X men days of future past poster analysis

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X-Men Days of Future Past Poster Analysis

Transcript of X men days of future past poster analysis

X-Men Days of Future Past Poster Analysis

X-Men Days of Future Past takes place in a future where mutants and the humans who help them are under the constant threat of the Sentinels – powerful robots who are attempting to annihilate all mutant kind. It’s up to the X-Men to stop the threat by sending Wolverine back in time to before the Sentinels were ever created.

X-Men Days of Future Past shows disability through the character of Charles Xavier, Professor X, who is paralysed from the waist down because of a bullet to the spine. In many ways the character shows disability in a positive way, however it is also shown slightly unrealistically. Although Xavier is shown as a ‘super cripple’ who is able to overcome his disability and is admirable for it, he is also shown to be an object of curiosity because of his mutation. Although Xavier’s disability doesn’t make him any less powerful, it does make an audience associate his disability with mutation which presents disability in a more unrealistic way because his mutation already separates him from the rest of human-kind.

The poster contains standard poster features including: picture, credit block and release date. However, the poster doesn’t include any star names, director or producer names or a tagline. This is most likely because the film is a sequel, people who are already interested in the film series will already know the actors, director or producer if they are interested – there wouldn’t be a need to include this information because the film will already have a prior fanbase. This information could have been left out as well because the poster already has a lot of objects, adding more unnecessary information could overwhelm the audience and make for a bad poster.

The main colours used on the poster are blue, orange and black. Blue often represents integrity, loyalty and strength. This colour could be used to show the strong morals of the protagonists, the loyalty of the X-Men and the strength that they have to overcome evil in the film. Orange is representative of adventure and happiness. This could show that the film will follow an adventure of one or all of the characters and could hint at a happy resolution at the end of the film. Adventure is also a key convention of the action genre, so the colour connotes the genre. Black can represent mystery and power and is often associated with the antagonists of films. This could show that the villains in this film are powerful, but are mysterious to the X-Men – it could be a hint at the difficulty that they will face when trying to defeat the sentinels. In addition to this, blue and orange are often used together because they stand out against each other. By using colours that are bold and stand out clearly it could attract more people to watch the film.

There aren’t any obvious symbols on the poster, however it’s arguable that the characters are the symbols. An audience would need to watch the prequels to X-Men Days of Future Past to understand their mutations and the role that they will have during the film.

What are the main figures / objects / background? Are they represented photographically, graphically, or illustratively?The objects on the poster are represented photographically and graphically. One of the main objects on the poster are the characters. The actors playing the characters are represented photographically, but some of their mutations are represented graphically, e.g. Blink and Colossus. Another of the main objects on the poster are the ship and the sentinels on the background of the poster, which are represented graphically. The main characters are in the foreground of the poster because the audience will recognise them and not the new enemy, since the names of the actors aren’t on the poster the actors need to be in the forefront so that the audience knows who will be in the film. The explosion and the city on fire are another of the main objects, it is used to connote danger and conflict- which shows that the film is an action film.

The messages are primarily visual on the poster, apart from the title and release date there aren’t any clear verbal messages. The main characters are the primary visual message on the poster. As they are the main focus of the poster they make a stronger impact on an audience, their faces are more memorable. People are more likely to be interested by the unique visual messages from the poster, this will make more people likely to be interested in the film as well.

The intended audience is people who have seen the rest of the X-Men films because this is a sequel to them. The cast of the film include many A-List celebrities such as: Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman and Sir Ian McKellen – amongst many others, the film could also target fans of these actors. The film is also an action and sci-fi film, fans of this genre could also be drawn to the film. The movie is also a product of Marvel, fans of Marvel comics are also likely to be interested in this film.

The film is listed an action and sci-fi film. The film poster includes conventions of both these genres, one is the use of futuristic settings. The film is set in the near future (50 years from now) on an alternate version of Earth. The background of the poster shows robots and a futuristic spaceship, showing a futuristic setting, and a city-scape, showing that it’s on Earth, the setting is a convention of both action and sci-fi. One action convention is explosions or crashes, an explosion can be seen at the bottom of the poster. A sci-fi convention on the poster is the spaceship, sci-fi films use futuristic objects during the film.

There are many stars used as USP’s on the poster, including: Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Ellen Page, Michael Fassbender and Halle Berry. Including images of these celebrities on the poster makes people more likely to watch the film because the actors are widely known and very popular.

There is no expert witness quoted, this could be because it would mean that the poster has too much going on or because it isn’t needed because of the status of the franchise and the success of the previous films.

Action is promised, the setting of the poster already connotes danger and conflict and the previous films establish that the film is an action. The use of superheroes and futuristic settings connote action as well, so it is promised to the audience through the poster.

Attention is gained through the use of a star cast, the actors in this film are recognisable and have a large number of fans. This film is also a sequel, so attention is also gained from the prior fanbase.

Although the poster doesn’t feature a tagline, the film has three: “His past. Our future.”, “Every hero, every power will unite.” and “The future begins.” The tagline works by generating interest in the plot. The tagline repeats the word “future” and uses “hero” as well, from this the audience knows that the film is likely to be an action film because it features the conflict between the “hero” and the villain. Sci-fi is also connoted because it’s set in the “future”. The tagline establishes briefly what the film may be about, but reveals nothing about the plot and therefore generates interest in the film.

Overall the poster is very good, it makes a strong impact on an audience by using strong colours and bold characters. It reveals nothing about the plotline and only hints towards the genre of the film, this makes it a good poster because it builds up excitement for the film as the audience doesn’t know what they should expect. However, it could be argued that the visual messages of the poster are too much and it should be balance out by some verbal messages, such as tagline or a reviewer quote. Although, I think that the visual messages on the poster make a much stronger impression on an audience than any verbal messages, making the film more memorable.

The poster communicates effectively with the audience because it makes the genres of the film clear and gives the audience a date to look forward to. The film targets its intended audience using some conventions of the genres and is memorable and interesting to look at. The poster is eye-catching and stands out, making the audience more intrigued in the film and therefore more likely to watch it.

There aren’t any obvious alternative meanings that would harm the marketing message or clearly offend an audience.