Poster Analysis (Back to the Future)

The connotations of the title, ‘Back to the Future’ shows that time travel could be a theme present in the film. Also the title is contradictory because ‘back’ is usually is associated with the past which is the opposite of the ‘future’, so it could suggest that there is journeys made to the past and future in the film. The font of the title is suitable for this film because it looks like it is in motion due to the warm colour gradient which is similar to time travelling.

There are 3 taglines: "He was never in time for his classes" "He wasn't in time for his dinner" "Then one day... he wasn't in his time at all." All of these different taglines have a similar theme of time running through them and communicate the genre conventions of science-fiction. The last tagline suggests that he has time travelled somewhere in the past or future.

Since there is only one character on the poster it suggests that he is most likely to be the protagonist in the actual film. His body language shows that he is on the move and his facial expression reveals panic and shock as he looks at his watch suggesting again that time may be important in the film. This again is typical of the science-fiction genre because it is expressing a reaction to the unbelievable things that occur in sci-fi films as well. The representation of gender is typical because he is the main character and looks like he is active and out on a mission. These are usually the roles that are assigned to males.

The target audience is most likely to be 14-25 year olds because the character on the poster looks like he may be a teenager. Also it could connect to males more because the character is male. Also the top of the poster is in cold colours like dark blue which is usually associated with boys. This displays the genre because it symbolises the night and mystery. As you move down the poster has warm colour such as orange and red symbolising danger. Science is said to be dominated by males so the choices in the poster could reflect this.

The genre is communicated through mise-en-scene as it shows a DeLorean next to trails of fire. This also acts as the USP because it attracts the target audience and convinces them to watch the film. In addition to this, the watch Marty is looking at communicates the time-travel sub-genre in the science-fiction genre. The use of this convention makes the audience know that it is a film of this genre and they are comfortable when going to watch the film because they are familiar with the content and therefore avoid potential disappointment.

Steven Spielberg’s name on the poster could be seen as a USP because he is well known in the film world especially for films in this genre. This attracts fans of him and his work. The same goes for the director (Robert Zemekis) as well.

The written communication in the form of a billing block is one of the conventions of a film poster used to inform the target audience who is involved in the making of the film. There is also an age certification [PG] which clarifies who can watch the film.