ANALYSIS OF TV POSTERS

By Emily Thompson

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN ANALYSING A POSTER!

• Basic layout – ‘grid’• Focus point• Font type and size of font• Use of the space• Colours• Images• Branding• Captions• Titles• Background• Position of characters

EXAMPLE 1:

Features four young, pretty girls, which could automatically makes us think the viewers would be young teenage girls, while this poster would make them want to watch the programme – they can easily relate to the storyline. They look very glamorous and dressed up, so the viewers have something to aspire to.The white dresses could symbolise an angelic theme throughout the characters, and that they are good, sensible, ordinary girls – something easily relatable.

The design of the house in the background is quite basic meaning the girls could be quite basic and normal.

Lauren is the main focus of the poster, proving her to be the main character and the leader of the group, while the rest are a lot smaller and blurred in the background. We know the storyline will revolve around her.

EXAMPLE 2:

The image of Luther takes up more than half of the poster, being placed on the left. It is zoomed in and is the main focus point of the poster, while the background is blurred out.His face looks concerned and worried, making the viewer instantly intrigued to watch it and find out the storyline. It feels like his eyes are looking straight at you, almost making you feel intimidated and targeted, possibly making you feel as if his job in the show is an investigator, or simply that he is concerned for your wellbeing.There isn’t much text on the poster, which entices the viewer in, as they have little insight before watching the show. This also creates a sense of surprise for them when actually understanding the storyline. The name of the series is in capital bold Red, relating to danger, death and blood, implying a gory theme. It is also in the middle of the page so shows the whole programme revolves around him.

The background of the poster relates to the location of the show. It shows the Gherkin so we know before watching it that is it set in the capital city, London. It is not the main focus so gives a subtle hint to the viewers.The sky is stormy and cloudy, with a greyscale filter, in comparison to the jet black background behind the male. This colour echos a scary, daunting scene. It almost looks as if it is set in the past when cameras were not yet developed.The standard of the acting is already proven where there is relation to the Emmy awards, while he is nominated for an award and is described an “outstanding lead actor”. Luther is the only character to star in the poster, this makes us feel he is secluded and quite a lonely character. Maybe his job is his life and he has a lack of friends outside of this. This makes us feel a bit sorry for him and that we may sympathise with him when watching the show.

EXAMPLE 3:

The poster is taken over by the face. It implies a vampire theme, while the skin is pale and the lips are a bright, vibrant red, linking to blood.The dark shadows on the face bring a idea of hiding from others, maybe pouncing out on people without them expecting it. And also that the character may only come out at night, not in the day. This creates a sense of mystery.

The contrast of the black and red in the title, possibly implies the character has two sides to their personality. The black being their normal everyday self, and the red being the character that comes out at night (the secret personality), maybe where their true colours come through and they hunt their victims.The colour scheme is kept to a minimum of just a few colours, a dark palette and then a bright red for a striking effect.

The placement of the tongue makes us think of sexual desires. The closeness of the tongue to the subtle fang on the left of the mouth could prove to be quite disturbing for the viewer, since vampire/murder and sex are presented in the same context. It makes us think possibly the characters victim is also a sexual partner or a sexual fantasy from afar.

The quote above the title relates to the bibles 10 commandments ‘thou shalt not…’ making the viewer think of sinning and that the character craves things she shouldn’t, ‘crave thy neighbor’ implies a murderous theme, furthering the thought of vampires. It’s a spin on ‘love thy neighbour’. Whilst the thought of God and religion is introduced, this makes the potential sinning in the show much worse with a much bigger effect, while the character may be punished for their actions. –juxtaposed, two very extreme contrasts

EXAMPLE 4:

Although we know straight away that the theme is vampires from the title ‘the vampire diaries’ this poster is less obvious who is the vampire and what the show involves, this intrigues the audience and makes them want to find out more.It makes us think there is more of a love story to the show than True Blood as the vampire theme is not so visual and obvious to the readers aside from the title.They look more innocent than previous poster of True Blood.The red dress she is wearing makes you think she may be the vampire out of the two and intrigues the audience to find out if this is the case.He is grabbing onto her but she doesn’t seem interested, this can make you think she is the superior character and has control over him which is non stereotypical and interests the audience.

‘Any chance their love had is dead’ This entices you to watch and understand their past love and why it has faded. Makes the audience want to find out more about these two characters and their relationship.Similar colour scheme but a more dark background – makes us think there is a more dark, disturbing, scary storyline than True Blood which can seem more exciting and thrilling to the audience as there is a dark theme.