Poster Analysis

First i will begin with analysing Chicago film poster. Chicago is a musical about two female killers wanting to be stars in Broadway, they then use a top lawyer to get them off innocent.

there is very limited colour in this poster, it features the main protagonists all in the centre, showing the audience that these will be the main people. the only colour in the poster is dark red and orange, red being a symbolic colour of danger, lust and anger, giving these ideas and representations to the audience. the characters are entirely in black and white except the girls lips, drawing attention to them. This could suggest they have something to say and indicates lust.

the girls are faced with their backs turned to the audience yet facing away from the centre man, this shows they are sly and have something to hide. This is re-established with the subtle guns in both of their hands and the knowing smile they have on their face. This alone gives an idea to the audience of what the film is about. Also the girls are dressed in glamorous flapper girl costumes and the man in a suit, this establishes the era in which the film is set and reinforces the gun idea as there were many gangsters in Chicago around the 20s and 30s. They are placed infront of a large C which links with the larger C in the title of the film just below. This re-establishes the title of the film. Underneath the actors it says "If you cant be famous, be infamous", this again gives the audience an idea of the genre of the film and what it will be about. The actors names are put above each of the actors at the top of the poster, being at the top this is one of the first things that the audience looks at and because they are well known actors it will attract more of an audience as they expect the film to be of good quality.


I will now analyse the poster for the film The Virgin Suicides:
The poster is completely taken over by an extreme close up of the side of a young girls face directly looking at the audience. Instantly this engages the audience with this character and they immediately know that this is the main protagonist. The young girl is smiling which seems to suggest a happy film.
The eye contact with the audience connects them and with the soft warm tones around the girls face girls a pleasant feeling about the girl and the audience responds positively to her. However this is juxtaposed with the title of the film "The Virgin Suicides" which is a harsh title with negative connotations because of the word "suicide". This extreme contrast intrests the audience making them want to know more about the film and what happens within the film.
This is reinforced with the font of the main masthead and subheadings are in almost girly, pleeasant fonts, possibly carrying connotations of virgins.