For my production pieces, I created three action film posters that explore the key conventions of the action genre. I created two that adhered to mainstream genre conventions for an action film and one that is intended to promote a more niche film which would possibly be shown in independent cinemas. I took inspiration from a variety of mainstream film posters from both the American and British film industry, Such as 'Casino Royale', 'Harry Brown', 'No Country For Old Men', 'Jumper' and 'Unknown'. What I noticed about these posters is that they are very male dominated and often contain signifiers relating to violence such as guns. Also in most of these posters the subject is shown in a full body shot. Furthermore an iconic backdrop is often used in these posters.
For my first ('Leverage') I decided to adhere to common poster conventions for a big budget action film and explore typical character roles from Propp's character theory. However I have also challenged the way that the classic hero role is represented by the figure in red being shown in low key lighting with extreme shadow, this helps to create the idea of an anti hero. I took influence from various action film posters such as 'Casino Royale', 'Unknown' 'Jumper' and 'Harry Brown'. I did this to appeal to a huge mainstream audience. My target demographic is predominantly male over the age of 15. My poster has no female subjects on it which conveys how the action genre is very male dominated so therefore the classic female character roles may not feature in this film. In the mise en scene of my poster I featured the signifier of a gun which helps immediately connote violence and establish genre. Furthermore the use of the first hand image of the Eiffel tower helps to provide an iconic setting for my action film to place in, an idea I got from 'Jumper'. The way that I have presented the subjects in this poster helps to shown Strauss' theory of binary opposition through the body language. The tagline I have chosen for my poster is an enigma code which will help to intrigue viewers and also show a sense of narrative.
My second production "Merge' is also a mainstream poster which was created to appeal to a wide cine literate audience. My main influence for this poster was 'No Country For Old Men'. Like 'Leverage' this post helps convey a conflict and binary opposition through the use of low key lighting and body language. Also there is no female presence which shows that the film is very masculine. Furthermore this poster has hot fiery image blended into it like in 'The Dark Knight' this is a signifier to a cine literate audience that there will be danger and that this a genre film. The fonts I have used for the credit block and the production company logos in my mainstream posters are very typical to big budget film posters.
For my third poster I have subverted from common mainstream conventions. The film poster that I have created is a niche independent film. There are several features on this poster that indicate how it is not a typical mainstream film. There are awards and quotes displayed on it, awards and quotes are a common devices employed by independent film companies to broaden the size of their demographic. The 'Waking' poster is not riddled with signifiers and obvious mise en scene, which means that the audience will know less about the narrative than for mainstream posters. This suggests that the film may be more a high brow text requiring a more active audience. The company logos used on this poster are companies that back lower budget films. The 'Waking' poster shows a subject who is in high contrast with a lot of shadowing this presents him as an anti hero which brakes the common conventions for a Propp's character roles.
In conclusion I feel that the three production pieces I have generated have been very successful at targeting their target market and appealing to a cine literate audience through various different strong images and signers through the use of mise en scene and fonts. Also I believe that my images relate to the conventions of the genre and instantly inform the preferred audience to the intended themes of my poster.
5 sentences of research
each sentence is the topic of each paragraph
each paragraph explain exactly where you have applied these findings
facts figures terminology quotations media theory
if I've subverted explain how and why.
