Features of a Movie Poster - A Short Analysis

After looking at this particular poster, I definitely thing that my group and I would be able to present the genre of our film effectively. It seems to me that in order to create a poster for a drama genre, you need to make the poster quite dramatic as well, so that the target audience understands and has a vague idea of what the film is about and what sort of things they expect to happen. In my opinion, this was probably aimed more at a thriller genre, however, I still believe that the various elements of the poster still apply to that of a drama genre.

Features of a Teaser Trailer

A Sense of Mystery

With a teaser trailer, the film is advertised without giving too much away and because of this, it usually means there is footage shown that isn’t necessarily in the actual film. You can often find that teaser trailers are full of quick cuts so that in theory, the trailer is only giving the audience hints and therefore serves its purpose of teasing and intriguing the target audience. Teaser Trailers can also be made before the film is actually finished and a good example would be the teaser trailer for The Da Vinci Code, as it was released before a single frame of the movie had been shot.

The Length

You normally expect a teaser trailer to be around 30-60 seconds long and because it is so short, it successfully grabs the full attention of the audience. They are also usually shown long before the film comes out and these teaser trailers therefore complete their job of ‘teasing’ the audience and adding hype to an upcoming release. A Teaser trailer like The Dark Knight is just under a minute long.

Vague Release Dates

The date of the film release is not always specific and this is again because the director’s aim is to leave the audience on edge. Instead of a date like ‘the 18^th of November,’ the teaser trailer will just say ‘November’ or ‘Coming Soon’ which follows shortly after the appearance of the title of the film which means that the two important bits of information in the trailer are the lasting thoughts in the audience’s minds and will therefore most likely remain in the audience’s minds until the film is shown.

Teaser Poster Research

The teaser trailer for Cloverfield was first publicly shown attached to the film Transformers, and therefore allowed them to attract their target audience because Transformers in particular was a film that was of a similar action genre. At this point, nothing about the film was known, and the one-and-a-half-minute teaser did not include the movie title; only the producer's name, J. J. Abrams and a release date, 1.18.08, were shown.



The trail of water suggests that the monster in the film is lurking and making his way toward the city and the missing head of the Statue of Liberty suggests destruction and shows it is set in New York. The dark blue stormy sky is enhanced to show that trouble is brewing and the smoke and fumes suggests disaster and action. The fact that only the date is given will make the audience want to type it into the internet in order to discover what is so poignant about the specific date, therefore turning what could potentially be a passive audience into an active audience.

Emma Fitchett - A2 Coursework

Audience Theory and Genre Research

The Hyperdermic Syringe Theory

According to this particular theory, it is said that the media we consume is actually like a syringe that 'injects' certain views, attitudes and beliefs into us, therefore causing us to carry out particular actions. For example films such as Straw Dogs and The Evil Dead have both been banned because it was believed that people would copy the crimes that were shown, however, many people still consider this as a rather simplistic view, because it doesn't take into account a person's morals or self-control. Despite this, politicians in particular still use this theory to support their views and find reasons why their is so much violence and injustice within society today. A good example to support this theory would involve the serial killer Jeffery Dahmer who watched a clip from his favourite film in order to inspire him and generate enthusiasm for his murders. However, this film was only Star Wars and even though it may have inspired him, for the rest of us we still view the film as an extremely harmless product of the sci-fi and fantasy genre.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory

This particular theory, which was created Bulmer and katz, simply suggests that media consumers play an active role in choosing and using media, rather than being a passive audience like the Hyperdermic Syringe Theory suggests. It is said that all media consumers only choose to watch a piece of media if it appeals to their needs and interests which I think we could all agree, is relatively true. This also means that when it comes to the genre of a fim, it is up to the individual to decide whether they will continue to watch it or not, therefore presenting media in a much more positive way, because the audience, which is seen as more active, is given the freedom to choose what they consume.

The Reception Theory

The Reception Theory, which was presented by media theorist Stuart Hall brings foward the idea that we all decode texts we encounter in individual ways which may be caused as a result of our upbringing, the mood and place we are in and also the time. In basic terms, the Reception Theory seems to argue that contextual factors, rather than textual ones, tend to influence the way the spectator views the film that they are watching and therefore supports the Uses and Gratifcations Theory, that the audience is more active and can make decisions themselves over what they watch and whether the film is enjoyable to watch. The Reception Theory therefore takes into account all of the various factors that might influence how the viewer will read and create meaning from the text.

Conventions of Genre and Targetting an Audience

We all know that cetain trends and conventions in a film immediately tells an audience what type of genre the film falls under. I remember from my own media piece that the conventions presented were typical of a thriller and my group and I therefore successfully targetted our audience of thriller lovers aged 15 and over. The setting throughout most of our piece was usually very dark, which instantly portrayed Barthes theory of signs, consequently suggesting that something bad was going to happen. The shadowy firgure that walked passed the door also implied that there was a risk of danger, because the figure was so mysterious and as a result thrilled the audience. Levi-Strauss' theory of Binary Oppostions also showed our target audience that our piece fitted into the thriller genre. There was a clear contrast between light and darkness throughout, with the hooded figure dressed in black and the girl upstairs always in the light. This therefore portrayed a clear sense of opposites, involving good vs evil and men vs women, presenting the two girls as the princess-type characters, and the figure as the villain.

The Truman show: Genre and Narrative

Genre

Although the genre appears to be quite difficult to identify in The Truman show, there seems to be elements of different genres. For example, you could say that the film is a comedy, because of the utter absurdity of the plot and also because we all recognise Jim Carrey as a comic film star, who is well known for his wacky movements and funny facial expressions. However, we could also say that in some ways, The Truman Show is more of a fantasy because we are presented with an extremely unusual world, which we later find is truly a world of fantasy and make-belief. There is also a sense that as a result of this, the genre might also be classed as a drama, especially when realisation hits Truman that all is not what it seems and he feels that he must do everything in his power to escape the fake and fantastical world in which he is trapped in and therefore, it is easy to understand why the genre of this particular film is so hard to define, although, we could say that because this movie doesn’t fall into any particular category, a wider audience is attracted and consequently engaged, proving that an indefinable genre can be an advantage .

Narrative

It is obvious that the Truman Show is a non linear narrative, especially when there are flashbacks to different parts of his younger life and in some ways; the fact that the film possesses a non linear narrative is a successful way in showing the confusion when it comes to unfolding events and the discovery Truman makes of realising that the ‘perfect world’ he lives in really isn’t perfect at all. In nearly every film narrative, Todorov’s theory of equilibriums is normally present. As an audience, we expect a problem that affects normality to occur and then to later be solved and when looking at The Truman Show, this theory does seem to be proven. Therefore, because we expect a problem to occur, we could also say that Roland Barthes theory of deconstruction from signs is also apparent. In my opinion, I believe that this ‘perfect world’ we see at the beginning, of bright blue skies and happy, robotic people are all actually underlying signs that in order to maintain Todorov’s theory of equilibriums, may not be completely what they appear to be, because everything really is so ‘perfect.’ It could also be hard to distinguish who is the main villain in the film as well, however, following Levi Strauss’s theory of Binary Oppositions; you could say that because the director of the show, Christof often wears dark black clothes and keeps Truman trapped in this world, he is the villain. Another clear opposition to prove this is the fact that Christof films The Truman Show whilst in the false ‘moon,’ which contrasts from the bright sun, presenting the opposites of light and dark and therefore, good and evil.

Final Film: Hotel Road