Shutter Island
Denotation:
- Male in his 30s
- Dark back ground
- Title ‘shutter island’ is in bold and in red.
- Isolated island
- The main character is holding a match stick
- Tag line ‘someone is missing’
- Serous facial expression
One of the first things we notice is a man in 30s looming thorough the gloomy darkness. This is a typical thriller poster as it use low-key lighting and thriller movies characters are usually male dominated in their 30's to 40's. The waves and rain crashing down on the island are conventions of a psychological thriller, as this could be seen as a theme which ties in with the film genre. The characters face is also partially hidden in the darkness which could imply that character prefers to remain hidden from someone or something and does not want to draw attention to his existence. The character is showing only one half of his face, making the audience question, who he is? Why is he hiding? This is a typical thriller convention as it create suspense and creating enigma codes to make the audience think.
The poster also shows that the movie is established in an isolated island, which is surrounded by the ocean. This could convey that the Island is used as a prison and they people in the island could be trapped, which could be seen as a typical thriller convention. Leonardo Dicaprio is holding a match stick which could suggest that he is searching or lost in the darkness giving the audience a small insight into the film, suggesting that it involves an investigation trying to piece things together.
The background is a very dull grey and it is raining. This makes makes everything dark and mysterious because we cannot see anything except for rain. The title 'The Equalizer' is red and in capitals which makes it stand out over the dull grey background and is therefore the first thing we see. The writing may also be red to symbolize danger because danger is a typical theme for the thriller genre.
Main Images
Cover Lines
The poster also shows that the movie is established in an isolated island, which is surrounded by the ocean. This could convey that the Island is used as a prison and they people in the island could be trapped, which could be seen as a typical thriller convention. Leonardo Dicaprio is holding a match stick which could suggest that he is searching or lost in the darkness giving the audience a small insight into the film, suggesting that it involves an investigation trying to piece things together.
The Title ‘shutter island’ is in bold and red fonts. The red could suggest that there will be violence, murders and dangers which are typical thriller conventions. The word ‘island’ is isolated with shutter, which gives the audience that its is associated with isolation which is a common themes in psychological thriller.The tagline for the poster is ‘someone is missing’, and it’s directly beside Leonardo Dicaprio, which could suggest that Leonardo Dicaprio is looking for someone.
The Equalizer
Denotations:
- Gun
- Middle aged man
- Red Title
- Miserable/ Raining background
- Denzel Washington
We know that The Equalizer is a film of the thriller genre because the poster is a stereotypical for a thriller genre because of the character, iconography and camera angle.
The main character, Denzel Washington, is the person we see. This shows us that he is the main character and we will be seeing him the most throughout the whole campaign for 'The Equalizer'. Denzel Washington is a typical thriller character because he is a good looking middle aged man, in this 30-40s, which is very common in thriller films. He has a serious look on his face which makes the person looking at the poster know he is a man on a mission. This links in with the tag line 'what do you see when you look at me', this makes us look closer at his face and pay more attention to what he is trying to tell the audience in his facial expression. He also has an angry look on his face, this is typical to thriller films because a stereotypical thriller films because they almost always involve some type of violence which is provoked by anger towards two people. This makes us wonder what his mission is. Washington is also holding a gun which makes us know for certain this film is a thriller because guns are typical iconography because guns are known to cause violence which is the theme of thriller movies.
The background is a very dull grey and it is raining. This makes makes everything dark and mysterious because we cannot see anything except for rain. The title 'The Equalizer' is red and in capitals which makes it stand out over the dull grey background and is therefore the first thing we see. The writing may also be red to symbolize danger because danger is a typical theme for the thriller genre.
Muholland Drive
Denotations:
- Woman
- Dark background
- Muholland DR. title
- Tree
- Hollywood sign
Connotations:
Muholland Drive is a thriller movie from 2001. We can tell that it is a thriller movie just by looking at the poster because of the worried looking 'damsel in distress', dark and gloomy background.
The women is young, probably in her 20-30's and is an innocent looking character. This is a typical character in thriller movies because there is usually a damsel in distress who needs saving. She is usually an innocent victim who gets caught up in a situation she cannot control and needs saving. The women has red lipstick on which makes the audience think of thriller because red is the colour of danger, lust and death which are all main themes of films within the thriller genre. Additionally, she is also looking next to her looking worried, one of the main themes in thrillers is paranoia. Therefore the women looks as if she is looking over her shoulder to see if someone is coming and therefore looks very paranoid, as most thriller characters are.
The background is split into two halves which could represent that she has a split personality or that we only know half of what is happening. The background for the bottom half is pitch black which creates a tense, suspenseful atmosphere because we do not know what is behind her or around her or where she is which creates a mystery about the women which is common in thriller films. The dark background also links to the paranoia theme because it could symbolise how she does not know where she is or who is around her as she is blinded by the darkness around her. In the second half of the picture we see a miserable rainy day in Hollywood. This creates an weary atmosphere because it is typical of thrillers to use low lighting and gloomy atmospheres to make everything more suspenseful.
Finally, the title is bold and in white. This makes us think that the movies main character is the women because white represents purity and femininity. This makes the women look like even more of a damsel in distress and makes the audience sympathize for her as she is a scared women. The writing is in bold capital letters which makes it stand out over the dark background.
Magazine Covers
Mastheads
The mastheads for all magazine covers normally follow the same styles, fonts and colours over the years since their releases. Total Film is normally in white, with the 'Total' belonging inside of the 'F' in different colour (normally same colour as the background. Empire follows its traditional red. but sometimes changes to white on occasions. Sight and Sound have changed their style recently, now following suit with having the masthead running along the top of the page, but still keeping the iconic yellow as the fill of the colours,
Magazine Covers
Mastheads
The mastheads for all magazine covers normally follow the same styles, fonts and colours over the years since their releases. Total Film is normally in white, with the 'Total' belonging inside of the 'F' in different colour (normally same colour as the background. Empire follows its traditional red. but sometimes changes to white on occasions. Sight and Sound have changed their style recently, now following suit with having the masthead running along the top of the page, but still keeping the iconic yellow as the fill of the colours,
All 3 do the same thing with their main images. Firstly its placed in the middle of the cover, meaning the target audience will know what the issues main focus is fr that month and the audience normally know which film it is just by the characters seen. They all seem to place the main image over the title. This is because the main image is the main focus for that month, and all big magazines are so iconic with their mast heads the audience don't need to see the whole title because they know by the aesthetics of the the mast head what magazine it is. Sight&Sound have only just introduced this to their magazines, as before the masthead used to be in the right hand corner in a yellow block. They've most likely changed to freshen up the magazine but also it may be becoming a lot more popular, and therefore consumers already know the title of the magazine without seeing the whole masthead.
There are two types of cover lines. Main cover lines and just cover lines. The main cover line is usually used for the main topic of that months magazine. As you can see there are examples of the 'Mission: Impossible 4' and Harry Potter in much bigger and bolder fonts than the rest of the examples. The other cover lines are normally other topics in the magazine that aren't as big as the main topic but still relevant and interesting. For example the main topic for Total Film is Harry Potter, but some readers might not like fantasy films so by using other cover lines discussing horror might attract the reader to buy the magazine because horror may be their more preferable genre.
Pugs
Pugs are usually blocks of colour that look like stickers on the front of a magazine cover. They're normally bright coloured leading as a main interest to the consumer. They're normally used to discuss prizes and free stuff you can get from buying the magazine. Again, Sight&Sound never use things like pugs as their audience isn't for the more casual readers.
Analysis of a campaign
There were two teaser trailers released at the very start of the campaign for Iron Man 3. The picture on the left is the first released. The audience can see that Tony Stark is standing alone with a collection of suits, a collection we as the audience have never seen before. Its teasing the audience as it has only a '3', not the full title, adding to the excitement and anticipation, but the audience don't need a the full title as the iconic super hero and the font enable the audience to know straight away its a third iron man film.
The poster on the right shows Iron Man falling upside through the sky. This connotes how Iron Man is in danger and has the toughest battle yet, as his suit seems to be broken and battered and he has lost his helmet. Already we are able to distinguish a flow in the branding for Iron Man 3. In both posters we see Stark and we see suits. We are now able to also distinguish that the Iron Man 3 franchise is keeping it's big bulky font and colour scheme for the third installment, meaning we can expect similar connotations as we get further into the campaign.
The first teaser trailer for Iron Man 3 really was a tease. Just 19 seconds long, it managed to provide us with a lot of excitement. One thing to pick out from the trailer was the flow of scenes from the trailer that we've witnessed in the teaser posters.
See, the scene from the poster is also in the trailer. The audience see the same room but in a different situation, but the audience can already see the campaign showing similar bits and teasers are only just being released.
The two pictures on the right could connote a scene from the 2nd teaser poster. The lighting and the scene look like the teaser poster, so that could be the situation before he gets attacked, but as it's a teaser trailer the audience can only guess and will have to watch the film to find the answers.
On the 22nd of October, the 'proper' teaser trailer was released. Once again we see images that are already known to the fans and consumers, but with each show we've already seen we see a little bit more to try and start piecing together the film.
Again, it starts with the crowd, highlighting that there is some sort of media speculation around Stark andf his life.
The audience can then start piecing together shots from the 19 second teaser trailer with this one. So in the teaser we see Iron Man shooting down towards the ocean, possibly to save something but it's quite difficult to work out what it is. Then in this teaser trailer the audience find out it's people who have been thrown off a flying plane, and he's going down to save them. As this has been in both trailers, it could be a significant and a more action packed scene within the film.
We then see this scene developed as well in the new trailer. Before we've only seen these helicopters flying through the sky, but we don't know why they're flying, we don't know if they're good or bad, so it causes many enigma codes. We then find out they're trying to destroy Iron Man as they blow up his home. Again this scene begins the end of the trailer, meaning it could be a very important scene in the film and shows the start of Iron Man vs a villain who's trying to destroy Stark and his legacy.
Again we see the suits in the newest teaser trailer. However this team we see them get blown up. This could emphasise how he only needs 1 suit to fight his enemy or he could have blown them up himself because someone wants to take them. Again there is so many enigma codes and we won't know the full answer to all the question unless we go to see the film. It really is teasing the audience! But the main point to take is that we're seeing the same thing throughout the campaign.
Lastly, the 19 second trailer ended with just the '3', highlighting the tease. However once the full teaser trailer is released, it ends with the IRON MAN 3 with it looking brighter, meaning this is the 'real' beginning of the campaign and that the audience are going to get flooded with Iron Man 3. Again it's using the same colour, fonts and styles, creating the recognizable brand for Iron Man.
Full Release Posters
In the theatrical release posters, they give the audience a lot more information than the teaser ones. They are a lot more detailed and more detail in the way they're presented to the public.
In both the audience can see all the actors, the title, the billing blocks, the release date and the main character, Tony Stark/ Iron Man. In both (In fact ALL the posters he never has his full suit on, we can always see his head). We can see the continuous title being big and bulky in the same colours as Iron Mans suit. I would personally say the poster on the left is the main poster, but i have to say there overall background colour schemes on both are the color of Iron Mans colour theme in general (Blue, Golds and Reds).
Character Posters
A popular theme among modern day blockbusters are character posters. Every Main character in Iron Man 3 has their own dedicated poster. The protagonists in the film share a similar theme among their posters. They follow the same colour themes as Iron Man. They have the red, golds etc along with the sparks flying across, to emhasise the danger they're all in and that Iron Man has to save the day. The audience are able to distinguish the good and the bad just from the posters. The man with the green theme is obviously going to be the antagonist. We could also put a bet on the poster in the top left that he will be a villain too as we've never seen him in previous films.
Full Theatrical Trailer
In the main trailer, the audience are given the chance to refresh their memories to what they've already seen, as most of footage in the trailer isn't new. We are able to see the 'real' introduction of the characters, including the return of fellow hero Colonel James Rhodes. The audience see that James teams up with Iron Man to defeat the villains.
However, with the trailer re-iterating what we've already witnessed, the big changing factor is the amount of dialogue put in this trailer. Already mentioned in my trailer conventions, this really does follow the typical conventions as this is filled with 'one liners'.
"I'm Tony Stark, I build neat stuff, got a nice girl and occasionally save the world - so why can't I sleep?"
This tells the audience that Stark has something wrong with him, something on his mind that won't enable him to rest? Straight away there is enigma codes and the audience are asking questions.
"The mandarin must be stopped"
This quote connotes that the mandarin must be called the mandarin and he holds so much power that the president of the USA has had to make a speech to confirm that he will be defeated. By who? I think we all know.
"You don't know who I am, you will never see me coming"
This confirms how much power and authority the antagonist has in the film. He shows he has no fear. We also see from the shots that he is a stereo-typical villain. He's ugly and has tattoo's and rings.
"What are you going to do about these attacks?"
This quote enables the audience to realise how reliant America is on Iron Man and how whenever there is danger, they turn to him. It shows his power as they turn to him instead of authority's like the army etc.
"I have to protect the one thing I can't live without - That's you"
This lets the audience know that Pippa is in danger and that she is going to be the 'Damsel in Distress' for this film and she's the only thing that means everything to Stark, so she's going to be the main target for the antagonists.
"Mr Stark, today is the first day of what's left of your life"
This connotes that the mandarin is really out to try and defeat Stark and take over his status as the most powerful and resourceful man in America.
"...Just good old fashioned revenge"
This quote emphasize how Stark will not go down without a fight and is determined more than ever to defeat the mandarin and make him suffer.
Magazine Cover
Empire
Again, we see such a continuous flow throughout the whole campaign. The Iron Man franchise is so big one of Films biggest magazines tweaks it's aesthetics to fit around Iron Man. The typical red 'EMPIRE', has been changed to white with the majority of cover lines becoming white. The main cover line is red because Iron Man is that months specific topic. The typical Iron Man font is red too. All the colours on the magazine fir around Iron Mans typical colours. When you think of Iron Man, what colours come to your mind? Red, golds, whites and blues. What colours are on the magazine cover that aren't them colours I just stated? None. Empire have produced a cover to fit around Iron Man, not the other way round, proving just how big and powerful the whole franchise is within the industry.
What else happened? Here are some Extras
Banners
Sight&Sound don't use Banners. This could be because they're more 'professional' and for the slightly more intellectual audience. Empire and Total film use banners to advertise other films and to add more emphasis on the page. Both try to make the page look filled with excitement, colours and topics to fit everyone's preferred film genres.PugsAnalysis of a campaign
Teaser Posters
The poster on the right shows Iron Man falling upside through the sky. This connotes how Iron Man is in danger and has the toughest battle yet, as his suit seems to be broken and battered and he has lost his helmet. Already we are able to distinguish a flow in the branding for Iron Man 3. In both posters we see Stark and we see suits. We are now able to also distinguish that the Iron Man 3 franchise is keeping it's big bulky font and colour scheme for the third installment, meaning we can expect similar connotations as we get further into the campaign.
Teaser Trailers
The first teaser trailer for Iron Man 3 really was a tease. Just 19 seconds long, it managed to provide us with a lot of excitement. One thing to pick out from the trailer was the flow of scenes from the trailer that we've witnessed in the teaser posters.
See, the scene from the poster is also in the trailer. The audience see the same room but in a different situation, but the audience can already see the campaign showing similar bits and teasers are only just being released.
The two pictures on the right could connote a scene from the 2nd teaser poster. The lighting and the scene look like the teaser poster, so that could be the situation before he gets attacked, but as it's a teaser trailer the audience can only guess and will have to watch the film to find the answers.
On the 22nd of October, the 'proper' teaser trailer was released. Once again we see images that are already known to the fans and consumers, but with each show we've already seen we see a little bit more to try and start piecing together the film.Again, it starts with the crowd, highlighting that there is some sort of media speculation around Stark andf his life.
The audience can then start piecing together shots from the 19 second teaser trailer with this one. So in the teaser we see Iron Man shooting down towards the ocean, possibly to save something but it's quite difficult to work out what it is. Then in this teaser trailer the audience find out it's people who have been thrown off a flying plane, and he's going down to save them. As this has been in both trailers, it could be a significant and a more action packed scene within the film.
We then see this scene developed as well in the new trailer. Before we've only seen these helicopters flying through the sky, but we don't know why they're flying, we don't know if they're good or bad, so it causes many enigma codes. We then find out they're trying to destroy Iron Man as they blow up his home. Again this scene begins the end of the trailer, meaning it could be a very important scene in the film and shows the start of Iron Man vs a villain who's trying to destroy Stark and his legacy.
Again we see the suits in the newest teaser trailer. However this team we see them get blown up. This could emphasise how he only needs 1 suit to fight his enemy or he could have blown them up himself because someone wants to take them. Again there is so many enigma codes and we won't know the full answer to all the question unless we go to see the film. It really is teasing the audience! But the main point to take is that we're seeing the same thing throughout the campaign.
Lastly, the 19 second trailer ended with just the '3', highlighting the tease. However once the full teaser trailer is released, it ends with the IRON MAN 3 with it looking brighter, meaning this is the 'real' beginning of the campaign and that the audience are going to get flooded with Iron Man 3. Again it's using the same colour, fonts and styles, creating the recognizable brand for Iron Man.
Full Release Posters
In the theatrical release posters, they give the audience a lot more information than the teaser ones. They are a lot more detailed and more detail in the way they're presented to the public.
In both the audience can see all the actors, the title, the billing blocks, the release date and the main character, Tony Stark/ Iron Man. In both (In fact ALL the posters he never has his full suit on, we can always see his head). We can see the continuous title being big and bulky in the same colours as Iron Mans suit. I would personally say the poster on the left is the main poster, but i have to say there overall background colour schemes on both are the color of Iron Mans colour theme in general (Blue, Golds and Reds).
Character Posters
A popular theme among modern day blockbusters are character posters. Every Main character in Iron Man 3 has their own dedicated poster. The protagonists in the film share a similar theme among their posters. They follow the same colour themes as Iron Man. They have the red, golds etc along with the sparks flying across, to emhasise the danger they're all in and that Iron Man has to save the day. The audience are able to distinguish the good and the bad just from the posters. The man with the green theme is obviously going to be the antagonist. We could also put a bet on the poster in the top left that he will be a villain too as we've never seen him in previous films.
Full Theatrical Trailer
In the main trailer, the audience are given the chance to refresh their memories to what they've already seen, as most of footage in the trailer isn't new. We are able to see the 'real' introduction of the characters, including the return of fellow hero Colonel James Rhodes. The audience see that James teams up with Iron Man to defeat the villains.However, with the trailer re-iterating what we've already witnessed, the big changing factor is the amount of dialogue put in this trailer. Already mentioned in my trailer conventions, this really does follow the typical conventions as this is filled with 'one liners'.
"I'm Tony Stark, I build neat stuff, got a nice girl and occasionally save the world - so why can't I sleep?"
This tells the audience that Stark has something wrong with him, something on his mind that won't enable him to rest? Straight away there is enigma codes and the audience are asking questions.
"The mandarin must be stopped"
This quote connotes that the mandarin must be called the mandarin and he holds so much power that the president of the USA has had to make a speech to confirm that he will be defeated. By who? I think we all know.
This confirms how much power and authority the antagonist has in the film. He shows he has no fear. We also see from the shots that he is a stereo-typical villain. He's ugly and has tattoo's and rings. "What are you going to do about these attacks?"
This quote enables the audience to realise how reliant America is on Iron Man and how whenever there is danger, they turn to him. It shows his power as they turn to him instead of authority's like the army etc.
"I have to protect the one thing I can't live without - That's you"
This lets the audience know that Pippa is in danger and that she is going to be the 'Damsel in Distress' for this film and she's the only thing that means everything to Stark, so she's going to be the main target for the antagonists.
"Mr Stark, today is the first day of what's left of your life"
This connotes that the mandarin is really out to try and defeat Stark and take over his status as the most powerful and resourceful man in America.
"...Just good old fashioned revenge"
This quote emphasize how Stark will not go down without a fight and is determined more than ever to defeat the mandarin and make him suffer.
Magazine Cover
Empire
Again, we see such a continuous flow throughout the whole campaign. The Iron Man franchise is so big one of Films biggest magazines tweaks it's aesthetics to fit around Iron Man. The typical red 'EMPIRE', has been changed to white with the majority of cover lines becoming white. The main cover line is red because Iron Man is that months specific topic. The typical Iron Man font is red too. All the colours on the magazine fir around Iron Mans typical colours. When you think of Iron Man, what colours come to your mind? Red, golds, whites and blues. What colours are on the magazine cover that aren't them colours I just stated? None. Empire have produced a cover to fit around Iron Man, not the other way round, proving just how big and powerful the whole franchise is within the industry.
What else happened? Here are some Extras
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