'Sweet Sixteen' Poster Analysis

The film 'Sweet Sixteen', directed by the award-winning Ken Loach, falls into the social realist genre due to it's gritty representation of reality. It deals with themes of drug culture and the representation of youths, which is similar to my own short film 'Flight'. Because of the reasons given, I feel that it will be effective to analyse this poster. This will allow me to see the expected forms and conventions of social realism posters. From there, I will then decided whether to conform to or break the expectations of the viewer.

The most notable aspect of the poster for the social realist film 'Sweet Sixteen' is the protagonists' - Liam's, face. It takes up the majority of the space on the poster, which shows that he will be in control of the narrative throughout. This effectively lets the viewer know who will be the protagonist of the film before they have even viewed it. This allows the audience to create connections to the character. The tag-line underneath the image of Liam's face "Life... it's about to hit the fan!" shows that changes to Liam's life will be the main driving force of the narrative. This shows to the viewer that it deals with issues about the lifestyle of youths within Britain today. I feel that it is important to allow the viewer an insight into the narrative of the film through the poster product, as it will engage them deeper within the film. However, the tag-line could be considered to be slightly cheesy. This takes away from the otherwise professional-feel from the poster, and deduces from the social realism genre which is shown throughout, despite the insight into the themes which reside within the narrative. The logo of the film also takes up a lot of the room of the poster. This draws the viewer's attention to it. Also, the black colouring of the logo contrasts with the rest of the colours on the poster, which is effective. I will consider placing a large logo with contrasting colours on my own poster product, to ensure that the viewer's attention is drawn directly to it. However, it is important to ensure that the logo does not stand out too much, and that it fits in with the house-style. This will make the product effect yet professional-looking. The award placed at the top-right of the poster shows to the viewer that it is academically-acclaimed, which may entice the viewer into seeing the film. I will consider putting awards on the poster for my film to ensure that it is seen by the most amount of viewers possible. The yellow images at the bottom of the poster allow an insight into the actual film. This matches the house-style of the product, as the colouring of the images are yellow like the award and the director information. Putting images from the actual film on the poster is effective as it allows the viewer to connect with the film before they have even seen it. However, the four images shown can deduct from the overall primary image. I think that it would be more effective if only one image was shown on the poster, which I shall do for 'Flight'. I will consider using the primary image on my poster to ensure that audiences feel connected to the film.