Film Poster Deconstruction 3

This poster adopts quite a retro technique by displaying the characters at different sizes and to varying degrees of prominence. It is notably used in all of the Star Wars films and in my opinion doesn't have as big an impact because it detracts from the authenticity of the image and is easily detectable as a Photoshopped poster. Nevertheless I think that this retro style is what the marketers were aiming for, since it complements the themes of the old West and traditional values of America explored in the film. 

I especially like the way that the poster frames the characters, with the two brothers on the run in the foreground and Jeff Bridges' U.S marshal looming in the background, foreshadowing how he is constantly on their tail throughout the film. 

The text used on the poster is kept towards the left so that the image is given central focus, but I think that in the case of the title it distorts the visual prowess of the film's name. It would have worked better with more clarity just written out in one line. The basic colours of the typography are designed to reflect the fading values and decaying state of rural America, blending effectively with the blandness of the image which has a rustic and faded feel to it. Like the poster for Manchester by the Sea, this includes a full list of credits for the main cast and crew, as well as a release date and company logos along the bottom. I think that the release date and film's tagline 'Justice isn't a crime' should definitely have been emboldened to stand out, because even though they are a unique colour from the credits their similarity in size means that they are not instantly visible and so their effect is lost. 

Overall, out of the three film posters I have deconstructed, I would say that this is definitely the weakest (though I just want to state that the film is excellent) and even though it uses the colour scheme and positioning of the characters to reflect the film's themes, I think that as a promotional tool it comes across as too uninteresting.  

These other posters are much more efficient at promoting the film because it gives the characters more focus and in the case of the left one, offers insight into the film's quality through quotes and ratings. It even reassures the audience by using  'From the writer of Sicario' and 'The director of Starred Up' to list other acclaimed films that the crew have made. The left poster is much more colourful but still retains the Western feel to it, whilst the poster on the right feels a little too glossy and refined, undermining the grittiness and subtlety of the other two. 

Having evaluated multiple posters and looked at many more, I think that I am in a comfortable position to list the trends that I have detected in the posters and decide whether or not they would be something I want to adopt or reject as a convention in my own construction.