Film poster deconstructions, Dan

American Psycho Poster

Firstly, there is a representation of split personality showing that there might be another side to Patrick. This is not the most obvious representation to pick up but its definitly powerful even though it maybe subtle. This is shown by another image of Patrick in the blade. Not only does it show a separate version of him but more importantly Patrick is facing the opposite direction. The fact that they are facing two different directions depicts separate views, lifestyle and personality. One feature that does stand out is the contrast of a clean cut man in a professional suit wielding a blade. This symbolises that this film maybe strange and follow unexpected trends and topics. Also another contrasting feature of this poster is how it shows text saying 'monsters are real'. The 'real' in the poster is juxtaposed with the contrasting image of the poster being like a painting or a drawing instead of a 'real' photo. Also the 'real' may give the spectator and insight to the narrative, showing that realism and fantasy may be an underlining path within the narrative. Uncharacteristically the poster is extremely clean breaking stereotypical ideologies of murders and psychos. Once again giving the audience an idea of what Patrick maybe like. The title is interesting, I feel the two different font types once again represent the two different sides of Patrick. This poster is full of symbolism and I feel because of that it is very effective. For that reason I will use this influence on our own posters for our film.

Creep

This poster is a lot more in keeping with its genre compared to the American Psycho poster. This may be because the genre is a lot more clear cut and understandable. What I personally love about this poster is how gritty and realistic it feels when looking at it. The dirty and dark colours used in this poster shows an insight into the grim and disturbing narrative. Also an enigma code is introduced, visually we see a hand pressed against the train window with blood added as well. Because the spectator cannot see who that person is or what's going on it creates question and interest. This therefore draws the audience into the film and gets people thinking about the film. This then creates a relationship with the spectator involving the audience within the film. Another fascinating feature of this poster is the red light on the end of the train. I feel this makes it look like a face, a face of a creature. This may seem strange but it does link into the antagonist in this film. The title on this poster has a cool effect however, I feel it looks a bit bland and doesn't stand out a lot and too much of the focus it put on the train. I do think this is an okay poster but I feel that there are much better posters and I wont be using too much influence from it.  

Hostel

This is a poster I feel is lacking some what, the style seems lazy and simplistic. I feel the best USP (unique selling point) is the fact that Quentin Tarantino is mentioned. The idea of the narrative is clear from the imaging of a person strapped to a chair and the theme colour being a dark red. This I guess is a good representation of violence and pain. The title blends into the background and doesn't stand out and no clear connection is made with the audience. Although I was disappointed with this poster it has made it clear to me that I don't want to base my poster around this design or idea. I guess what is does do well is vividly show what the audience will be getting themselves into, not in a predictable way but in an easily understandable style and genre of film.