Analysis of Poster

- TITLE: MADE. We chose the title MADE because it would significantly appeal to the main target market, those that were more attracted to gangster films, therefore they would understand it. However, it is not too obscure for most people to understand it. It does not have multi-meanings at all, it is a simple title. For the poster, I put it in block capital letters and red lettering. The red is symbolic of the films bloody nature and the block lettering is for the letters to stand out easily and be very noticeable to onlookers. The title name itself (with the image and tag-line) suggests that the film is about someone being ‘made’ in the mafia or in a gang. The audience should deduce from this title and the image that the film is of the gangster genre.

- The main image is of the two main characters, Tony and ‘The Boss’. Tony has his back to the camera, wearing a dark suit, holding a gun and head turned slightly to the left. I took a picture of him in this pose for many reasons. His pose connotes his utter disdain for normal society and the law so he therefore turns his back on everything to achieve all he wants. His dark suit reflects the darkness of his heart and how anything he seems to do is for himself and he doesn’t care what he does along the way to get it. The gun symbolises death and how he holds the power in the film. The boss on the other hand is in a lot more of a ‘meek’ pose. I did this on purpose to symbolise how Tony is overthrowing him in the film and how the boss just seems to be drifting and fading away, his power diminished, hence the smudged, ghostly look. This image is certainly multi-layered in its meanings and to an onlooker would raise many questions about the film which could only be answered by going to see it. Therefore it would make an onlooker curious, fulfilling its marketing value by making them want to see the film.

- The poster seems to employ the iconography of two types of film genre. Firstly, we can ultimately tell it is a gangster film because of the presence of a gun and characters in suits in a threatening pose. The gun and the suits are binary opposites because the gun connotes death, destruction and chaos while the suits promote order and normality. However, both can be symbolic of the mafia and with someone dressed so smart holding a gun in that stance, an onlooker would certainly think so. Another genre that this poster could connote is the action genre. Although not much is going on in the actual poster, an onlooker would gather that much action would go on in the film and it is the type of fighting, gun action.

- The poster makes the stars’ names very obvious at the bottom of the poster. They are in white block lettering on a dark background to stand out and be obvious to an onlooker. This is because the film would then have ‘star appeal’, because the actors are well-known and even well-known for action and gangster films therefore attracting particular fans along to see the movie and suggest it to others. The poster displays two of the characters. The most well-known ones and the main characters. This should even further tell people what the film could be about and also attract those who are particular fans of those actors.

- The poster does contain the movie’s tag-line: “It’s a Cut-Throat Business”. This tag-line just further moves the film into the gangster genre and makes it obvious to an onlooker of the poster that it is. It is an enticing tag-line, making someone think that it is a bloody and action-packed film. However, it does not suggest more than one meaning. I did not want my poster to be too complex for it could just confuse people and, as a group, we agreed that a simple tag-line should suffice.

- The credits are on the poster at the bottom with the date that the movie would be expected to be out. The credits are in small size lettering but I made them white on a dark background to be purposefully noticed as the director and actors are very well-known, especially for gangster films. The date is also obvious and that is so an audience will remember exactly when the movie is meant to be out for and can make plans to go and see it.

- The target audience is aimed to be at anyone over 15 years of age and who love quite violent films. The main target market is gangster and action film lovers who like a simple story and plenty to go on. It is also aimed at those who go to films for ‘star appeal’ because certain actors are in a certain film or a certain director has directed one.

- The film has no USP and it is not high concept. The only thing it has that would mark it out from other films is it’s combination of movie stars.