Poster Analysis: This Is England

As part of our research into film and TV posters, we chose to analyse the poster designed for the 2006 film, This Is England. Although this may seem like a particularly odd poster to review, it would be accurate to an extent considering that it is set in Britain (Like our soap) and deals with relatively similar issues to that associated with soaps. For instance, drug taking as well as the hardships of being young and growing up in Society.

The poster itself makes use of simplistic fonts to denote the name of the film. This proves to be very effective in the sense that it doesn't make to much fuss over the title, as it is starightforward. This in turn connotes the meaning of the film itself suggesting it doesn't waste time on elements that aren't needed. When creating our poster for The Cross, we will need to create a similar effect if it is to be not only attractive but accepted by our chosen audience. For instance, it would be inappropriate to have 'The Cross' written in pink bubble writing as it completely subtracts from the idea of the soap as being realistic and something that the audience can relate to, which of course is what makes any good soap effective. Coronation Street makes use of the Rovers Return pub, which serves as a local meeting place for the community, which happens to reflect similar meeting places for the audience, and thus they develop a relationship with the program.

The general atmosphere of the image is similar in a sense to that of the title. It's not a particularly friendly cover to view, however this does have its advantages. Creating a Soap poster that emphasizes being aimed at a young audience, when the film itself isn't would clearly be completely pointless. This is a similar ethos we will need to apply to our own poster. The Cross as a soap will be aimed at a variety of age groups, as being a Soap it will focus on a large selection of issues, that in turn will impact the lives of all ages. For instance, drugs are particularly controversial with teenagers, whereas the effects of affairs and adultry are generally more reserved for that of the older generations.
The idea of featuring all the main cast members on one poster is very effective, however it does of course come with risks. Placing all the main characters on the poster might come accross as being too clichéd as it seems they are being placed there for the sake of it rather to achieve the desired effect. Of course, if our soap was to be seen as realistic and accepted, it would be inpractical to place all of the cast members on the poster, as the total ammount would be almost 40 if our Soap stayed true to the average cast count of Coronation Street and Eastenders.

Another major element worth noting about this poster is that its very specialised. It's aimed at a certain type of people that will find this sort of film interesting and as such be attracted to it. The aim of our Soap, being a soap of couse would be to create a generalised view of our cast, rather than narrowing it down to a certain group. The major risks of narrowing it down of course are that it will only be a certain group that are attracted to it, which in effect is the complete opposite of what we are trying to achieve.

Poster Analysis: Adulthood

 In order for our poster to look affective and realistic we analysed more than one poster. This poster is taken from the film Adulthood which is a sequel to the film Kidulthood. As its quite easy to tell from the names of the films Adulthood is then filmed after as the story continues on telling the audience about how their life goes on in the future after one of their best friends is killed.

The colours used in the poster clearly create a fairly distinct mood towards the film. The poster as whole uses dark shades of colours as its representation. This includes the colour of the background and the colour of the clothes that the characters are wearing. The dark reds and oranges used at the top give the impression of some sort of warning and danger. It tells the audience that this film has some dark and sinister goings on and their lives aren't set out to be average and straight forward.

The clothes that they are wearing gives some indication as to what sort of background that they come from and the sorts of lives they lead. The majority of the cast is wearing tracksuits and trainers and hoodies this tells me that perhaps they are not from high class backgrounds but instead they are from lower class backgrounds with less money. The setting that they are also stood in helps to give the audience an idea of their class aswell. Due to the fact they are stood on the roof of a building does give off the vibe that they are perhaps stood on the roof of some council house flats. We can see this also because of the skyline that follows behind with lots of highrise flats and other such buildings.

The characters on this poster are also stood in certain positions and they are like this for specific reasons. The reason being that they have been photographed as one whole group rather than just singular images of each character. The poster has been designed in this way because it represents the group of people as a 'gang' they are unity of people who are all close friends or relatives and they are living together in a close knit community where all the happenings of the film take place. If they had been shown in singular images it would have represented them in different ways and made them appear less intimidating.

The baseball bat that is lying infront of them on the floor in this photograph is a key item that tells alot to the audience. For example it gives the impression that everything in this film is not plain sailing and an average normal life. It shows and represents fighting and the fact that something to do with danger and confrontation is going to happen. There is also a key dominance of more male characters in this film poster and this helps to back up the image of the baseball bat and its relation to fighting and danger. This is mainly because of the way in which males are also seen in everyday life as being the ones who are stronger and alot more dominant and therefore are more likely to stand up for themselves and get involved in fights and misunderstandings.

The audience of this poster affects the way in which it is designed and created. This film is created for the teenage genre and therefore it is done in a way that will attract and entice its desired audience. Certain things on this poster making it particulary appealing to the teenage audience. For example the clothes are young and youthful and therefore the audience can relate to these people alot more than if they were dressed in a more sophisticated and older style.

After analysing this poster its important that when creating the poster for our soap we focus on and include many different things. For example we need to think about the main featured photo that will appear on the front, also the clothes in which the people or person is wearing and the way in which they are standing or sitting. These things all affect the way in which the people and the programme is percieved by its desired audience. Another key feature that will need to be considered on our own poster is the choice of colours that are used, this is because colours set the mood and the scene of what is going on.

Poster Analysis: Skins

For a segment of our research it was neccesary for us to look into and study an advertising poster for a programme. When choosing a programme to analyse it was essential that we chose one with relatively similar features to that of the trailer we are making for the Soap. Considering this, we felt that using a poster for Skins would be effective as not only does it have relatively similar content to our trailer, but it also has a similar tone regarding it's atmosphere. Our Soap will be set as if it has been on air for a number of years, considering this, we will create the trailer as if their has been an on going story line and now we are hitting a climax of it. The climax, in order for it to be interesting to an audience will therefore have a typically darker tone than the rest of the Soap normally has.

The poster represents one of the major characters from the drama. This can be inferred purely from the fact that he is laying in the bath, and is for that matter actually featurred on a poster in the first place. For instance, it would be inappropriate and for that matter, odd to create a poster featuring a character that would never be featured. When creating the poster for our Soap trailer, we will have to take a similar approach on the matter, and feature either a single character, as pictured here, or a number of characters that are relevant to the agenda of the Soap, and the concerned story line.

The character here is pictured naked, or seemingly. This gives the effect that he is vulnerable, as a typical connotation of not wearing clothes exposes you to vulnerabilities that your clothes would normally protect you from, not only physical; but in a mental agenda as well. Likewise we will represent either one of or, various of the major characters within the Soap in a similar fashion to create a similar effect of exposure. The atmosphere of the image is effectively dark and gloomy in its potrayal, once again reaffirming the mood of the image in that it is supposed to be gloomy to attract a certain type of audience.
The character himself is submerged in water, presumably drowning due to his facial expression. Of course, as our Soap will be relatively family friendly we will not want to have such an extreme poster, it is worth however considering the various different types of posters that represent characters. The character represented here for example is likely to be in some form of trouble, and him being submerged in water, eyes open is an analogy for him being under pressure, and not being able to get out of it, yet still aware of everything that is happening around him.

A notable aspect of the poster is how it features the E4 logo at the top of the image, representing the channel it is featured on. Although this may not seem to be a major element of the image, it is certainly something which will be needed to be taken into consideration when creating our own poster. The logo itself is an abstract looking image, which stereotypically attracts a teenage audience as they subconsciously try to be different to everyone else. For instance, if the logo said E4 in Times New Roman font, it would be completely unattractive, purely because of the previously stated features.

Poster Analysis: Being Human

In order for us to create an effective poster that advertises our Soap and gives the right impression of what we are trying to convey it is important that we analyse other posters of advertisement. For example we will analyse a few posters from different genres ect so that we can find an affective way to put together our own design. The poster that we have to design is based on the trailer of our Soap and is a way of advertising our creation to our intended audience.  Although the programme is a drama rather than a Soap we felt that it would beneficial to analyse it due to the fact it is advertising a television programme in a way in which we can relate to.

This poster contains the main characters from the television drama. We can see this from the fact that there are only three people represented on the front. These three people have all got specific roles and places within the drama and therefore are shown in specific ways. Similary when creating our own poster we will feature the main characters and those that will have an overall impact on the audience. An advertisement poster needs to feature those characters who are featured regulary rather than those that are just in it once in a while. Our Soap poster will need to feature those characters who are perhaps used in that particular storyline, perhaps even having someone by themselves could be affective in another type of way.

The way in which these three characters stand gives the impression that one of them is the leader of the others. In the centre the man stands more forward than the other two and holds a more stern and assertive look on face than the other two characters. His facial expression suggests something sinister and hidden in a way which is unrevealing to the audience

The setting of this poster is dark, mysterious and gloomy. Therefore giving the audience the feeling that this programme will have lots to hide and will be deeper than what is seen on the surface, a hidden message behind the programme could perhaps be the secret.  The audience of this programme affects the way in which the poster has been designed and created. For example the audience in refernce to this particular programme is