Main Inspiration

The first poster for the “Ghostbusters” film is very minimalistic creating simplicity and creating transparency which according to Richard Dyer’s “Utopian Solutions” is a way of targeting the audience by providing something that is lacking in the modern life. In reality things are more complex than what is shown in the posters as the poster is very simple. This gives a feeling that when watching the film people can relax and escape from everyday problems. This gives entertainment which according to Blumler and Katz “Uses and Gratifications” is one of the reasons why people consume media texts.

The main image shows a graphical ghost in a red “no smoking” circle. This straight away tells us that the genre of the film is science fiction and that the film is about ghosts. The red circle implies that there is going to be a fight suggesting action. The bright red colour of the circle targets the audience using vibrant colours creating energy which according to Richard Dyer’s “Utopian Solutions” it is one of the ways of targeting the audiences.

Underneath the image there is a phrase “Coming to save the world this summer”. This informs us on the date when the movie is going to be released but it is very mysterious because we are not told who is going to save the world and why it needs to be saved. Also binary opposition is used between the white colour of the letters and the black background. This suggests transparency making the film seem as easy to watch making it entertaining. This is one of the reasons why people would like to watch it according to Blumler and Katz “Uses and Gratifications”.

Also the black colour of the background connotes mystery as darkness is unknown and secretive.

The first poster for the film “Ghostbusters” was very unusual as it didn’t follow the basic codes and conventions of the poster design. On the poster the name of the film was not mentioned creating mystery that links to the science fiction genre as there are characters that are out of this world and are unknown to us. The lack of the title of the film and the name of the director and the names of the actors created curiosity in the viewers making them want to know more. This also makes them think about the poster rather than forgetting it right after passing by. By thinking about the poster, it stays in their mind.

After some time a new poster for the same film was established. This time it contained all the information about the film. Because of the similar layout and the use of the same image which became very popular the second poster was easily recognisable and straight away linked to the first one. This meant that people were curious to find out what the first poster advertised and so they spend more time reading the second one. This created a successful promotion because people remembered it as it was different from others.

Genre Codes and Conventions

Information about my film

Story:

Genre: science fiction

Storyline: aliens are coming to Earth

Title: Alien Attack

Audience:

Age: young adults

Gender: men and women

Interests: people who enjoy science fiction, action movies

Viewing habits: regular viewers of Science Fiction films and people who enjoy Science Fiction movies

Size/ type of the audience: mass/ mainstream audience to get the largest possible amount of viewers to earn a lot of money

Demographics: all

Primary audience: young adults

Secondary audience: older teenagers

Blumler and Katz “Uses and Gravitations” (The reason for watching this film): Entertainment  - escaping, being diverted from problems, relaxing, filling time

Richard Dyer’s “Utopian Solutions”(audience are targeted by offering something that is lacking in modern life):

Intensity  - watching exciting and interesting things happen, that are out of the ordinary and help people momentarily escape their routine lives.

Energy – our daily routines make us tired, so the media offers us action, vibrant colours and exotic locations.

Transparency - we know which characters are good (humans so we can identify with them) and bad (aliens). Reality is more complex than this.

Narrative Theories and Concepts:

·         Todorov Theory: The story is going to be based on a change from equilibrium (where everything is going to be in order) to disequilibrium (chaos and disorder when aliens attack). People will be fighting to bring back the stability into the world.

·         Binary Opposition: good which are the humans vs. Evil which are the aliens.

Propp’s “Spheres of Action”:

·         Villain: aliens

·         Hero: one person of a team of brave people 

Posters

The posters for the film “Black Swan” captured my attention because of the way that the woman and the swan become one. I have read the plot of the film and found out that she has hallucinations and when dancing she felt as if she was transforming into the black swan. The black colour links to the title of the film. The red colour connotes blood and passion. Blood relates to the lead character stubbing herself and her passion for dance.   

 

The poster of the film “Taxi To The Dark Side” is a photograph of three soldiers walking away from the camera. They are on a desert and the background is yellowish with white. The shadows of the men transform into the USA flag which is very patriotic. By that we already know who the main characters are. They are US soldiers and the story is about them.

The thing that I like about the poster of the “Primer” is the way they linked the image and the title together. The cables form the title of the film. The dark background and the light in the middle create mysterious feeling making it more interesting.

In this poster the thing that attracted me was the way they designed this poster. The design is very simple containing simple geometric shapes and straight lines. The colours are flat and there are no shadows which also creates simplicity. The poster makes me think that the film is about a businessman because of the tie and black and white clothes. In this case the name of the director is nearly as important as the name of the film and so these are the two information that are the most visible because of the big letters and the contrast between white colour of writing on white background.

In my opinion this poster is  the most mysterious. This is because the centre of it is empty creating a lot of space. At the sides there are hands but we don’t know whose hands they are. This makes the viewer stop and think. The hands are cropped and only parts of them can be see which adds more to the mystery and obscurity of the poster.

The poster of the film “Raging Bull” has a red very bright colour of background which not only makes it very visible and eye catching but also connotes the anger, rage and blood which can be associated with the film because the main thing on the poster are two people fighting (boxing). They are created in the style of a sketch as they contain many lines. The reason for choosing this type of image is to show the movement and speed created by the lines. It is also more mysterious as we don’t know who the characters are and what they look like. The font of the title is very rough because of the edges on letters (no curves). This suggests sharpness and being tough. The name of the famous actor is quite big to attract the viewers to go and watch the film.

This poster is a cartoon poster. The drawings are very simple and not realistic. The colours are flat meaning that there are no shadows, shades and tones. This unrealistic style of the poster makes it look more interesting and obscure because the viewers don't know exactly what the characters in the film will look like, what costumes they will be wearing...

The first poster of the "Ghost Busters" film didn't have a title and the name of the director and the names of the actors were not revealed either. This created mystery and curiosity in the viewers. This curiosity made them remember the poster. After some time a new poster of the film was released. It contained the logo that became very popular but it also included all the titles and names, solving the mystery. People remembered it because of the first poster that got stack in their mind.

This poster is advertising a film which is probably thriller or horror because of the graphic image of a gun which might symbolize murder, death and blood. The colours of the background are pink, red and orange. These colours represent women and they link to the film which is about a woman named Mrs Anderson. There are many words on the poster. They supply the viewer with information about the film. Popular actors are advertised to appeal to audience who would like to see a movie with their idols or good actors.