Sunday 11 November 2012

Extra - The Master - Poster analysis


I found this advert/poster in a newspaper and again it caught my eye as it was an unusual poster design. I was unsure what genre it was advertising- so I did exactly what the advertisers wanted me to do and searched for the trailer online.




From watching the trailer I discovered it was not a typical horror movie, it was more of a psychological movie. The music seemed to follow conventions of horror movies for the first minute and a half, but after that the tone changed and the rest of the music was almost cheerful.




When i first saw the poster I thought that it was two mens faces very close together but looking forwards. It can also be compared to an animal, which could mean or suggest that the two people or mens eyes that we can see turn into animals or their behaviour becomes animalistic. Then I looked towards the top of the image and saw it looked like a large ship- which if you watch the trailer you will see in the very beginning of it. Taking a further look at it, it can be compared to the 'ink spots' used in psychology- depending on what you see in the ink spot determines whether you are mentally ill or healthy. This style of poster is more common in older movies, as many movies in today's society involve the main character or characters on the poster- usually famous stars would be attracting audiences. Followed by the setting, which will also attract the audiences- such as 'ARGO'. However this poster is black and white- apart from the reviews, the name and the actors names at the bottom of the poster. This simple yet complicated poster stands out from the rest of the posters we see.





The name of the movie 'The Master' appears to be repeated or symmetrically copied onto the other side or half of the poster. So this suggests that the whole poster has been made in the same way- however when you look back up to the faces/ ink spots it can be seen that one face is dramatically darker than the other- which implies that the character may have a 'Jeckle and Hyde' personality and have a good and evil character or personality. Which is also a common idea found throughout horror movies.

The poster is still unusual in the fact that it is crowded with reviews- which is something I might replicate, however with fewer reviews- or on just one side of the poster as it might be too symmetrical overall.

Although this movie is not a horror movie, it focuses on a lot on the psychological health of the main character- which is what I aim to do. And has inspired me to make the poster more of a mind game rather than just having the main character. Possibly distorting a close up image of the main characters face would reflect the psychological element better than a typical movie poster. The heavily weighted psychological aspects has also inspired me for my own trailer, poster and magazine cover promoting for my own horror movie. 

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