Sunset Boulevard
The first thing that strikes us
is the red rectangular block in the centre of the page. The colour red is a
very emotionally intense colour and connotes danger, anger, passion and blood;
which could suggest that there is violence or death in the film. Out of the red
background comes out a woman’s head who is looking down with an angry and
vengeful expression. Her lips are the same colour as the red in the background
which suggests that she is evil and that perhaps her words are spiteful and
aggressive. Her thick black eyelashes break the red background and makes her
stand out. The heavy black eyelashes connote that there is a darkness to the
film. The strong and stark colours used on her face suggest from the beginning
that she is a strong and malevolent character.
The use of the mise-en-scene,
character positioning, is used effectively in the poster to establish
relationship and status. The largest thing in the poster is the daunting woman
in the front looking down. The size of her face hints that the plot of the film
centres around her. She is looking down the poster, so it gives this idea that
she watches everything and everyone, she has control over people. The woman is
higher in positioning than the two other characters, which implies that she has a higher status than
both of them. She looks down at the two characters who are embracing; the way
they are holding each other suggest that they are in love. The man is at the
bottom holding the smaller woman and is protecting her head, which suggests
that he is a strong male lead and possibly the protagonist. By positioning him,
closest to the large scary woman, implies that he has a closer relationship to
her and that he is more involved in the plot. The two characters at the bottom
are a reddish sepia tint, they are neither red nor white, which connotes that
they are good people, mixed in this evil world. In addition, the red rectangle
in the middle of the poster is surrounded by a larger white rectangular, this
emphasises that the characters are entering a more extreme world than their
plain (white) normal world they’re used to; they are caught in this evil
woman’s world. The couple at the bottom look up at the large woman in fear and
shock, the mise-en-scene, facial expression, conveys the characters emotion to
one another and their fear of the woman.
The title of the poster is set
in a black film strip, the black contrasts the red and makes the poster
visually striking. The mix of the red and black, highlights the theme of
danger, death, violence and anger within the film. The film strip is twisted,
superficially, this element makes the poster more interesting, however beneath
the surface it connotes that there is a major twist and that the plot is
unpredictable. Furthermore, the knot of the film strip is located just below
the woman’s head, with her expression included, it creates the illusion that
she is being strangled and that the film is tense and gripping.
The film strip, the title
‘Sunset Boulevard’ and the tag line ‘A Hollywood Story’ connotes that the film
is set in Hollywood. The title ‘Sunset Boulevard’ has the colour yellow that
fades to white in the lettering, to symbolise a sunset. Additionally, the
reference to ‘Hollywood’ and the film strip, connotes that the film has something
to do with film and acting (a film
within a film). The mise-en-scene, especially colour, facial expression and
character positioning help in setting the tone of the film from the beginning.
The cumulative elements in the poster strongly suggest that this film is a
hybrid genre of thriller and drama and that the key demographic are older
adults.
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