Poster analysis #1

As my shot film is of the drama genre, it is important to only analysis film posters of this genre in order to get the correct appearance for my own product.
The first poster analysis I have chosen to do is ‘Les miserables’ which is a well know drama genre film. I both personally love the film itself and the poster.


Image result for les mis poster

Unlike many film posters, multiple images of characters are used on the front of the poster as this illustrates the well known cast that plays within.

Subverting to many film posters, multiple images of characters are used on the front of the poster. For this particular film this is done due to the well know cast who will be able to draw a large percentage of views. The characters mise en scene reveals the genre, this is heavily denoted by the style of clothing they appear to be wearing. Both men and women are seen wearing more traditional clothing which along with the imagery above the title denotes that the period drama is based around the 1700’s. The imagery of the ‘war’ directly above the title reveals the type of narrative. The images of french flags, men on horseback and weapons distinctively denote the revolution. The main focal image and the smaller imagery contrast as one shows war and the other has a more softer appearance. These are able to connote that the story is both a romance but also a tragedy, mainly shown through clever positioning of characters. The lighting of the photo is also dark which could represent a darker narrative, connoted that the tragedy plays a larger part than the love in the story. This also may relate to how much the revolution had on the characters lives.

The two pieces of text that draw most attention is the tile and the tag line above which reads ‘Fight Dream Hope Love’. Like the images used, the tagline also denotes the narrative to the audience which indicates the love and war. The idea behind this film originally came from the book Les Miserables written by Victor Hugo. The book is very successful and a great classic novel which many people would be familiar with, therefore the taglines could be there to confirm the narrative to people who aren’t aware of the previous media texts. However due to people familiarity of the story, the poster does not need to be overly informative or unreserved.

The gold in the title and the red within the flags is also a crucial part of the narrative, the two contrast each other but at the same time adds a balance. The red is a symbol of the danger in which the revolution presents where as the gold could connote the social hierarchy and the reasons behind the war. The imagery and text combined indicates that the film may not be age appropriate for all people. The indication of war is a significant symbol of this.


For ‘les miserables’ more than one pre release poster was made in order to promote the film.


Image result for les mis poster

On contrast to the above poster, this is one has a release date which could indicate that the above poster was created before a final date was decided or was used after the film was released amongst cinemas.
The colours in both posters are significantly dark which connotes the tragedy that occurred during the revolution, the only form of light imagery or lighting is in the eyes of the girl. This could represent the pureness that should be of the girl however the audience will be able to identify that revolution has taken this away from her. It’s almost a form of irony. As the focal image is a girl, it also denotes the more tragic part of the film rather than the romance in the narrative. Although, the tagline is able to illustrate the romance through the key words ‘Hope’ and ‘Love’.When people bypass the different posters, the tagline should be rememberable.
The overall set out and appearance of the two posters are very similar which allows it to become recognisable by audience members, this mainly done through the tiles, tagline and initial layout. As shown below the title, the film is related to the musical -‘The musical phenomenon’. The image used on this poster is cleverly used to ensure that people make a clear link between the two as this image in a form of a drawing is used as the main image for the musical.


Image result for les mis poster


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