The martian poster analysis

1. Tagline
The Terminal Area
Direct
Mode of
Address
Formal Mode
of Address
Axisof
Orientation
WeakFallowArea

2. Axisof Orientation:
The axis of orientation on the poster draws our attention towards Matt Damon’s face. The facial
expressiononMatt isdifferenttothe firstposteranalysisIthinkthe director has told him to change
hisfacial expressionbecause thisposterisaimedatmore of a female audience. I think this because
he looks better looking in this one and looks more fragile and the colours used can be classed as
feminineandwarmcolours.The part that ishighlightedasthe axis of orientation is slightly faded at
the bottom of the face this makes me think that the film is also abit of a drama as well as a science
fictionfilm. I think the producer has also done this because drama is a genre that is predominantly
aimed at females.
Mode of Address:
The modesof addressforthe posterabove are;formal and direct. The poster is direct because Matt
Damon is looking directly towards the camera; as a result of using a direct mode of address the
producer wants the audience to create a connection with the main character. When the audience
looks at the main characters face it makes us question why he looks so upset and it makes the
audience curioustowhathappensonmars to make himbe put in a fragile state of mind. So already
the posteris makingthe audience sortof worryaboutwhat the main character is being put through.
Thisis anotherreasonwhyI thinkthe filmposteris aimed at females because if he looked stronger
and lessemotionalthenitwouldn’t really appeal to women and it would appeal to more men than
this poster has done.
The poster is formal because of the font that has been used. By using a more serious font the
producerisgivingintothe conventionsof aScience-Fictionposter,whenadvertisingascience-fiction
film the producers tend to use a more serious font because in a weird and unconventional sort of
way they try to challenge what is considered the “norm” in society or they try to address quite
serious topics but they do it whilst providing entertainment to the viewer.
Tagline:
The tagline forthe movie poster is “HELP IS ONLY 140 MILES AWAY”. The tagline gives the audience
a clue that the main character is stuck somewhere that isn’t on earth, another clue that the tagline
gives the audience is that something is going to help him. By having “HELP IS ONLY 140 MILES
AWAY” as the tagline it raises some questions within the audience such as weather the main
character gets help or weather something goes terribly wrong. This meets the need of the target
audience because whenyougoto see a filmyouwantto have questions so you feel invested in the
film, otherwise it would just be boring.
Target Audience:
I think the target audience for this poster is more of a female audience because the producer has
made the main character look more vulnerable and in some sort of way made him look better
looking. This could appeal to a female audience because if you think the main character is good
looking then you will go see the film. Another part of the poster that could appeal to more of a
female audience isthe coloursthathave beenincludedinthe poster. Oranges and Yellows could be
seen as more feminine colour than masculine colours.