The poster for Star Wars: The Last Jedi prominently features central images of key characters like Luke Skywalker to engage fans nostalgically. Characters are arranged by importance, and the dark vs. light side dynamic is symbolized. The red color scheme represents death and the dominance of the dark side. Font, composition, and character poses also reference previous films. Interviews on late night shows like Jimmy Kimmel target older fans, discussing the original films and experiences making The Last Jedi. Trailers build anticipation through glimpses of plot and action while leaving questions unanswered until the film's release.

1. Star Wars The Last Jedi
Relationship between Producers &
Audiences Assessment

3. Poster
Initially the most notable element within this poster is all the characters that have been placed
directly in centre of the poster, the size of each characters image is displayed in importance to
the film, as Luke being the main attention of the film he is placed at the very top in the largest
image size, this is used to engage audiences by presenting a familiar character to star wars fans,
engaging the nostalgic elements in the fans from the older films. The two main protagonist and
antagonist are placed just below Luke, they are both portrayed opposite sides of each other
wielding lightsabres. This has been done to symbolise the basis of the star wars narrative,
symbolising the light and dark side of the force. The poster design follows the same designs as
the original posters, depicting the characters centre image striking a heroic pose, this will have
been done to appeal to fans, star wars fans will notice these subtle similarities and that gives the
poster nostalgic value. The main aim with choices in this poster is to appeal to the hard-core
Star Wars fan base, as it being one of the biggest film franchises with one of the largest fan
followings it is important for the designers to really engage with them and make sure that they
make the right choses that the fans are going to love, implementing nostalgic elements is always
a good way of doing this, by creating a similar product to the original it makes the fans who view
it remember back to when they first experienced the original product. The biggest colour theme
in the poster is red. A vibrant blood red is used as the backdrop colour as well as the colour
grading on all the characters faces and clothes, this is also followed up at the bottom of the
poster with an extreme long shot of a scene from the film where the rebels are racing towards
the first order on a red salt covered planet.

4. I believe the red theme is used throughout the poster to symbolise the death and
bloodshed that will entail in the film. This is also suggested in the title ‘The Last Jedi’, the
last of an order, the end of a religion, representing the end of something. Red is also a
colour that in the world of Star Wars symbolises the dark side and evil, in relation to the
title this could portray the idea of the light side coming to an end, with the vastly dominant
red colour scheme could possibly correlate to the dark side taking dominance over the light
in this film. The font used follows the same features as the original texts, again keeping with
this idea of nostalgia. There would be no need to change the font for the title of “Star
Wars” as it is a vastly recognisable commercial title that nearly everyone will know and will
understand what connotations come with the title. However the font colour is different
from the original Star Wars titles, they have gone for full blacked out font with a white trim
around the outside, this differs from the original yellow and black theme. White and black
are both opposite on the colour scale, they are colours that are used to symbolise good and
evil, white being recognised as being pure and good while black can share connotations
with darkness and evil, this again relates to the two sides in Star Wars, the light and dark
side. The tone of the film is clearly stated with this poster, the facial expressions of the
characters portrays what kind of a film this will be, for example placing Rey and Ren next to
each other strike aggressive poses with serious expressions shown on their faces. As Star
Wars already has such a massive fan base most people will already know what to expect in
their films, however it is still clear for those who don’t, the film is clearly going feature
violent content and aspects of war due to it being suggested in the title as well as the
content of the poster, at the bottom we see armoured vehicles charging into battle. The in
the middle of the poster we can make out the outlines war space ships that also further
push the tone set by the film. In comparison to previous franchise posters it still remains to
follow the same themes, keeping the characters all placed in the centre of the image while
having a backdrop of spaceships or conflict or any other related visuals to do with film. the
font is still the same style with variations in colour used throughout the years.
Poster

5. Previous Posters

6. Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0CbN8sfihY
The trailer for the last Jedi features a number of bunched up clips from the film that are placed in random order as to
not give too much of the film away, it begins with audio dialogue from Snoke along side a number of different shots
which ends with synced match between the end of his dialogue and Rey opening her light sabre. This starts to entice
the audience by showcasing one of the franchise most recognizable symbols, the light sabre. This heightens the level
of excitement then the famous Lucas Film logo is shown to further entice the audience. This marks the beginning of
the notable music score, a variation of the classic star wars melody is played, as Rey meets with Luke for the first time,
the helps to portray where the story will lead after the end of the last film, this goes over the top of dialogue from Rey
as she talks about her feeling of the force and how she needs help to control it, an event that the fans have been
anticipating since the first installment of the new saga came out. After this scenes of Rey training are shown to further
increase the excitement level of the audiences while also informing the audience more on the narrative of the film.
Through out the entirety of the trailer nothing is fully disclosed about the narrative of the film, only the basis is given
along side key action scenes such as the battle between Fin and the Silver Stormtrooper, just by hinting a glimpse of
these two characters battling it out creates more of an excitement as the audience can look forward to seeing the
entirety. There are also a number of short clips used that may suggest a key narrative plot that may happen however it
cuts just before we can see, this is done to only further the audiences attraction to the film, allowing them to make
their own judgment on what they think may happen. For example there is a segment used that shows Ren possibly
killing his mother Leia, his finger lingers over the trigger but the camera cuts just before we can see what happens, this
helps to entice audiences as it leaves them excited and tense while also making them questioning the scene and
coming up with their own theories on the matter. The music plays an important role in this trailer, as Star Wars has
such a recognizable soundtrack they have chosen to follow similar suits in this trailer by using a variation of the
original score. This helps to raise that level of nostalgia in the audiences, as they can relate to the track with memories
of their own, thus further helps their enjoyment of the trailer. I found that in the trailers released by Disney upon
release of this film do not feature any of the actors names or even the directors and this is because of Star Wars name,
because it is probably one of the most recognizable franchises to have ever been made the selling point is already
there, the fans know what to expect so there no need to try further sell their product by releasing the stars names as
well. The film its self is a Sci-fi Fantasy, this is also recognizable from the trailer, the tone of the film is set in the visual
aspects of the film, with space battles and other fantasy scenes being shown audiences will know what kind of genre
the film will be. The only text used over the footage is the release date at the near end of the trailer, ‘This Christmas’ is
shown, informing the audience on around when the film we be released into cinemas.

7. Three well constructed shots
used to perfectly hint a
possible huge plot point in the
films narrative, this also
relates to the Kuleshov effect
as the director has used three
calculated shots to describe a
situation without any
description. This short
segment creates so much
wonder and excitement within
the audiences, placing ideas
inside them while also keeping
them questioning and wanting
to know more.

8. Interview – Jimmy Kimmel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFBuCp19L7M
This interview is held by Jimmy Kimmel on his late night show, the interview features Daisy Ridley, Mark
Hamill, Adam Driver and the director Rian Johnson. As this is a late show the audience for it will be an
older range of ages, the Jimmy Kimmel shows has a fan following of around 40-59 year olds. The
language used by both the interviewer and the interviewees is more adult, with swear words and other
more mature language being used. The interview is a formal event, the cast are dressed in suits and
dresses, this is done to appeal to the older audience, making them appeal to the more professional side.
This interview has been used to appeal to the older Star Wars fans, due to the franchise being over 30
years old now the original fans will all be in their 40’s or older so this talk show has been used to format
the films interview for publicity and advertisement as they producers know that this talk show focuses its
content towards an older audiences of people. Due to the show being very popular in America then they
have chosen to let interview the highest ranking members of the film, such as Mark, Adam and Daisy. This
has been done to try draw the highest appeal and excitement within the audience. Mark Hamill is an
vastly known celebrity and the face of this film so he will have been chosen for this interview over
everyone as he will draw in the most attention being the most recognizable Star Wars character of all
time. The Jimmy Kimmel show is on at 11:35pm meaning that it is past watershed, thus targeting a much
older audience range as most of the younger audiences will be in bed and have gone to sleep, the time of
the show sets the kind of audience it will appeal to, the later the shows start time the older the range of
audience watching will be. So by targeting this show as a way to promote the film they target the older
age range with their content. The topics discussed and questions asked mainly all relate to the film at
hand, some questions asked are aimed at Mark Hamill and what the set of the originals was like which
again appeals to the hard-core original fans, asking him questions about when he first heard about Vader
being his father and so on and so on. However the main of the discussions is on the upcoming film, a
range of different questions are asked to each member individually about their experiences being apart
of the film as well as their opinions on the films and more. This has been done to allow each character to
have their input, as each cast member will have their own individual fan base and following then they are
given their own moments on camera to talk and appeal to said fans.

9. Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy for the use of trailers for this film is all to do with
anticipation, building huge anticipation for the film early on then doing
nothing for a short time and coming back again with another trailer to urge
that excitement in the fans even more. They do this very effectively with the
chose of release dates with trailers and teasers, firstly a teaser trailer is
released, a short segment that may only last up to 30 seconds that gives a
brief glimpse of the film giving away very little detail and information early
on. This spikes excitement within the fans, building up their anticipation early
on. A full length trailer will then be released a few months after, again
increasing the levels of excitement while giving away more information about
the film, informing the fans more creates more excitement as it leaves them
questioning the narrative and coming up with their own theories. Another
version of the trailer was released again much closer to the release date to
again do the same process of raising the levels of excitement. As Disney own
the right to the Star Wars franchise they hold all the rights to market the
product and as Disney is one of the largest conglomerates at the moment it
means they have endless links to further publicise their products, this could
be from adverts on TV to cereal box advertisement.