Colour and Text

The implementation of colour in posters and magazine covers is of vital importance, most notably because of the psychological power colours have on the human psyche. When analysing which particular colour to use, it is important to understand the effect it is meant to have. Here I am going to analyse the meaning of colours to allow me to give a more emotive feel to my text.
Red: Red can be used to symbolise extroversion and anger, giving it a somewhat double meaning. The use of red can be used to symbolise blood, romance and rage, and so it's use must be made deliberately obvious using shades of red for different feelings. In some cultures, red can also tell of different emotions, i.e. the Chinese view red as the colour of prosperity and in others it is seen as a more angry colour.
Blue: Blue is generally used to show purity and youth, but also with fluidity, sincerity and also as somewhat conservative. Blue comes in a variety of shades, with dark blue symbolising knowledge and wisdom and light blue symbolising youth and enthusiasm.
White: White is often said to symbolise purity and energy. Most cultures see white as also symbolising love, with  many cultures wearing white wedding dresses.
Black:  Black often seen as a darker colour but it can also be used to represent elegance and sophistication. In films black is most often used to present the 'bad' guys.
Green: Green is the colour of nature and life, with it's use symbolising balance and harmony. In films, green can also be used to represent envy and mistrust, but like other colours, the symbolism is dependent on shade.
 Purple: Purple is often viewed as symbolising royalty and intelligence, with its use lending more to stability and calm. Purple is a favoured colour by pre-adolescents, and it also has much use in Drama films.

Investigating Text Styles

From my analysis of film posters has found quite a similarity in text style. Depending on the theme of drama the text can alter, but in the realms of emotive drama are most almost completely characterised by handwriting style script (See opposite).
From my analysis of posters and magazines, I have found that the typeface has to be connected to the films story, so for Slumdog Millionaire they used the script from the 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' franchise, and so on and so forth. For my film I have decided on the broad area of script or hanwriting style fonts, which will be used to reflect Grace's handwriting, but to gain a proper insight I have chosen to do a survey to find the most expressive 'Emotive Drama' script.

Analysis of Film Posters

The Curious Case of Bejamin Button:


Analysis: The poster is exceptionally symplistic, so as to not reveal depths into the film, but just entrance the audience to view the film simply. The poster has only two main points of focus in the form of the eyes of the two characters - with no background instantally highlighting the eyes.


Lighting: The lighting in this poster focuses on the faces of the two characters, showing the light in this piece is used to highlight the encentricities of their faces, highlighting the males more aged aspects - as the film is about his backwards age. The black background, as I said earlier, draws the eye to the only features - the faces.


Contents: The poster shows only half their faces, portraying them to be hiding part of themselves, and also generating an enigmatic feel to the piece. The poster also features the distributors, producers and marketers; as well as the name of the film and major or big name actors and actresses.

Text: The text in this piece is exceptionally indicative of the films content. The text is layed-over a stylistic pattern, giving it a victorian fluted design, which on closer inspection, reads 'Life' twice, with one being back to front. When applied to the two characters, the back to front 'Life' applies to Benjamin living his life backwards.