This document analyzes the film poster for Attack the Block, which promotes the upcoming sci-fi/action comedy film aimed at teenagers. The poster uses various genre signifiers like meteors falling from the sky and a color palette of blues and grays to indicate its sci-fi genre. It also features a diverse cast of characters of different ages, ethnicities, and styles to appeal to a broad teenage audience. The setting of a London housing block plays a key role and would be relatable to the target demographic. Mentioning that it is from the producers of Shaun of the Dead helps attract interest since that was a popular previous film.

1. By Jordan Saunders.

2. Introduction.
Genre – Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Date Of Release – 13th Of May 2011
Director – Joe Cornish
Production Companies – Film 4, UK Film
Council And Studio Canal.
Target Audience – The film is aimed at teenagers
as the target audience.
The Purpose Of The Film Poster – To promote
the soon to be blockbuster and spread
awareness of the film. The poster would
usually be advertised on the side of
busses, train stations, buss stops ETC.

3. Genre Signifiers.
When Looking at the film poster you can
instantaneously see many genre signifiers. The most
obvious are the meteors falling from the sky, also
another representation of the genre is the colours
used within the posters the sky for example they’ve
used blue’s and grey’s these are the colours you
would expect to see from a Sci-Fi genre film also
these colours create a sense of foreshadowing. The
tagline ‘Inner City VS Outer Space is also suggestive
of the films genre this will help the audience pick if
they want to see the film or not this is because not
every genre is appealing to each individual. The
tagline also suggests that there is going to be action
within the film also suggesting that the film has
sub/hybrid genres as well.

4. Genre Signifiers.
How Will This Appeal To The Target Audience?
This poster will appeal to the target audience in many ways.
Some of them being the use of images for example the
meteors falling from the sky this represents the Sci-Fi
Genre so if the viewing audience is a fan of Sci-Fi they
will be enticed to watch this film. Also the use iconic
buildings within the poster are representative of London
this would draw the target audience in seeing as some of
the audience will live or come from London this will allow
them to relate to the characters and settings because they
may/have experienced the use of setting first hand.
Another Image that compliments the iconic buildings is
the ‘Block’ that the characters are standing in front of this
is because most of the urban areas in London consist
mainly of flats once again this will allow the target
audience to relate to the film/poster.

5. Characters.
Within the poster they have used a widened age range of characters this has
been done to broaden the target audience because there will be characters
that most of the target audience will be able to relate to.
By adding a diverse age within the film it
already draws in more of an target
audience, but there are other things that
they’ve added to compliment the
characters whilst widening their target
audience for example ethnicity, clothing
and props. All of these elements come
together within the poster to draw a
broader target audience in also they have
a variety of characters as well as actors
from different backgrounds, this allows
more people to relate to each of the
characters for example when you take a
look at the poster they have a bunch of
teens within the centre but then on the
left and right they have added two older
characters one who seems to be a
respectable hard working female and the
other who seems to be a ‘Meaty’ lazy
male this alone appeals to males and
females because they have characters
from their gender group playing roles
within the film.
Also another big part of drawing
a broader audience in is the
ethnicity’s used within the
poster they aren’t all one colour
or one race they are diverse for
example they have white, black
and brown amongst the
characters this will allow more
of the audience to relate to
each individual character
because they seem to be like
how they are.

6. Setting.
Construction Of Setting On The Poster
The main setting within the poster is the block this signifies
that the ‘Block’ plays a key part within the film, also from
the name of the film it is suggested that the ‘Block’ is
under attack and the way the characters have been
presented on the poster it looks as if they are trying to
defend it. Even though the ‘Block’ has almost been
presented in a menacing way because of characters and
how they are dressed it also has been presented as a
safe haven for the teenagers/adults because it is their
home. Also the use of iconic buildings is suggestive of
where the film will be taken place because they have put
in the ‘Gherkin’ which is one of the most prestigious and
know buildings of London which suggest that the film
setting is going to take place in London.

7. Setting.
How Does This Appeal To The Target Audience?
The Setting – The setting would appeal to the
target audience because they could be living
in the same urban area’s or London as a
whole so they know what life is like day in and
out, this would allow them to establish a
relationship with the characters and relate to
them as well. Also the use of characters is
another way of appealing to the target
audience this is because there is a diverse
range of characters not only in race but in age
as well allowing people of an older age to
relate to the older characters.

8. Institutional Promotion.
Reason’s On Why They Have Included ‘From The Producers
Of Shaun Of The Dead’ The reason this has been done is
because ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ is a very popular film. By
having a great blockbuster like ‘Shaun Of The Dead’
behind the producer when he decides to make another
film because and includes that it is from the makers of
that film this will entice the audience to watch it if they
enjoyed his/hers previous films.
Another promotional method is social media this is a very
effective and popular method of promoting films etc and
because the target audience for the film ‘Attack The Block’
are teenagers the film will definitely get recognized and
spread around because the majority of teenagers own a
social network account. Also this is another method of
getting the audience involved and letting them know extra
information on the film and allowing them to voice their
opinions also.