Devil Wears Prada (2006) David Frankel
Above is the poster for the dramady "The Devil Wears Prada". We can see a shoe with a heal that is a devils pitchfork. The image itself supports the title of the film as we can see the pitchfork which automatically tells us its to do with a devil and the title also has "devil" in it. The director who thought of the illustrations has carefully thought of the denotations and connotations so that it can have more then one meaning to it. The denotation of this image is just a shoe that has been made into something slightly devil like. The connotation of this image is linked the title of the film. "The Devil Wears Prada", this title links to the shoe as the shoe is made for the devil to wear. The colour of the shoe tells us it is for the devil and the heel of the shoe also tells us it is for the devil. The title says "wears" in it, meaning that the shoe is there for it to be worn - shoe is for the devil.
We know that the shoes symbolises a female because of the type of shoe it is - so this shows its a film for women (chick flick) "This is a well-built film. Oh, it’s a chick flick supreme, but ultimately it is a darn good movie. The piece is about Andy, a smart but naive young woman from Ohio, who finds herself assisting a cruel fashion magazine editor in New York City. Basically this is the mother lode of chick flicks. There are clothes, boy trouble, girly politics and more clothes. "
(http://www.goodnewsfilmreviews.com/2008/08/devil-wears-prada-2006.html)
The images composition is in the central position because it is the first thing that catches your eye and you focus on it automatically. This could because it is the only image of the poster or it is the brightest thing on the page, the red does play a huge part in the poster. With the framing we do get a sense of space, that space is used for the writing around the image. The space on the poster does make it very simple and the poster itself speaks for itself which is a good point because you don't want the poster to look so confusing. We also can see that we have a close up of the shoe and is a portrait image which is normally what we will see on posters. This has been done to allow us to see the image properly and get a good view of whatever is on the poster.
The lighting in this image is a complicated part to discuss because we can see that the image has some sort of shadow which makes the image look like it has been taken with high key lighting and back lighting but the image also looks like it has been manipulated in order to create a devilish effect with the dark shadowing on the red shoe. We know that the image has been manipulated because of the effects and the heel of the shoe which is the pitchfork. This all reflects the style and creativity in the film.
The typography and text used all over the cover suits the cover and compliments the style used on the cover. The masthead has been made reasonably big in order for people to see but has been made smaller compared to the image. This can also show the power of the devil which is represented in the image. The actors names that have been shown on the top left hand corner if the poster have also been made in the contrasting colours of the poster. The colours have been consistent and dull which suits the kind of impression that the director has put on the film. The colours and title do not give off an exciting and positive impression instead it gives off a negative and dull impression.
Overall, I think that this poster for the film "The Devil Wears Prada", is appealing and shows creativity and style which is what the film is about. The fashion aspect of the film is reflected through the image and the style of how the poster is set out.
Juno (2007) Jason Reitman
Above is a poster for the dramady “ Juno” which is about a 16 year old high school student that discovers she is pregnant and decides to confront her family and friends with the truth - deciding to keep the child.
What we can see is a very colourful poster for a film. We can see that it is a film made for teenagers about teenagers because of the typography and use of colours and artwork layout. The denotations of this poster is what we can see and we can gather that the film is about a girl who is the protagonist and the boy standing near her. We can see that the film is to do with the girl who is a teenager - this is shown through colours and layout once again. The connotations of this poster is that it is for teenagers, for the younger audience, because of the colours and so on but its about a girl who is pregnant which is shown through the image. Its showing us that the film is about a young pregnant girl which is generally not something many people would see at schools and colleges. The facial expressions and body language show that the film has a confusing storyline and not a lot of positive stuff happens in the film because of the situation.
The thing that mostly stands out for me is the colours on the poster - the stripes. This helps draw attention to the poster - helps find its targeted audience. The image itself isnt as a central position, broken the rule of thirds. The image is put to one side of the poster in order for the text to put around the image. This also could be done like that because they girl is pregnant, so to emphasise the bump, the writing it put around it. The posters is portrait showing a full length image (long shot) of both characters which helps show what the characters are like as you can judge them from their outfits. This helps us know that they are teenagers because of the kind of clothes they are wearing. The stripes in the image also look like they have been used to compliment the image, because the characters in the image are wearing the same kind of colours and has the consistency of stripes - showing a connection between colours and patterns making it more young.
Within the horizontal layout you can see that the lighting of the image is high key even though it has been manipulated to sit on a stripy background. I can tell that the image has been done with high key lighting, because they are very bright and each feature of the subjects in the image are not shadowed and all in full view.
The typography on this poster is suitable for the theme of the poster and genre of the film. Its a very child like font and the size of the mast head used on the poster is on a bigger scale compared to the rest of the writing on the page. The mast heads colour has been made a different contrasting colour in order to stand out from the selection of the colours that have already been used - mainly oranges. The writing all over the poster other than the mast head is a different font and is kept consistent so that the page doesnt look messy and so everyone can read it. That information is not what people would generally look at first, which is why the title of the film has been made with a different font to make it stand out and compliment the genre of the film and target the right audience.
Overall, I think the film poster is suitable for the genre of the film and appeals to right target audience and shows us that the film is about teenagers.
Miss Congeniality (2000) Donald Petrie
Above is a poster of the film "Miss Congeniality" which is about a young lady who works for the FBI in America and has to go undercover at a beauty pageant in order to stop a group from bombing the main fashion event.
What we can see on the poster in the protagonist showing her two roles she plays. This helps get an understanding of what is going to happen in the film but also can confuse a lot of the audience which may help attract people to the film. The poster itself is classy and simple which helps the picture speak for itself. The denotations of this poster is what we can see which is a woman that is dressed in a feminine dress with shoes that dont match her dress but match her FBI uniform. We know that she is part of the FBI because on the sashe she is wearing it clearly states that which helps identify the second role she plays in the film. The connotations behind this is that the protagonist is obviously wearing the what she is wearing to show that the film may be about her being someone else without people around her knowing about it. The audience knows what she is doing and what the reason behind it is but the people in the film have no idea.
The image composition has been done to right hand side of the page showing a long shot of the character. This image shows the body language of the character and as we can see you has a very powerful position that she is standing in but also making it look pretty feminine. The image being on the right hand side of the image creates a sense of space which is where we can see the text on the poster. The poster itself is landscape with a vertical layout.
The lighting looks like it is high key because each feature and each area of the image is in clear focus but the character in the image itself looks manipulated. The character in the image looks like it has been made to look like a doll with a plastic look to it and overexposed look.
The typography on this poster has been kept consistent. Theres been a different font that has been used for the word "Miss" and for "Congeniality"to show the 2 different sides of the character - a bold and a classy font.
The rest of the font has been made to be consistent with the word "congeniality" and has been put into a different colour in order to make the main image and the title of the film stand out on the white background poster.
Overall, I think that this poster is simple and the denotations and connotations have been thought out well in order to show the film through an image.
