analyse film posters

I find two film posters here, and I would like to analyse them.

I really like anime, so I choose a Japanese animated drama film which is called ' Your Name' to analyse. Here is the poster:

From this poster, the first thing that grab my attention is the two main characters and the star between them. The parllel line of the star goes through the two characters, which connect them together. But the straight line of the star separate them, showing that they are not in the same place. These images cover nearly half of the poster. Another centeral image is the shooting star in the sky. It also covers half of the poster. In addition, it goes through the whole sky of the poster, that is, it goes through the sky in that two different places.

The shooting star in the two skies is different. Although it cross the whole sky, the star that going down to the girl's side is red, which can mean dangerous. It is a code that it might cause a big disaster.

The mis-en-scene of the two main characters are different: the boy's one is in a modern city, the girl's one is in countryside or village. This shows that the two characters have very different background. Although the star has separate them, the road and the ground can be connected, this can show that there is something that connect them.

To the characters, they are looking that is not directed to anything, that we don't know what they are looking at. But one interesting thing is, they all look at the other one's side. This may let us think that they are looking at each other, or searching each other. It seems to be that they are attracted by each other, so they stop walking and looking to the sight.

To the right of the poster, there is a tag line which give the information about the film. And the title is at the top of the poster which is using sen-serif font style. This shows that it is modern and original. On the top of the title, we can see the writer and the directer of this film, and below the title, we can see some star billing i.e. any famous people in it. Acturally, the directer of this film is also very famous. These things can be the mark of quality and the promise of pleasure, since they suggest this film is good and people will enjoy it. All of these words are in white, that is pure and bright.

The color of the mis-en-scene is using the sky-blue, this shows that the story is more likely be a fantasy. And the lighting of the poster is very bright, using high key. This makes the story more liveliness and dramatic.

Another poster is the poster that I have watch: Sin city. It is a neo-noir style film and here is the poster:

The title of this film is using sen-serif font style, which means it is modren and orginal. The color of that is red, which means anger, dangerous and blood. The whole poster is in black and white, the color of red is highlighting the title that gives a big impact to the audiences.

In my opinion, the central image is the characters, as they almost covered the whole poster, this attracts people's attention. All of the male characters are holding guns, this can show that the film is contianing action and danger. The women in the poster are all really sexy that can easily attract men. But they seems to be so powerful and strong. They are independent that they don't have to rely on men. The lighting is sharp and deep, that create the shadows on each characters' face. It can show that they might have a dark past. According to Propp's character theory, I think the man in the middle might be the hero, but he might do something illegal or harmful to achieve his goal.

The mis-en-scene is in the dark and it seems to be rain. This tells us that the story is happened at night, which is in a rainy day.

Near the title, there are some star billings that is written in sen-serif, the color of them is white, which may be really clear in the black background. These show the mark of quality and the promise of pleasure of this film that the audience will have a enjoyable time.

The script of my preliminary task

I am writing my script for my preliminary task. This is a plot for a film noir. And here is a part of my script:

And I also analyse it:(as shown below)

When I am writing the script, I find that it is not really easy. First, I don't really know about the format, and I write in the wrong format. Therefore, I have to rewrite it. And I have to think about the story. Every time I think, I get a new idea, that makes me change the description of the scene and the dialogue. I and Melissa are doing together, so we discuss the script a lot. I hope I can write a better one after discussing with Melissa.

The Femme Fetale

In the class, we have learnt about femme fetale, which is a character in film noir. And I want to use this blog to show what I know about femme fetale.

This is the femme fatale in Double Indemnity which is acted by Barbara Stanwyck

The introduction

The figure of the 'femme fatale' is a French term meaning deadly woman. She is an irresistibly beautiful woman and uses her sexuality to seduce men and lure them into dangerous situations to serve her own selfish interests. She is mysterious, double-crossing, gorgeous, intelligent, powerful, unreliable and desperate.

The hair, make-up, jewellery and cigarettes are symbols of femme fetales' sensuality. They are very concerned with slick clothing styles that signify what has been described as 'to-be-looked-at-ness'.

The femme fetale often wearing slick clothing

Make-up & hairstyle

The make-up of femme fetales has emphasized the brows, eyes, and lips. Eyebrows play a major role in showing facial expressions, so they usually have clear, shaped and high arc eyebrows to give a strong look. The red lips which bring out the sexiness of them.

The femme fetale always has clear, shaped and high arc eyebrows and the red lips

The femme fetales always have their hair down to make them sexier. Their hair colour is always solid black, deep dark brown, auburn, brown, or platinum blonde. The style of hair is either long, side-parted waves like Rita Hayworth or shorter pin curls like Elizabeth Taylor. The waves and curls of the hair show the softness femine of femme fetale. All of these styles have a similar point: they all show the forehead of femme fetale.

Shorter pin curls style of femme fetale(Elizabeth Taylor)

long, side-parted waves style of femme fetale(Rita Hayworth)

Demeanour of Femme Fetale

Femme fetale is independent, strong and sexy. They have been seducing men, and are already experienced in the art of seduction. The character in the movie always become powerful and independent, they control the man and decided the life of themselves.

Analyse of Femme Fetale

Here I have a picture of femme fetale and I'd like to analyse it.

She is holding a cigarette which is a symbol of femme fetale's sensuality. She is a beautiful woman which makes her be more attractive and sexy. She has a clear, shaped and high arc eyebrows which bring a strong look. Although this is a black and white visual style, we still can see that she has red lips which bring out the sexiness of her. She has a solid black hair which is long and side-parted waves which is the hairstyle of femme fetale. She looks sexy and strong. Also, she seems to be independent.

Analyse film posters of film noir

I found some film posters of some films during the classic era of film noir and I would like to analyse them.

Stranger on the Third Floor

Stranger on the Third Floor, which often signed as the first film noir. Here is the poster of this film:

The title

From this poster, the first thing that can grab our attention is the title: Stranger on the Third Floor. The typography (which is the font style) is sans-serif. It is modern that shows this film is new and it is an original story. The colour of the words is red which means aggressive, blood and dangerous. This can tell us that in the film, it will be really dangerous and may have somebody death. It is also the lexis of this poster. Since it has a really strong impact on the audiences.

Central image

The central image is not only the hand on the left-hand side of the poster below, it can also say that the characters are the central image. Because they clustered in the top half of the poster, nearly 50%. 

The Hand

Let's talk about the hand. The light is coming from left behind the hand, makes this hand's shadow longer and bigger. You can see that the shadow of this hand is almost touching the characters. According to Todorov's Theory, this can tell us about the disruption: someone died in the film and it may be one of the characters in the posters. Also, we cannot know whose hand is. This is a code of the film as it may be the stranger's hand. 

The Characters

Now let's focus on the characters. The facial expressions of the characters are different: some of them are feared, some of them are calm, some of them some of them are angry. They are all unhappy. This can tell us that something happens that is really bad in the film. Also, it is interesting that the characters are directed differently. On the top of the poster, there are three characters, two of them are seen directly to the right while the other one which is covered by the title is seeing to the left. Below them, there are two characters which are all seen to the left. On the top left of the poster, there is a person which is bigger than the others is seen to the right. There is only one person who seen directly to the audiences but only shows one eye. He has been coved by the title and the lighting are mostly dark. This could tell that he perhaps has a dark past and he may be the hero in this film. Also, the man who is right for the angry woman may also be the hero. The light is from the left and gives him a bright look but still, have some dark shadow on his face. This makes him show up but also tell us that he may do something out of the law to achieve his wants.

The Mis-en-scene

The background is dark but with some yellow colour. The yellow is not really bright, it is soft and just like the street light. According to this, it can tell us that the story happens in the night time. And the dark can also say as fear, dangerous, mystery. 

Mark of quality/Promise of pleasure

To the right of the bottom of this poster, we can see that there are some star billing, i.e. any famous people involved. This suggests that the film has good quality and people will enjoy it. The typography of this is also sans-serif but the colour is in black. This makes it more professional and modern. Also, it has the logo of  Warner Bros (an American entertainment company) which produced this film. This gives the film a strong promise since it is famous and the films they make have high quality.

Double Indemnity

Here is another film in classic-era film noir: Double Indemnity (1944). Here is the film poster for this film:

The title

The typography of the title is serif, which is classic and traditional. This could tell us that this film is a classic film noir. The colour is in red, which means romance, dangerous and blood. This gives the information of this film that there is a death in the film and it contains romance. I think this is the lexis of the poster since it has a strong impact on the audiences.

Central image

In this poster, the central image is the couple which almost covers 50% of the poster. They are the main characters of this film. They are hugging but the man is holding a gun behind the woman, this could tell us that this film contains action.  The woman is almost same size as the man but she seems to be dependent on the man. She is an unforgettable femme fatale. Also, there is a strange shadow behind them. It seems like a person who is looking at them. This may tell us that there is a danger coming to them. There is also a tagline (information about the film) to the man's right hand. It is written in white that makes it show up and we could see that there is a murder inside the film.

Mis-en-scene

The background is in pink. This can tell us that the film has a great amount of romance. Also, there is a small person who is watching the main characters. He may have an important relationship to the main characters.

Mark of quality/Promise of pleasure

There is a big black star billing on the top of the poster. The typography is sans-serif that shows modern and new.These two stars are the main stars so they are bigger than the other star billing in the right bottom of the poster. This can suggest that the film has a good quality and the audiences who watch this film will be satisfied because it has really famous people joining in .