Poster Analysis 3 - Django Unchained

The purpose of a film poster is to give a small insight into what the film is going to be like and to show a teaser to generate excitement for audiences. Important features for film posters are the film title, the release date and possibly key cast members with a photo as it helps increase the interest from viewers. The difference between a teaser and a classic poster is that, due to the name, one teasers information about the film and the other has all of the information selling the film. The posters I will be analysing the Django Unchained posters.

Posters are usually set in thirds, with different pieces of information in each section. However, on a teaser poster there isn’t much information to go in the thirds and it is usually consumed by a picture. On this teaser poster, there is a large print of a chain going down the centre with the last link being broken. The audiences at the time, they would not think much of this chain, but once the title has been made known this is a clear link to the hidden name “Django Unchained”. This is effective as it is a pun and it creates humour which would not have been appreciated at the time of release. Below the chain, there is a silhouette of two men walking on the grass. From the way their shadowy figures look, it seems like it could be a western film due to the guns and hat worn by one of the men in this empty surrounding. The guns and the fact that it is a Quentin Tarantino movie would suggest that there would be a large amount of violence within this movie – which the red on the poster infers.

The bottom section of the poster, it features very little text; there is a tagline, vague release date, the production company logos and two website links.  The tagline says “the new film by Quentin Tarantino”, Tarantino is an extremely well known director and the fact that the director’s name has been mentioned will generate enough excitement and engagement into the film. This tagline is in a white, bold sans serif font that stands out among the black and red, which dominates the poster. The release date is the same red as the majority of the poster and it is rather vague (all that is says is ‘Christmas’ and there is no specific date as to when it will be released, whether it is Christmas day or just in the holiday season. The website URL’s give the most information about the film, there is the official movie website and then it’s Facebook page. The links themselves have some hint towards the title in them as they say “unchained movie” and when you go on these sites, more information is revealed about the film.

Overall this title is rather vague, but it is effective in generating interest due to the tagline and website links. There is no official title shown on the poster or a specific release date and the photo doesn’t reveal too much about the film other than the genre, the only useful information the poster clearly shows is the director’s name, which would be enough to gain interest due to Tarantino’s history and credibility and is one of the most well known actors over the past couple of decades. I would consider using something gripping like vague elements on my teaser poster, but include links to my website as this would get people intrigued in the film and generate traffic to my website, which would feature my trailer.

The classic poster reveals much more information about the film, such as a cast list, film title, specific release date, photos of the characters, production credits and another tagline.  This poster is also shown in more clear thirds than the teaser poster.

In the first third, there is a new tagline and the faces of the characters. The tagline says “life, liberty and the pursuit of vengeance” this already hints towards the themes of justice and revenge which Tarantino will easily put an extremely violent twist on it. This tagline is in a black serif font, which contrasts to the white background. If people were familiar with famous actors, they would be able to recognise at least one of the faces of these characters; it shows Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz. Their expressions are extremely serious which could set the tone of emotions felt by these characters. This photo also reveals more about the genre, of a western action. They are dressed to suit the time period of the 1850’s where cowboys and slaves were still prevalent. The action is also shown in this top third due to the blood splatter behind Foxx’s head and the gun seen in Christoph Waltz’s hand, this highlights the expected gore of a Tarantino movie and this red splatter stands out clearly due to it contrasting with the black and white theme of the poster.

In the second third of the poster there is the remainder of the photo and the cast names in addition to the tagline from the teaser poster.  The photo in this third is just of the characters bodies which doesn’t highlight anything else to the genre or about the film, I think that the photo was positioned this way to have a dark background to contrast with the white and red colours of the text. The tagline is once again from the previous teaser poster and shows the director’s name (Quentin Tarantino). Similarly to the teaser poster, this would help to generate interest due to Tarantino’s reputation and experience as a director. This tagline is in red, which helps to stand out among the black and white colour scheme of the poster. The cast list is just as large as the tagline and has a list of very well known actors, such as the aforementioned Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kerry Washington, this helps to promote the film as fans of these actors will want to see them in this movie.  The text in this third is in a serif font, just like all of the other pieces of texts on the poster.

The final third has the most text with the title, other cast members, production credits, release date and websites. The title is the most prominent piece of text on the poster, it is in the same bold red as the tagline and it is much larger than the surrounding text. The name Django is also much larger than the word unchained, this helps to signify the protagonists name and as this title is in the centre, over Jamie Foxx, it is evident that he is most likely the protagonist. The other cast names below the title are smaller than the other cast members above, this could be because they are lesser-known actors or have more minor roles in the movie. However, there is one name that is larger than those around it and it says “and Don Johnson as Big Daddy”. Don Johnson was very well known in the 80’s and so to have this small role in the film, they are promoting it to seem like an exciting cameo and by revealing his character name, it could show hoe important he could be in the film. The release date is also in red and it is more specific than the teaser poster as it says that it is released on Christmas day. This date is rather peculiar as it is not common for action films to be released on Christmas day, however this might grasp peoples interest more due to this release date.

Overall I would say that this poster is effective as it provides all of the necessary information for audiences to be gripped and interested. In addition to this all of the most relevant information is shown in the red text, which stands out most on the poster. There are also all of the necessary names and photos to go alongside it of the actors to help peak interest. I would try to use these features in my own poster to help make it grab people’s attention well.