of focus background shows a bleak and cloudy looking sky, as well as leafless tree branches, portraying a grim atmosphere and time of year. Immidiatley, an emelent of the overall nature of the film is conveyed, by the use of the young people in the poster, telling the audience who the central characters are, and what the film is based around. The main attraction of the poster is the female, placed directly in the center. The girls face portrays her anger and misery, and the overall colour of the poster also conveys depression and bleakness. The girl in the foreground being the only subject in focus lets the audience know the film is centralised around her. The un-focused girls in the background, if looked at closely, it is clear that they are smiling, which suggests the nature of the film; the girl in the foreground being singled out by those in the background.

The font of the title has a sense of youthfulness, as it looks like it's been doodled, and the juxtaposed title itself gives away much about the film itself. The colour of the font is white, suggesting an ironic innocence.

There isn't much about the relationship between the subjects on the poster revealed, other than the idea that the girl in the foreground is isolated, and perhaps alone, and the two behind her are mocking her. The idea of bullying is portrayed in the poster, however, nothing is specified.