Poster Analysis - '20,000 Days On Earth'

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Mise En Scene/ Media Language:
Firstly, the colour of the text matches the picture: the blue shade is similar to the books/objects in the main image which helps the two layers fit together. The text is also placed on top of dark areas in the image and centred so a contrast between the two layers is seen (this makes the text easier to read).

The main image is also centred with the main character in the middle. His facial expression seems stern and serious possible hinting that he is not a comedic character in the film. As he is the only character in the poster, he may be the main character; and as 'Nick Cave' is written below him, this could identify to the audience that this is his name.

The lighting in the poster was probably created with a 3 point lighting set up as the poster is lit both sides and the shadows on the actors face are not very prominent. However the light is has a warm tone which is different to a thriller or horror genre, therefore suggesting that thriller like events may not be present in the film.

Representation:
The character  in the image may be a powerful antagonist or protagonist in the film as he is sat behind a desk - which implies authority- and the piles of books (props) which could connote knowledge.

The room in which the character is sitting is very crowded and has posters collaged on the wall. This could represent a chaotic lifestyle. The biggest poster - a man with blood on his face - could hint at an action theme during the film.

Audience: 
After looking at the IMBD website, I discovered that this film is certificated 15 meaning that is unsuitable for people under this age. Therefore I think that the target audience would be people aged 15- 45. I feel this will have a wide target audience as the main character in this film looks as if he is in his 40's; people of this age would also be interested in the film.

I could also find out the target audience by looking at the awarding body on the poster - Time Out. I then researched into the magazines target audience and successfully found a 'slideshare' that the company had made: Click this link to view. I found out that the average target audience for Time Out was 25-35 mid-professional workers. However later on in the slideshare there was also another section of target audience which said its audience was aged 30-40 and was a professional (meaning that the magazine has a dual audience). This helped me to denote the target audience as films choose companies to rate them that have a similar target audience to their film.  Along with the Time Out information, I can suggest that the target audience would in social groups B-C2 as these people are mid-professional and would be interested in a film featuring middle class culture.

Genre:

For help with this I looked at the IMBD website again and the genres of this film are denoted as Documentry, Drama and Music. This is a hybrid film as there is more than 1 genre. From looking at the film poster this is noticeable as many different props help to imply these genres (Altmann's Semantic codes). Examples of theses are:

• The poster of the man with blood on his face - connotes drama and action
• Books - A documentary as some of these book seem non-fictional
• Marilyn Monroe poster - A singer who highlights the music themed genre.

Conventions in Detail:

• The title of the film is bold yet in a unique font. I think this is because the font could be recognised and play a part in the branding of the film. Even though the text does not reach to each side of the poster, it is still the most prominent part of the short film as it has a high contrast after being placed on top of the darkest area of the photo.
• The poster displays a rating from a well known company - Time Out- which connotes to the audience of the films success and could persuade Time Out readers to also watch the film.
• The blue text joins the image and the writing together as it is the same colour as some of the blue objects in the image. This would have been done on purpose to tie both aspects of the poster together.