Feature Film Poster Analysis

Written by Emma Taylor

The thriller  feature film 'Identity' directed by James Mangold was released in 2003.

This film poster uses the limited use of colour to its advantage. Even though it's a thriller, and we could expect to see the back ground black (to connote death and destruction) as seen in many other thriller films such as 'Awake', the producers have decided to leave the background blank. This makes the use of the bold hand stand out, but also gives an eerie feel to the poster, we automatically assume that the film is about murder and blood due to the blood on the hand, but the white connotations of 'clean' make us think that the murderer is skilled and 'clean cut', he cleans his murders up well and doesn't get caught for instance. This could have also been done for expense purposes however, as the cost of producing film posters are expensive and are more cost effective with less colour. 

Thriller: 'Awake film poster

The use of black and white aids to the binary oppositions theory by Claude Levi-Strauss. This monochromatic contrast could display the difference between good vs evil, rational vs irrational and innocence vs corruption. The red tint to the bottom of the hand reminds me of the well known phrase 'caught red handed'. This hints at the plot line of the film, as the murderer is on trial and has indeed been 'caught red handed', but the enigma remains as to 'will he get away with murder'? The fact that the hand has been painted can show that it's an interpretation of an event, because an artist interprets what he sees, paints his own version, including how he can relate to and understand the context based on his own thoughts and experiences. There are four figures with their back turned within the fingers on the poster, possibly implying a gang culture, as it is a stereotype that gangs wear hoods and do not wish to be seen. They also look like they could be involved in crime, having their faces covered and dressing in black, commonly associated with evil. With the figure in the palm of his hand screaming, and with the figures walking away, an association is formed between the possible victim and the gang. It does appear that the gang are walking away from the man covered in blood, possibly denoting that they have committed a serious crime against the man. 

With the name of the film being 'Identity', the use of the hand is very fitting, as the use of finger print recognition technology in recent times has been very useful in capturing criminals, and as we all have individual fingerprints, a criminal can be identified at a crime scene, by his hand. 

The colour co-ordination continues into the title of the film shown in the lower third of the poster, applying to the 'rule of thirds' which correlates to good composition of poster design and shots. The black and red colours on the title fade into each other nicely and can symbolise that a person is going from dark and mean (black) to evil and brutal, committing acts of crime and violence (red). 

The short sentences anchoring the media text creates enigmas to the audience using words such as 'secret', 'mystery' and 'killer' and automatically tells the audience that they recognise the story as a thriller, due to the evident plot line of finding out who the murderer is, and is likely to be a 'whodunit' storyline. 

The institutional information featured at the bottom of the poster, is in keeping with the design of the poster, and the producers have gone for a grey colour to add to the cold and dark colours to add to the semiotics of the piece.