Children of men Film poster essay.

Children of men

The first thing I notices while analysing the film poster of 'Children of Men' was the protagonist of the film called Theo Fardon who is played by the established actor Clive Owen. He is placed on the top right of the poster, with his eyes connecting to the audience. This makes me intrigued by his character as it makes him look mysterious and stern. The fact that Clive Owen is standing behind the only bit of broken glass shows that he is overcoming obstacles and fighting for what he believes in. This poster also gives away that he would be the hero o the film, while the stubble and how he is not well groomed makes him look very rebellious and subverts the hero representations. By having a well-known actor of the film poster it makes the audience want to see the film because if they believe he is a good actor they will automatically assume it's a good film with a good storyline. Surrounding him there is smashed glass, this portrays the films aggression and the fragmentation of the world with the film is trying to portray. The jagged glass near Clive Owen's neck can mean a threat of death with gives the viewer an idea of the movie genre before seeing it which is all of the following, adventure, drama, sci-fi and thriller. this could also lead the audience assuming he will die.
  The second thing I notices when looking at the 'children of Men' poster is a large amount of grey and lack of a variety of colours shown. A large section of the poster is a dark grey which is morally ambiguous. However the colours get lighter around Clive Owen's face, this immediately symbolises that he is important toward the story. The red text symbioses blood so we immediately know there will be death in this film. 
 What I found was really interesting was that the poster has written a very short synopsis:

'The year 2027: the last days of the human race, no child has been born in 18 years he must protect our only hope.'

This is placed in the top left hand corner, and is written in red to contrast with the light grey surrounding it. Many older film posters have short synopsis within them but many contemporary ones down. I believe that key have included one I this film poster as the storyline is so strong and different that it will intrigue the audience as it is weird and wonderful.
  The tiles itself symbolises innocence, hope and new life but strangeness as men cant have children. But the colouring of white enhances this more to convey a clearer understanding on how he came up with the title, as the colour white symbolises purity. Above the title there are three main actors names, again this is so the audience can interpret what the think of the film before they have even seen it, by the actors career. All names are the same size font this shows they are all important towards the film. Tulianne Moore is American and Michael Caine is a world famous star, this shows how this film will be shown in other country's not just England.
 To the left under the title there is a small picture of an eye that's crying with a foetus inside, this symbolises the key words of the synopsis of the whole film for example birth, pain, survival, chaos and violence. It contrasts to the white title as it's in block red, this displays, how in the film the society has two contrasts, there is a longing for purity but at the same time human kind still partake in violent acts and immoral behaviour. The writing itself is very blunt and sharp. This draws the audience in and intrigues the viewer as it's almost woks as a cliff hanger designed to make people want to see the movie and this works very well.  
 I struggled to identify the target audience for children of men as it isn't a straight forward genre film. I believe that it's aimed at a fairly broad target audience- both men and women from the ages of about 15-44. This film poster depicts the film well to this audience as it looks exciting, gritty and the colours all make it seem very dark and mysterious.