Deconstruction of Safe House Poster from Magazine

Deconstruction of Safe House Poster from Magazine

The colour of the poster is bold, sharp and high in contrast, the mixture of red and black give a tense feeling of action, which will relate to the film. The mise en scene corresponds with these points to show the relationship between these two characters.

The image of Ryan Reynolds on the top shows him with a gun focusing on something, which adds tension, while the image below of Denzel Washington is looking straight into the camera lens showing intensity and making the audience think about the narrative of the film and what’s happened to him.

In the background you can see a brightly lit city, it is an orangey red, which makes it look like its on fire with the glow effect behind him, it also gives us an idea of where the film is going to be set and how its full of anarchy and fighting. But the background of the bottom image is totally black, showing that he could be in the safe house and the other character is trying to get there, it leads to mystery intriguing the audience, which is the purpose of the poster.

The text colours are red and white. The white text is to create contrast from the mostly black background so we can read what is on the poster. The film title and the tagline is in bright red to catch our eyes and to make clear what the film title is.

The text font is bold and easily readable with all caps to add impact. The film name itself is a much larger font size to make it stand out from the rest of the text, it is also almost all bold except from the actors first names, just to add style to the poster.

The tag line is in the same colour and font as the title “no one is safe”, it is a short and punchy statement which attracts the audience of an action film.

The layout of the poster is divided into two parts showing the film may have two intertwined narratives, but both characters in each part of the image are centered showing they are the main characters; there isn’t much background, which doesn’t tell us much about the narrative.

The target audience for an action film is normally 15-25, but this can vary because of age ratings on the film, the rating isn’t displayed on the poster, but with the theme of violence it is most likely 15+.