'Alice Creed' Film Poster Research- Candice Tyson

Representation

• Gender in the film poster of 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' is represented quite stereotypically. We as the audience straight away assume Alice Creed is the girl in the large image shown at the top end of the poster. As the title is about the 'disappearance' of Alice this tells us she is a victim. A female victim is something we see in a lot of films making it a stereotype. The lighting in addition to her quite blank facial expression makes it difficult as an audience to know how she is feeling. 
• The male characters are represented as the antagonists as they are both holding a gun and guns are presented to be threatening and used by criminals. However, we don't know whether they are out to hurt someone or as defense and they are protecting someone, but we as the audience assume they are bad and they are the antagonists. 
• A male antagonist is also stereotypical as male roles in a film are often more dominating than those of a female. Male characters in film are often presented as being more powerful than women, that is why its more likely we would see a male with a gun in a film poster than a women, as shown in this poster. 
• We are unable to determine the class of these characters as it is not clear exactly what the characters look like, how they dress or where they come from in this poster.

Narrative

• Strauss' theory of binary oppositions works in this poster with the female character being the submissive character and the male characters being the dominant characters, it is a traditional view used in most films. Other examples of binary oppositions used in films are, good and evil, strong and weak, and the list goes on.
• The theme of the film is communicated through the title. The title gives us a clue that the film is about a kidnapping , giving the theme of crime and death.  There is a red and black theme throughout the poster, in the title and in the girls jumper. This could symbolise death and evil as these colors are often used to communicate these sorts of themes.
• Part of the story is revealed through the quote  'twist after twist... a scorching kidnap thriller', this tells the audience the main plot of the film is a kidnapping. 

Genre

•   The genre of this film is a crime thriller. The conventions of a thriller used in this poster is firstly the low key lighting, this is used particularly on the image of the girl who we assume is Alice Creed. The props of the guns also tells us that its a thriller as weapons are often used in thriller films to make them more exciting and to build suspense. The red and black theme fits the thriller genre as the red represents death and evil while the black represents darkness.
• The images and text are slanted. The image of the two men and their guns create enigma for us as an audience as the slant of the image makes us question who are they shooting and why?

Audience

• I feel the audience targeted by this film is mixed as there is a mix of male and female characters in the film and on the poster. Also, thrillers often target a mixed market as it is a genre that both male and female will enjoy. Where as for an action film its majorly males that are attracted to this genre in comparison to females.
• Having a mix of male and female actors in a film means that whoever is watching whether it a male or female they will be able to relate to whoever is in the film and their situations. 

 Media Language

• The title 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' is written in a red sans serif font- a straight forward and easy font to read. 'Alice Creed' is written in a slightly larger font to draw the audience to her name and so that the audience know she is the main emphasis of the film.
• The poster presents the three main character's names underneath the second slanted picture. The pictures are presented so that the audience looking at the poster may be drawn in by a particular actor or actors. 
• The slant of the pictures distorts them slighting. For example in the photo of the two men aiming their guns the slant of the image distorts the photo and we are not aware of who they're aiming their weapons at. Distortion is a convention of a thriller adding to the overall theme and genre of the poster.
• Red and black are the two main colours used in this film poster. The red could represent violence and evil, while black could symbolise darkness and death. The colours fit the thriller genre nicely as they create a dark and evil mood to the poster.
• The largest image on the poster is the main female character who we assume is Alice Creed. Not only is a female name used in the title but the largest photo is also of a female character this tells us as the audience that this particular character is a big part of the film.
• Black is the background of this poster. It creates a dark mood and in particular it creates a mysterious feel to the image of the main female character. The low key lighting on the female characters face causes the left side of her face to fade into darkness making it mysterious to us as the audience making us wonder what is past all the darkness.
• The lack of setting in the poster doesn't give away any key settings that are in the film. The only setting that is revealed in the poster is the woodland scene that looks like it could be one of the main scenes in the film. However the setting is distorted so we can't see clearly what the scene is like, this could have been done purposely because they don't want to give away too much before the film.
• A quote is presented just above the title 'Twist after twist...a scorching kidnap thriller', giving us a clue that the genre is a thriller and also hints the what the film will be about... a kidnapping. This quote is used to give us clues about the film so that an audience can decide if it's a film they would like to see by reading a small piece of information that the film will be about.