Film Poster Research: 'Shutter Island' [Alex]

SHUTTER ISLAND 

This feature-length film poster is the most typical of the film posters I am analysing. 

Two images are shown on this poster for advertising purposes. The first shows the main actor, a star within the Hollywood scene. Leonardo  DiCaprio's face and name are plastered over the film poster as he is the main fascinator as he has his own fan-base. A narrative is suggested as DiCaprio poses, looking uncertainly into the distance, and highlighted by a lit match that casts a dark shadow on his right-side. The darker colour scheme of this poster suggest that the themes and narratives within the film are fairly sinister.

The title of the film is centred, and uses a bold white font to contrast the dark background. This slightly opaque font fades nicely into the background, the make the text one with the image, rather than plastering it on top. The text is also positioned slightly behind the image of the the island, which from a design point of views, brings the poster together.

The image of the island itself is fairly blacked out, showing more of a silhouette of an island. This image creation foreshadows the isolation and danger on the island. The audience can also make an assumption that the main actor and the island have some link.

Unlike other posters, no audience is suggested - which makes it very universal. If any audience were to be suggested, it would be those who watch neo-noir psychological thriller films.

My main interest in this poster would be the tag line/slogan that is boldly presented in a faded red font, specifically positioned the catch the eye of the audience. The line says: 'Some places never let you go' - this personifies the island and creates and creates a demoralising personality; which in-turn, also suggest a narrative. The release date is also shown in the same bold, red font to catch the audience's eye - the image has already captured their attention, and now they want to see the film; so the release date also has to be visible from a distance.

The credit block is also very typical of a Hollywood blockbuster. It depicts the main creative roles of the film, and plasters the directors' name as frequently as they can. Again, this will not be essential for our film poster as we only had three creative directors.