WANTED (2008)
Features actors, Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Terence Stamp and Morgan Freeman. Released 2008, bringing in $50,927,085 in the first weekend. The poster is clearly an action film, we know this from the dangerous looking poster, it shows us the genre straight away. The poster is a little dull when thinking about information it gives us, however the initial image we see is quite interesting so maybe they didn’t believe they needed to write a lot of information to get us interested. If it was a plainer image then the producers would have probably wanted Angelina’s name on the poster as she is a well-known actress. The ‘WANTED’ title is in block capitals, this mimics a real wanted poster and gives the poster a mood of danger as if someone potentially harmful is on the loose. From the image of the two actors I get an instant feel that Angelina is the character with more power, the action of holding a gun upwards is normally portrayed as a powerful act, contrasting with James McAvoy as he holds the gun downwards and more defensively , this suggests he is less powerful and a little nervous. Also Angelina is higher up in position compared to James, this gives her more power also as it seems like she is looking down on him. Angelina has a lot of tattoos all the way down her arm, they aren’t feminine tattoos either which shows she isn’t as girly as other women and isn’t afraid of pain. The tattoos make her seem very mysterious as we cannot read that they say as they are in different languages and symbols that not everyone can understand. The facial expressions of the two characters show they are very serious about whatever they are about to do as they have a look on their face that suggest anger, revenge or just dedication to their work maybe. The pair also look professional as they are holding their guns in a way they seem used to and the guns look expensive and very powerful, especially Angelina’s, which again suggests she is more powerful.
TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/v/5uMlNKozweg?fs=1&hl=en_GB
PHOTO SHOTS FROM TRAILER
The trailer above I think is quite bad as you know the whole storyline after watching it, you can tell all the best bits are in the trailer by watching it once as the scenes that are shown look very well crafted, trailers like these look like they have picked out all the best scenes, put them together and added music. They give you way too much information which ruins the film because when you go to watch it you’ve already seen the best bits. I think what makes a good trailer is picking little bits of the best scenes out but not showing all of it, also not giving away the characters too much as in this trailer we know that James McAvoy starts of shy then develops by meeting Angelina Jolie, it’s too obvious and people want to go to the cinema to find out what happens in the film not to reminisce on the trailer. However, it does seem to be able to persuade its target audience as it looks action packed and i think the action and Angelina lovers would definitely go see this film. The trailer represents Angelina just like the poster does, tough and a little masculine but not in appearance, just in mannerisms, Angelina is clearly an attractive women and having her in the movie will attract the lads who want to see a bit of flesh. Near to the end of the trailer she appears naked from the waist upwards which would get the audience to go see the movie as they might think they’ll see more. Sex appeal can get a lot of people to the cinema when its a very famous actor.
This movie poster is quite creative as it presents the images sort of like a storyboard, this is a good way of advertising a movie because you can get a lot of images all into one poster. This poster is a lot more informative than the first ^^^. This one tells us the actors names and shows photos of more than just the main two stars. I think this is a better way of advertising the film rather than the trailer because this way your showing a lot of the action but not too much as they are only still pictures whereas in the trailer they showed big chunks of the scenes which ruins the film for you. This poster is in the same style as the first one, gold, bronze and black colours, which comes across as sexy and dangerous to match Angelina Jolie. She is perceived as a tough women again in this poster as she has a gun in a lot of the shots and her facial expression in most photos is brave and powerful.
Conclusion
To conclude i think that the advertisement for this film has been good and bad, i think the trailer gives away way too much information and ruins the film a little but the posters are very well made and give us an idea about what the film is about but not giving away too much. Both posters show an attractive women on the front so that it appeals to the males aswell as just action fans. I think the second poster is better than the first not only because there’s a range of pictures and more information but also because it shows Morgan Freeman on it and the first poster does not. I think by putting Morgan Freeman on the poster, it will attract an even wider audience because not only have you got the attractive women, the attractive man, and action, but you also have Morgan Freeman on this one, another star which a lot of audiences like. The more different genres and actors you represent on a poster the wider your audience will get, in most circumstances. Overall I think the posters are very well displayed and would definitely attract me to watch the film, but the trailer was quite a let down.
Charlotte Murrie's Blog 