Posters can be a little awkward to analyse, as we'd normally imagine any character pushed to the top of the frame to denote the shot type, but these are typically cropped out shots. (Specifically, we used a mix of poster/DVD cover)
4 WT posters were picked, brief points follow two examples ...
In each example, look closely at how basic framing (rule of thirds: place the important action/subject centrally) is used to easily signify the importance of characters (literally central to the narrative!)...
There are multiple obvious
anchored preferred readings, but lets focus on the
binary opposition...
This is
signified through the colour blocks
and the light/dark contrast of the two colours
and the
framing of the two lead characters (same actor).
Whilst this
anchors a
preferred reading of the brother on the white side as
protagonist, and the brother on the blue side is
signified/connoted as
antagonist, there is also a skilful ambiguiety, or
polysemy (narrative enigma!), encoded too: the 'good' brother is partially stood on 'the dark side' and is also wielding a gun! There is also equivalence drawn as it is a
medium-long two shot; their gazes are similar, looking sideways off-frame ... though the divide between the two is cleverly anchored by their looking
in different directions!!!
The connoted moral ambiguiety (not quite a fully anchored
Proppian archetype of the hero) is in keeping with modern values as seen through the cultural impact of shows like
Dexter, Sopranos and
Breaking Bad and even some of the smash hit comic book adaptations, not least the
Dark Knight trilogy.
Again, multiple aspects of a
preferred reading are accessible, but lets focus on the
anchorage of genre
hybridity within this famously triple hybrid of zom-rom-com...
The 'zom' element is simply
denoted through the literal use of zombies and the title itself, though their framing
signifies who our
protagonists are, whilst connoting Pegg as
the central protagonist, or
Proppian archetype of the hero.
Its a
three-shot, not a two-shot, as an over-emphasis on the 'rom' component is not desired, and the 'com' is multiply
anchored, including the female holding flowers and the bizarre 'weapons' wielded by all 3 (garden spade, cricket bad and chain), the bright colouring (playing on the blood red) and of course the
bubble font of the title and the graphic of the hand within the 'A'.
Anyone who somehow misses the many
signifiers to
anchor this can rely on the tagline!
Can you apply this to the 2 additional egs below? Look at how
Theory anchors serious drama, or how
Bridget Jones's Baby anchors its hybrid genre (rom-com), and the primacy of the female audience for this (the
com conventionally makes rom-coms more palatable for a
secondary male audience!).
...
