Review of a film poster

The first thing that struck my attention to this poster was the man standing in the middle. He looks dark and mysterious; by the man being the main focus we already know as an audience that he will be playing a key roll in the movie. We are informed that Leonardo Dicaprio will be playing the main part in this movie by his name being placed at the top of the poster. This will encourage Leonardo Dicaprio’s fans to go and see the film which will increase the viewing numbers for the movie because the public will believe that a well known excellent actor would only put his name to an excellent film.

The title of this particular movie catches my eye too, as it shown in the colour red, which suggests danger and violence. This is in contrast to the black, blue and white colours in the background. I think that the colours they have used on the poster signify that the movie is going to be dark and intriguing. Underneath the title there is information about the director; it quotes ‘from the director of The Dark Night’. This line is a great selling point because it will attract fans of the famous movie ‘The Dark Night’ as we associate Christopher Nolan with some of the best movies, which will give this movie a high expectation. We are also given a quote from the movie which is placed centre top underneath Leonardo Dicaprio’s name drawing attention to it straight away. It quotes ‘your mind is the scene of the crime’ which gives us a sense of what the movie is going to be about and in this case it will be about your mind and how is works.

On this poster we see a storm in the background suggesting there might be destruction or anger in this movie. We are given the idea that the movie will be set in the city as there are very tall buildings surrounding the man in the centre of the frame. The tall contemporary buildings suggest that this movie is set in the modern day. I think that the man in the poster shows a very high status, he seems grand and important, by him standing in the middle of the poster suggests that he is the main character. My immediate instinct is to think that the man on the poster is Leonardo Dicaprio; he wears a navy blue suit to show he is a businessman or someone with authority. The actor looks like he is in control of his surroundings putting us in a position to think he is in charge of the storm, rather than being afraid of it, his stance is very sturdy which shows that the character has power. The shot used to take this picture for the poster was a low level long shot. By making the shot come from low down it helps to create an elusion that the character is higher up than anyone else and therefore superior. The denotation on the poster is that the character is facing away from the audience but the connotation could be that perhaps he is hiding from the world and is holding many secrets.

I think the genre of this movie is going to be an action/thriller. They have made the poster appealing for marketing and for the target market (audience). I can tell this movie is a action/thriller because the surroundings are intense and I can not quite make out what the character is holding but I think it could be some sort of weapon.

I think the water on this poster suggests to the audience that the main character is into something deep, the water is up to his knees; suggesting he is perhaps in danger but not drowning (not up to his neck in water).  It makes you wonder what the significance of the water will be, possibly a flood in the city or perhaps this is just representing something that is overwhelming for the character.  

Finally at the bottom of the poster we are informed when the movie will be released to the general public in the IMAX. This would be done well in advance to encourage people to book their tickets before the release date, so that the film company can estimate how much money they will make on the first screening day.