Exam Questions

1. Analyse the two film posters commenting on:-

• Visual Codes
• Layout and Design
• Genre Conventions

The Sex and the City 2 (SATC) poster is good for advertising the film. The first thing that is noticable about this text is that the four women on the poster are close together and they look happy which suggests that they are friends and they are happy together. The characters are looking directly at the camera and smiling. This makes the characters seem approachable and friendly and relatable to the audience. The fact that Sarah Jessica Parker is standing slightly further forward than the others suggests that she is the main character of the film. The camera shot is a low angle shot which gives a hint of glamour as this is the shot that is mainly used in high fashion magazines. This is a good idea because the content of the film is generally fashion. The costumes that have been used are very plain colours. This isnt a problem because it means that the recognisable faces of the characters have more of a focus on them. The material of the costumes are silky and the scarf which is floating accross the characters suggests that they are in the desert and these costumes would be appropriate. However, although they are appropriate desert clothing, they also have a hint of glamour and are extremely feminine because they are wearing stilettos which may be of interest to the audience. The costumes also show the muscular structure of the women's arms, showing that they clearly take care of themselves which makes them aspirational to other women. The background of the poster is quite plain as the reader is only able to see sand and sky. However, this means that the reader knows that the film is not set in Manhattan like the first film and the television series, which may make the audience more interested as the readers know that they are going to see the characters, who are extremely well known, go on a journey. The font that has been used is gold and silver and sparkly. This makes it look expensive and also its quite feminine.

Exam Questions

Exam Questions...

a. Choose 1 of the film posters. Suggest two different audiences for this film. Give brief reasons for your choice.
The film poster that I have chosen to talk about is ‘The A-Team.’ Two audiences for this film would be men aged around 15 to 35. The reason for this is because it appears to be an action film which would make men interested. If the audience was too young, they may find it too violent and an older audience may not enjoy explosions and other aspects of this genre of film. It looks like an action film because of the masculine stance of the characters and the costumes that they are wearing and the fact that their facial expressions are serious. Another audience could be fans of the actors in the film. Even though their names are not on the poster, the actors on the poster are instantly recognisable. This means that people who enjoy other films that the actors have been in will be interested in seeing this film. The men on the poster show that the film is for a mainly male audience, however, some of the actors may be appealing to women which would make them interested in the film. The font that is used is metallic with nails in it which makes it look as though the people are 'hard.' The tagline "There is no plan B" shows that the characters are clearly set out to do something dangerous which may be interesting to men, as they may find danger exciting.

   b.  Using either of the film posters explain how the main audience for the film has been targeted.

On the 'Sex and the City 2' poster, the main audience would be women aged around 18 to 40. This audience has been targeted because it is clear that this film is for women because there are 4 female protagonists. Even though the colour scheme is not particularly feminine, the font is sparkly and gold which indicates that this film is for a female audience. The reason that this film would be for a young to middle aged audience is because the title is "Sex and the City" which indicates that there will be scenes of a sexual nature. This suggests that the film would be inappropriate for young audiences and the film may not appeal to older audiences. Because "Sex and the City" is a famous franchise, people who have seen the first film and the TV series would be interested in seeing the film. If they haven’t seen either, the actresses names at the top of the poster could be enough to make people interested seeing the film. The fact that the background shows the characters on the beach, means that the film is set somewhere other than New York where the first one is set which would be interesting to the audience as they would want to see the characters in a different situation. The girls on the poster look happy and as there are no men on the poster, shows that it is not  a classic rom com that people may find boring but is a chick flick that girls would want to watch with their friends.

c. What different uses are available to a range of audiences from different media texts? Refer to your own detailed examples.