Assignment 2: Film Poster and Trailer Analysis of Spectre

Film poster key conventions:

The central image is of the main star, James Bond (Daniel Craig). It is a medium shot and he is looking directly at the camera, creating direct address while holding a gun perhaps hinting to the audience that this movie is of an action genre and may appeal to them. The title of publication is placed in the second third of the poster along with the tagline underneath it. The tagline '007' can also be seen as an image as it has a gun attached to it, again alluding that guns are a major part of iconography of this movie. The poster has no specific release date but instead has 'COMING SOON' along the bottom third. The use of a preview of the poster perhaps gives the audience a tease as to what the movie is about and to get people talking and excited about the movie. As this movie isn't out yet, it does not include any stars or critic reviews from newspapers or magazines, leaving the audience anticipated to know whether this movie is a hit. The film uses social media links at the very bottom but can be identifiable as it is a well-known logo. In this particular poster, there is no production blurb, but there are a few other posters that do include it. 

Film trailer key conventions:

The film trailer contains no specific names of the stars or directors, as well as any on-screen text. However, it does include the production company. The trailer does give a clear layout of the characters and the narrative of this movie, but the setting does change throughout, suggesting the amount of action that takes place in different areas of the world in the movie. It uses short clips and fast-paced editing of different scenes to give the audience an insight of the film to create drama and excitement. They include the different expressions of the characters face, the different props e.g. guns, the different lighting to create suspense and mystery.There is no specific release date said in the trailer but at the end it does mention that it is 'COMING SOON' - just like the poster - making it identifiable that this is a teaser trailer. The background music communicates to the audience the genre of this film due to the fast paced music, conveying that this is an action genre. There are no voice overs, only music and dialogue and perhaps some sound effects, grasping the audience's attention. There is diegetic sound like the conversations between the characters, explosions, helicopters etc... As well as some non-diegetic sounds like the mysterious music that plays in the background. Only we, the audience, can hear the intense music playing which builds up the excitement within us. At the very end of the trailer, they do include their known logo of '007' attached with a gun which is displayed as their official website too, along with the hashtag 'SPECTRE' and with what seems like the production blurb of the movie. 

Overall, I do think that the Spectre poster and trailer have successfully promoted their new release of the film due to its large marketing ways to make this film a hit. They've used stars in the film who are well known and a genre which intrigues many people. Considering that it is also a modern version of older movies such as James Bond, it makes the public more eager to watch the movie as it was such a big success.