Slumdog Millionaire - Poster Analysis

Media Language:

The 'Slumdog Millionaire' film poster.

Several aspects of the 'Slumdog Millionaire' poster help to suggest the theme and story of the film. 

Beginning with the characters:

• The two characters, male and female, are standing close beside each other with the girls body turned inwards, implying a close bond between them.
• Both of them have elated facial expressions and are smiling, demostrating their happiness.
• The womens costume suggests her ethnicity and therefore perhaps the location of the film. 

The colours used throughout the poster further contribute to the feeling of 'happiness' - they are all very bright, which connotes a sense of excitemen. The colour orange is very prominent which is associated with traits such as success and energy. (click for colour associations/meanings).

Representation and Audience

Paint used at Diwali.

As mentioned before about the womens clothing, the colours surrounding her also help to represent her background. Mumbai (where the film is set) celebrates the occasion of Diwali, which involves a lot of colour and light, so the colours used are very representative of her background. 



'Slumdog Millionaire' is rated at a 15 because of its strong language and violence. 
The poster also shows a multiple choice question (as featured on the game show, 'Who wants to be a millionaire'. This context of gambling for money, may not be appropriate for certain religions i.e. some Christians disapprove of gambling. It also shows the characters to possess quite adventurous personas. 

'A film by Danny Boyle'; Boyle is a well know present film director so the film would perhaps be more appreciative by a modern day audience. 

Genre:
The multiple choice question asks: "what does it take to find a lost love?" 
This implies that the films theme is based on love and having to make choices; connoted by the several options listed i.e. money, luck, brain power, destiny. 

This also acts as a tagline which is in the typograohical style of the tv show: 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' which allows the audience to associate the film with money and the idea of a gameshow being a major part of the plot.

Typical Conventions 

The layout and composition of this poster is very simple but makes it clear. The main text of the title is placed slightly off centre to allow room for the image. The title is justified and cleverly incorporates the directors name as to create a clean look.  

The type is all in upper case to really put emphasis on the contrast between 'slum' and 'millionaire'.

The quote by 'News of the World' is also show in capitals, with some of the type in a larger font. This is to draw attention to the importance of the key words and promote the film.

The billing block is placed at the bottom of the poster and compliments the design as it takes the same layout.