The document analyzes movie posters and magazine covers. It summarizes the key elements of posters for the films "Timbuktu", "Lion's Den", and "Fruitvale Station", noting how they establish location, characters, and themes through images and text. It also summarizes magazine covers promoting "Inglourious Basterds", "12 Years a Slave", and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire", highlighting how they feature actors and attract attention to the films through text placement, sizing, and color.

1. MOVIE POSTER AND MAGAZINE
COVERS ANALYSIS
By Eleftheria Kousta

2. MOVIE POSTERS.

3. • This poster is for the independent movie "Timbuktu"
2014 of French/Mauritanian production. It was
directed by Abdelrahman Sissako.
• The poster immediately establishes the location (The
Malian Desert), thus indicating were the action is
taking place.
• Below there is a sequence of photos displaying the
main characters. As we briefly see them, we can
understand that the movie will have a cultural
element in it, because they are not dressed with
conventional European clothes. The people are of
Tuareg origin, so we indicate that the themes will
have to deal with their society, norms and values that
might be different to globalized cultures.
• The colors much, but the green tree on the middle
stands out, that indicates that will be significant for
the film
• To attract the audience the poster displays several
good rates and commentaries by critiques and its
award nominations.
• The title is displayed in the center of the bottom and
is colored green, in order to match with the main
object of the poster: the tree.
• It also displays the tagline in the below the title,
indicating the plot of the film.

4. • The poster is from the independent Argentinian
film "Lion's Den". Directed by Pablo Trapero.
• The character is placed behind some rusty bars,
kissing her baby. She looks like an affectionate
mother, thus indicating on of the themes in the
movie, The environment she is place in looks
very unpleasant and the bars indicate that she
is confined to the certain room, thus raising
one more of the potential issues of the film.
• Her face it is not visible thus creating some
mystery around her identity.
• The title is displayed at the bottom with white
letters and looks like it is scratched on the wall
and below the title the name of the director
appears.
• With smaller letters information such as the
producers or the studio's name are scripted.
• On the right on the top, we can see the Cannes
Festival sign, that indicates the film is award
nominated

5. • "Fruitvale Station", is an American
independent film of 2013. It is directed by
Ryan Coogler.
• The main character is displayed on the front.
He is wearing a hoodie and is an ethnic
minority, possibly working class. Those two
characteristics are defining for the storyline.
This is reinforced by the urban setting he is
in, associated mainly with those social
groups.
• The setting, is an indication of the title, thus
giving the audience a clear sign that the
tube station will be significant for the film's
storyline.
• The title is displayed with bright orange
letters that stand out from the dark
background and draw audience's attention
on them.
• On the top at the right, awards and
nominations are displayed, in order to give
some credibility to the film and potentially

6. MAGAZINE COVERS

7. • All text are arranged in order not to block the
image, but are still written in vivid colors and
displayed on a shadow background, so they can
still be eye-catching.
• The title of the magazine, is hidden by Brand
Pitt's head, but they are still eye catching
because of the color and their size.
• The main topic, which is about the Glorious
Bastard's movie is displayed in bright red colors
in front of the protagonist, so we can relate them
together.
• Website, barcode and price of the magazine are
displayed on the cover. Yet, not eye catching.
• Brad Pitt is dressed as the character he plays in
the movie so we know what is about.
• He maintains eye contact with the camera.
• He looks quite comic, rather than threatening,
thus indicating the film's genre. But the knife and
the gritty way the movie title is constructed
indicates that the movie contains substantial
level of violence.
• Also the director's name is displayed. Tarantino is
known for certain genres and aesthetics and is
likely to draw a target audience.

8. • The cover shows Michael Fassebender on
of the main leads in "12 years a slave" and
its director Steve Maqueen. Fassebender is
out of character and the poster generally
looks more sophisticated.
• The title of the magazine is displayed on
large yellow letter, that stand out of the
grey background. The next most eye
catching title is the one of the center topic,
which is Maqueen's movie.
• Barcode and price are displayed at the
bottom and make no great impact on the
audience.
• On the top of the character, we see in a
red bubble the magazine's 20th
anniversary, thus indicating that it is a
special issue.
• Apart from the title, there are no major
hints about the genre of the movie.

9. • Actress Jennifer Lawrence, is the focal point
of the advert. She is dressed as her character
from the movie franchise "Hunger Games".
She is framed in a low angle shot in order to
appear heroic.
• Since the movie series are well known, only
her face can attract a wide audience. Thus,
the title of the movie is not over emphasized
and is painted grey as the other titles.
• Yet, there is emphasis on the part of the title
where it indicates, which part of the series
this movie is, so "Catching Fire" is displayed
with bright white letters.
• Although the title of the magazine is written
with large letters, it is quite neutralized by
matching colors with the rest of the topics
and by being hindered by Lawrence's head.
• The barcode and the price are not displayed.