'The Red Machine' Poster Analysis

I decided to analyse the poster for the film 'The Red Machine', as it falls within the drama genre. Although my short film 'Flight' is a social realist film, the drama genre closely links to this. This is because they share many of the same themes. Therefore, from analysing this poster, I should be able to produce the most effective-looking poster as possible. 

The first thing that grabbed my eye upon viewing this media product was the use of colour. The dark colours, primarily brown and black, hold connotations of the drama genre and the dark connotations which may lay within the film. I feel that this is a very effective method of communicating with the viewer of the poster, as before they have even viewed the film, they will have a vague idea as to what themes that the film product may focus on. This is likely to mean that the poster will entice the viewer to go and see the film which is, after all, the main intention of a poster in the first place. The positioning of the images within the poster are also very effective. This is because the viewer can clearly see the protagonist of the film, meaning that they are able to understand with whom they are expected to connect with within the narrative. The light shining onto the character also emphasises this point, as it is a lighter colour compared with the rest of the image. However, one weakness of the poster is the tag-line. I feel that the tag-line reduces to overall effect that the poster has on the viewer. The text 'How do you steal a thing without really stealing it?' is in a similar colour to the background it is written on. This means that it is not very eye-catching and that the audience can not easily see it. On the other hand, the fact that the tag-line is a question means that it is inviting the viewer to think and connect with the film. This means that they are then likely to view the film at the cinema. If I wanted to create a tag-line on my own product, it would mean that I would consider using a question to invite the audiences to think about the themes within the film. The logo of the film 'The Red Machine' is written in an eye-catching colour which holds connotations of danger. I will pay close attention to the logo of my own film when I create my poster ancillary product to ensure that it grabs the attention of the viewer effectively. I also feel that the mirrored image of the logo underneath the one shown is effective, as it shows themes of dual lifestyles. The awards placed at the top of the poster show that the film is professional and is academically acclaimed by the film industry. They too are eye-catching and tempt the viewer to see the film.