Textual Analysis: Film Poster 10

The poster for the 'Catfish' documentary is very atypical of the normal codes and conventions of a film poster; this means that the layout does not follow the same set of rules/expectations as more traditional forms of advertisement. For example, although the features of a title, credits and tagline are present, the placement and typography of such elements differ from those of the posters I have analysed previously.

The image presents a female character lacking in facial features and therefore identity; this implies a sense of anonymity. As well as this, the unnatural/alien like image creates an eerie and suspicious atmosphere, therefore engaging with the audience and causing them to question the nature/intentions of the unidentifiable character.

The colour scheme is very plain/simplistic and does not stand out in any way, e.g. no bold colours or iconic symbols are used; it can be argued that this is done in order to reinforce the idea that the character is unrecognisable/indistinct and therefore blends in with the background.

Much like the other film posters I have reviewed, the title is centrally located and set to scale at the same size as the face. The typography is very clever in effect as the font almost alludes to facial features, e.g. the tail of the 't' creates the imagery of a nose; this is also seen through the positioning of the tagline as it is in place of the mouth. Although the font of the title reflects that of somebody's handwriting (somewhat more personal), the tagline is very typical to the font associated with typewriter print, e.g. typically seen in newspapers, magazines, books etc. This font is also used heavily through the social media as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, implying that our online identities can sometimes replace the reality of who a person is.

The credits are very unusually positioned which I found to be very effective; the concept of a text box appearing from the females mouth area reinforces that when online, you can say anything and be anyone- especially if your true identity becomes anonymous to other users. Unlike previous credits which state the lighting and editing acknowledgements, the text appears more unprofessional/amateur in approach; this may be because the documentary itself was a low budget film which is often the case with films categorised within this genre.