DEAN COSTELLOE
CENTRE NUMBER: 14715
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 9058
RADIAL ANALYSIS - FILM POSTER
FISH TANK
GENRE/AUDIENCE
Straight away, by looking at this poster, we can already tell it is a social realism film, due to the use of the key conventions in the poster. For example, the poster includes an image of a female teenager, which are often the focal points of these sorts of movies. This could also suggest that this movie is aimed at a target audience of teenage girls, which allows them to relate to the problems that are faced by teenagers, and the issues in which the character faces in the movie. By looking at the female character and the way she is presented, we notice her jewellery, hair, make-up and clothing, and we can instantly assume that she is from a working-class background, which is another convention of this genre. This also means that the film can appeal to the working class genre of people. In order to give a more realistic feel to the film, Andrea Arnold decided not to use a professional, famous actor and cast Katie Jarvis as a result of this. Katie was originally noticed at a train station having a fight with her boyfriend by the director and she was instantly approached and asked if she would play the part of Mia. Also, the poster includes a certificate rating of '15', due to the film's use of strong language and sexual references. This shows us the sort of target audience that the film is based around once again, as it confirms that the film is aimed at teenagers. Also, the poster shows that the film has won various awards from film festivals such as Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 and also Festival De Cannes. This will appeal to the average film enthusiast, as the film has been recognised across festivals and has won awards, so therefore, people who watch films based on reviews or past achievements are more likely to watch this film.
The poster again has attempted to draw the audience in by using the actor's names on the poster. For example, Kiertson Wareing, who plays the main protagonist's mother in the film) is well known for acting in the social realist genre. Also, famous actor Michael Fassbender helps to draw in the audience as he is a well-known named actor, which adds a selling point to the film. Also, award winning director Andrea Arnold's name is featured on the poster above the title. This is an obvious indication of the genre that this film falls under, as Arnold is known for her social realist films, such as 'Wasp (2003)' and 'Red Road (2006)'. Additionally, the poster has used certain newspaper reviews, from popular newspapers such as 'The Guardian' and also reviews from film and lifestyle magazines such as 'Total Film' and 'Elle.' The use of reviews attracts the audiences, by using certain 'buzz words' such as "Powerful and Poignant" and "Funny, Moving and Profound." Not only does this show that the film has been recognised by the film festivals, but also by popular forms of media.
REPRESENTATION
The Fish Tank poster shows the teenage girl to be young and vulnerable, exemplified by her distant expression, representing her as a stereotypical girl. This is explained further through the use of dominant colours within the poster, showing how this represents gender. The typography used is pink and baby blue, which are again stereotypically linked to the female gender. The clash in colours show not only the issues that young females may face, but the blue could be representative of the male gender, which causes conflict between the two genders, showing that females and males have many different problems with eachother. The poster also portrays the representation of class and age through the main character being positioned on the far right. The female in the poster is stereotypical of the working class youth as we established from her clothing and image, also, stereotypical working class youths are troublesome and reckless, which represents the class and age of the character.
NARRATIVE
The main image on the poster creates a sense of mystery amongst the film, which intrigues the audience into wanting to delve deeper into the narrative. From the main image, the audience can instantly assume that the narrative includes a female teenage protagonist, however the tagline suggests some themes of the narrative. "Live, love and give as good as you get" is the tagline of the movie, and this tells us that the film revolves around hope and fulfilling dreams. Secondly, the themes and plot suggest a love interest, although we cannot justify whether or not the love is family love, or more of a relationship interest. The definition of the quote "give as good as you get" is to respond with equal force when attacked, ergo, showing the teenager's willpower and strength, and also confident enough to fight for what she believes in. From this we can also assume that if somebody were to treat the female character badly, she is prepared to fight back and stand up for herself and treat them similarly.
The main image includes a female teenager looking out towards the light from a window. The girls face in lit by natural lighting, in which light is often linked towards hope. Therefore this suggests that she is desires and hopes for a better life, which is a key convention used in Social Realist films. Furthermore, the fact the female is looking out from a window, suggests she is trapped. This links with the title of the film, due to the fact fishes are trapped inside fish tank.
They have chosen to only include the main character on the poster, which indicates she is the main character, who's life we delve in on. In deeper analysis, because the female is the only character pictured on the poster, this suggests she is alone and isolated from everyone else. In which, this again links with the title 'Fish Tank'. Her jewellery is gold, which is very symbolic of working class people, and also the colour of her t-shirt is black, which could signify the darkness in her life in which she is trying to escape from.
The setting of the image appears to be a female's bedroom, most likely a teenager due to the pink 'graffiti' on the walls. There are a variety of images in the forgeround of the poster which is used in order to draw the audience's attention and one of these is the pink heart which appears to be stamped onto the wall. This is symbolic of love, as hearts are commonly associated with love, but also the colour pink is quite a feminine colour, yet again can be linked to love as hearts are known to be either red or pink. Due to the links between love and also teenage girls, we can assume that this film is going to include the love interest of this female and could be about a relationship in which she has. The stamped love heart is slightly faded, which could be symbolic of the relationship being broken or not as strong as it should be. Also, the torn wallpaper not only again implies the working class of the teenager, but also could be a suggestion towards the anger and stress in which this teenage girl feels in her life. As of yet, we cannot deduce whether or not this is due to the struggles which teenagers face in society or the stereotypes placed upon them, or if this is a result of the broken relationship, or problems with the love interest.
MISE EN SCENE
The main image includes a female teenager looking out towards the light from a window, which in turn lights up the girl's face naturally, which is often linked towards hope. This therefore suggests that she desires a better life, which is a key convention used in social realist films. Furthermore, the fact that she is staring out of a window shows how she may be trapped in her lifestyle. This links in with the title of the film, as fish are trapped inside their tanks, much like she may be trapped in her lifestyle.
LAYOUT
The poster has followed the basic rule of three, in which the female is positioned on the right hand side of the poster. The layout highlights the large amount of empty space left on the poster, emphasising the emptiness and loneliness in the female's life. The text is also layered over the images and the vandalisation on the wall on the left hand side of the poster, which allows the poster to inform the reader about the film with features such as the title, certificate, credit block, reviews and also the actors included in the film in the main focal point of the poster which is in the centre. Furthermore, the credit block positioned below the title in the centre is powerful as it allows the readers to see clearly the names of the people involved in the film, and also the institutes involved. It pictures the logos of the companies which contributed towards the making and funding of the movie. As seen by the logos, we can tell that the film will be made in Britain, due to the UK film council logo and also BBC films logo.
TYPOGRAPHY
The title of the poster is in a sans-serif font, which is the consistent text theme throughout the poster. This font is used in order to achieve a simple yet bold look, to extend the "eye-catching" nature of the text. It is also used as to not distract too much attention away from the other important elements of the poster, such as the images, certificate and credit block. The colour of the title 'Fish Tank' is in a baby blue/turquoise colour, which follows the theme of being trapped in a fish tank as blue is the colour of water. Lighter blue colours such as the ones used in this poster are also quite commonly used to symbolise sadness, which is again an underlying theme of the plot. However, contrasting this, blue can also be symbolic of freedom, which is obvious to the plot if it follows the idea of being trapped, as it shows the character is attempting to gain freedom and escape from this 'tank.' The title has been placed next to the large image of the female, and it suggests that the title is referring to the female in the movie as again, she is metaphorically trapped inside a fish tank.
COLOURS
The poster uses soft colours and different shades of pink and blue. Stereotypically, the colour blue is linked to the male gender, which forces the audience to think that the film includes a male. Analysed deeper, the colour blue is often linked to the Virgin Mary and therefore purity, which could mean that the film is associated with the purity of this teenager. The colour pink is also included just as much as the colour blue, which shows a juxtaposition between the two genders. Pink, stereotypically is linked to the female gender, but it could also be a symbol of childish innocence, love and romance. This means that the colour scheme of the poster suggests that the film includes males and females, with the themes of love and romance, but also a teenager who still possesses her youth and innocence. As well as this, the colours are soft and pastel like, encouraging the audience to believe that the character pictured on the poster again still possesses this vulnerability. Not only do the colours carry symbolic meanings, they also stand out to draw the attention of the audience. There is a faint use of yellow in the poster, which commonly symbolises happiness, joy and optimism, however, as the colour is very faint, it could suggest that there is happiness to be found, but there is not a whole lot of it in the life of the character, but she ultimately goes out in the search for a better future and life.