Target audiences: young males who enjoy violence in film and alternate futures.
The Well Done
Movie: The Purge (part 3)
The reason why this advertisement works is because of its cast of characters and the overall impression that they invoke, coupled with the text which links to historical images that the characters represent.
The font is representative of democratic election paraphernalia such as buttons and posters supporting political candidates.
The characters are historical models famous for the patriotism they represent. America the great is the motto, the plot of this movie series is an ironic twist of celebrating terrorist actions one day a year in order to purge violence from the citizenry. Extreme violence for its own sake and as a system of control instead of a tool of revolution.
The laws of closure and similarity are in effect here, as the individuality of these characters is superseded by their group theme.
It all works because of the overall theme of ironic misappropriation of the iconography of the American democracy to celebrate a totalitarian ruled land. There is no democracy here.
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The Missed Mark
Movie: Elysium
This poster has a lot of good things going for it. The imagery is provocative, with the closeup of a man's back coupled with an alarming amount of technology spanning his spine and shoulders. While the posture of the man/machine is slightly asymmetrical, the framing of the imagery and text elements is center justified.
The font used for the word Elysium is a custom geometric looking one which presents a futuristic tone, with an outer glow which creates a readable contrast with the darker elements of the image.
The Law of Pragnanz is in play here, as our view of reality is reduced to a small viewpoint directly behind an unnamed figure. This perspective gives limited information and serves to fetishize the technology on display. We don't know what it is, but its positioning suggests a skeletal form.
Where this poster misses the mark is in a failure to narrate or introduce any hint of the characters/locations or plot points of the film. The poster relies on brand recognition of the actors' names and a reference to another movie over descriptive imagery. Great imagery that lacks a true purpose.
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