'The Expendables' Movie Poster Analysis

 



In this blog I shall carrying out a critical analysis of a movie poster for the film ‘The Expendables’.

The intended audience that this poster would be aimed at are for males over the age of eighteen that have a passion for blood-thirsty ‘shoot-‘em-up’ action movies. This is evident due to a number of factors that are contained within the semiotics of the poster.

The producers of this text, in this case a movie poster, have used all of the male cast members that feature in this movie. The actors that play the characters in The Expendables are known for a series of ‘hard-men’ roles in other movies. Stallone, Lundgren and Willis are more known for the action packed movies during the 1980s and 90’s, whereas stars such as Statham, Li and Rourke are currently performing in action films of the modern era.

By bringing this ensemble of actors it would create an excitement amongst the intended audience as they would automatically know that this would be a blood-thirsty movie. They would also have a huge expectation of gunfire, hand-to-hand combat and explosions and would feel cheated and extremely disappointed if this movie turned out not to be the case. This expectation is given, not just by the cast members, but also the weaponry of the knives and guns on the bottom of the poster and of the skull that is a representation of danger and/or death.

However, this would alienate a family audience as the parents being of an age where they would recognise the cast from their previous roles in other action movies will instantly know that this film would be unsuitable for their children due to the bloodshed and, without seeing this film myself, the amount and strength of profanity that may be peppered throughout this movie.

Movie posters use numerous styles, conventions and techniques to promote a movie. The first is the layout of the poster which is conventionally in the style of a portrait layout. This is because of where movie posters are placed to advertise to a potential mass audience. Movie posters are traditionally place in billboards, bus-stop shelters, magazines and newspapers where they would be seen on a regular basis by vast numbers of people including those who are not the intended audience. It is not uncommon to see a poster of a movie long after the theatrical screenings have expired.

By using the colour black gives connotations of a dark film, not in its colour but in terms of its content. The colour black denotes death but also of power and evokes a mysterious sense of potential and possibility. The written text “The Expendables” gives the audience an impression of bloodshed and murder and this is emphasised with the red lighting on the skull and weaponry at the bottom of the poster. The colour red has connotations of violence and danger.

In the vast majority of cases a movie poster will feature cast members in two ways. The first example is by using a photographic image. The producers of this movie poster have placed the cast members in an order that would have been contractually agreed with between the producers of the movie and the actor (or their representatives). Their positioning would determine who is seen as the either the lead role in the movie or the “name” that is going to put the most “bums-on-seats”.

Another way that cast members are feature is by written text. Again the first name that appears would be the cast member with the lead role or the “name”. The other names will appear in the order that have been contractually agreed between the actor and the producers of the movie. They will appear left to right as this is how we, in western culture, are taught to read. This is why the name of the actor seldom appears over the actor.

The facial expressions of the actors on the movie poster tell us in this instance that the film is not a comedy but a more “no-nonsense kick-ass” movie. The fact that Stallone fronts the poster with his arms crossed and bulging muscles is another indication that this movie may contain some level of barbarity.

At the bottom of the poster the weaponry of guns and knives is another convention used in movie posters to depict a cinematic screening where the content will be violent, aggressive, unethical and inhumane.

Two other conventions that are commonplace, but don’t feature on this sample of a movie poster, are the list of credits of cast and key crew members and the date of when the movie is released. Movie credits are often added so that audience members that are interested in the production of the movie can find out the names of those who worked on the project. Also the date is also a convention and one of the most important because what is the point of promoting your movie to a mass audience if they are unable to know when it is going to be released in to the cinema?