Film Poster Analysis 1 Fish Tank-Amie Nelms

Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold (2009)

Poster 1

Audience

• 15+-film certificate


• References/media quotes-ELLE magazine, older/up market/female audience;
  broadsheets eg. The Guardian, educate audience, middle class, suggest intelligence; specialised film magazines, Total Film suggests film literate.


• Festival awards-Film literate audience, impressive european 'Cannes' award suggest a must see film.


• "Jarvis and Fassbender"- film literate audience, know who they are, not common to other people, 'one up' on others

Genre

• Social Realism


• Realistic hair, make up and costume, casual


• Shows setting-ripped wallpaper, plain, simple, rough, grimey area, suggests flats

Representation

• Image on right hand side reveals mise en scene


• Body language, facial expression-not smiling, looking out of window, preoccupied, thinking, in world of her own, watching world go by?


• Costume-black t shirt, colour suggests unhappiness, blandness or life, not sexualised; gold hoop earrings and necklace-cheap style; straight hair and make up-eye liner, 'chav' stereotype.


• Young female trapped?

Narrative

• Setting-Pink graffiti, feminin, heart drawn on wall, girl


• Female character-sad, isolated, uncomfortable


• Title 'Fish Tank'-metaphor, you can see outside and people can see in; about coming out of safe environment/comfort zone.
  

Other

• "Powerful and Poignant"-alliteration, grabs attention, suggest strong


• "Live, love and give as good as you get"-tagline, alliteration, reflects personality of lead female character: strong, assertive, tryer.
  

In comparision...

Poster 2

• Image is more airbrushed-makes image more false looking/fake, not in keeping with social realism genre-simple, realistic (as is first poster)
• Setting, get more idea in this poster-Urban flats-could suggest she's leaving the 'fish tank'
• Colours saturated, however still brighter than the first poster, again more false looking
• Clothes-suggest more attitude to character-hoodie, hood up, 'cheap' jewellery, tracksuit bottoms, midriff showing-more sexualised?
• Lighting-dark, more attitude as half of her face is in darkness
• Camera angle-low angle shot-'hard', powerful but also vunerable against urban setting
  

Amie Nelms