The Guttenburg Design Theory

The Primary Optical Area Strong Fallow Area

Weak Fallow Area The Terminal Area

They way in which the poster for a ‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’ is designed is not just a coincidence- its sole purpose is to bait the audience into watching the movie whilst also giving an indication as to what the genre is. Therefore a lot of factors have been considered when creating it, with this particular poster the Guttenberg diagram has been used. The theory behind this layout is that our eyes will sweep across and down the page in a horizontal movement known as the axis of orientation.

Primary Optical Area

Important elements should be placed within the reading gravity path, therefore the first thing we see within the primary optical area is Liam Neesons name , the movie name- ‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’ and a centred image of the star himself. Although this gives us an indications as to the fact he’s an important cast member, the one and only sole purpose of this is to attract the audience to movie- they’re simply showing him off by creating a big impact, therefore attracting the targeted consumer. The movie name is simply placed there for no other reason other than to let us know what’s being advertised.

Strong Fallow Area

The strong fallow are shares symmetry with the primary optical area- they’re using a large part of the page to really put across that it’s going to be a big movie. Within this area we also see the tagline ‘People are afraid of all the wrong things.’ The purpose of this is to give audiences an idea of the central theme of the movie. Everything we see within the poster has reasoning behind it, therefore the fact the writing is in black and red is no coincidence. It’s connoting to us that danger, strength; power determination as well as passion, desire and love are a focal point of the movie.

Weak Fallow Area:

A typical code and convention within action thrillers is the use of weapons, therefore within the weak fallow area we see Liam Neeson holding a gun- this is to help further determine the genre of the film. As should be expected from the title of the movie, the poster is set within a graveyard- the scenery is spread out between both the weak fallow and terminal area. Graveyards point us towards death; therefore we know this is going to be a major factor within the movie.

Terminal Area

Whilst the terminal and fallow area share the scenery, the most important element within this part of the poster is the release date. It’s the most vital information they could possibly give us in ensuring the movie is a success.

Black and white movie posters are an old style code and convention used in the early days of action films- this could be indicating that it’ll follow old style element. The black and white aspect could be portraying good vs bad or protagonist vs antagonist.

The use of the colour red along the bottom of the poster- which I believe to look like a blood bath- again indicates death. Certain elements within the poster continuously creep up indicating us towards an action thriller therefore confirming the genre.

Anchorage:

When talking about anchorage we’re simply referring to the way in which the producers draw us in. Liam Neeson is now an icon of the action thriller genre with a very large fan base, therefore he’s acting as their anchorage- he’s the main attraction.

Mode of Address:

Although Liam Neeson is looking in our direction, his mode of address seemingly appears to be directly past us- his facial expression indicates that he’s on a mission.