Textual Analysis of Existing Products

"Hairspray" Poster

Image source: http://deuvontadededizer.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/hairspray-poster-425.jpg

Opposite is a poster advertising the 2007 film "Hairspray".

The poster uses a range of bright colours against a white background in order to make it very eye-catching. The product is conventional in the way it contains photographs of all of the main stars within the film, however unconventionally it does not couple these with the names of the actors. The way the photos have been taken, revealing only half of the actors' faces, also hides their identity. This style is explained when placed into context with the headline on the poster, "Who's who behind the do?" Here the producers are drawing more attention to the context of the film being set in the 1960's, when big hairstyles were fashionable and revealed a lot about someone's identity, so this is what the photographs mainly focus upon, rather than the actor as a whole.

The actors within the film come from a range of different sexes and age groups, suggesting that the film can be enjoyed by any age group. However most of the actors are teenagers to young adults, which we would expect to be the primary target audience for this musical. Using actors from the same age group as the target audience allows the younger people to identify with the characters in the film. This is one way the poster aims to attract it's target audience.

The tiled effect of showing the photograph makes the poster appear very neat and organised, which is important for this particular kind of medium, because film posters are often only viewed for a few seconds, therefore you do not want them to be over-complicated. The way that each actor is coupled with a different brightly coloured background also makes the poster eye-catching and fun. These colours are mirrored in the films title "Hairspray", which can be found in block capitals at the base of the poster. This repetition of the colour scheme creates an individual identity for the film, whilst the block capitals make the title stand out.

At the very bottom of the poster other information conventionally found on film posters is given, including the film's release date which can be found in the strapline, "Get Ready For Something Big July 20th". The actual date "July 20th" is presented in a bright orange, different from the rest of the strapline, making it stand out further as this would be a very important piece of information for the audience. In a much smaller text, some other conventional information is given regarding the production company information behind th film, followed by the movie's official website, which is highlighted in a bold black font.


"Fame" Poster

Image source: http://www.visualhollywood.com/movies_2009/fame/posters/poster005.jpg

On the left is a poster advertising the 2009 hit re-make of the classic musical "Fame".

Conventionally, the poster is quite simple in it's presentation style. A simple style is usually most effective for film posters as they are typically only viewed for a very short amount of time, for example on the sides of busses or billboards. This particular poster used just one still image of a girl singing into a microphone, which immediately identifies the film's genre as a musical. The use of a bright stage light upon the girl along with the outline of a piano in the background also help to establish the film's genre. The girl shown is an older teenager, and has been styled wearing very fashionable, modern clothing. This style will be attractive to the film's primary target audience of teenagers to young adults, as they will be able to identify themselves with the girl in the photograph. This is one way which the poster aims to address its target audience.

The title of the film, "Fame" has been positioned at the bottom of the poster. The font which has been used for the title is very iconic to this film, as it is the same font that was used in the classic 1980's version of the film, therefore the audience will be able to identify straight away that this film is a re-make of the popular classic. The colour of the font is gold and made up of small shining lights, creating a link with the idea of the bright lights of west end and broadway shows. This further establishes the films genre as a modern musical.

The strapline placed underneath this title, "I'm gonna live forever" is a lyric taken from the well-known song associated with the musical. This further establishes the relationship between the classic version of the film and this re-make. The strapline has been capitalized and coloured in a white font, both of which make it stand out against the dark blackish/blue background.

Other information conventionally found on film posters can be found in a white font at the bottom of the page. This information includes production company details, the movies official website and the pictures release date, "In theatres September 25th".