Hot Fuzz Poster Semiotic Analysis

Hot Fuzz is a popular 2007 British comedy movie starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as 2 Police officers who make a giant discovery within the small village of Sandford which is controlled by the local Inspector (Jim Broadbent). The movie is the second in the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy. The vanilla Cornetto representing the Police force and in Sean of the Dead the Strawberry flavour representing the bloodshed and zombies. Written by Simon Pegg along with Edgar Wright it was distributed by Universal Pictures and recieved wide acclaim.

The colour scheme for the poster is; Blue, Black and White. The black and white are juxtopostion with the white denoting innocene and purity and black being mysterious and death. The use of these colours not only fits in with the colours of the Police uniforms worn but it also forshadows the events of the movie. In the film the Police are supposed to be good, clean and upholding the law but the entire way through there is an air of mystery surrounding the Police force and their lack of co-operation. Blue can often denotes calmness, something that the Police force are supposed to help create in a community. However Hot Fuzz is not calm, and it is the Police force that use a lot of violence.

The font used on the text is all written in capital letters, a way to attract the audience and help promote the movie. With both Pegg and Frost being popular actors in the Uk their names help to promote the movie. The text along the top goes against the colour used. With white being used you expect it top be innocent text but it actually mentions the violence of the movie. Hot Fuzz appears to be written in letters used on Police badges and uniforms, this helps to show the audience is a movie about the Police force. The middle of the O also includes the Sandford Police logo.

The clothes worn by the characters is standard Police uniform but the guns held in Simon Pegg's hands are not usual to be seen for the UK Police force. This is a way of showing hte audience that this movie is going to be different, maybe try and show the UK Police as being something more than many percieve. The bullet vest and sunglasses make Pegg's character seem emotionless, cool, calm and ready for action. He is looking to the ground which is a great way of showing power and eliminating emotion from this image. Both characters look very serious and as this isn't normal it can easily intrigue the audience into wanting to see this film.

Milk Poster Semiotic Analysis

Milk is a 2008 American film which portrays the life of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to the public office in the state of California. This film was produced by Momentum Pictures and Sean Penn's staring role in this biographical movie won him an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Harvey Milk. Though being nominated for 8 Academy awards it only won 2, the other being for Best Original Screenplay.

This poster uses 3 main colours; Grey, Blue and Brown. These colours all compliment each other for none of them are too contrasting. The colours work well for this poster as they denote Sean Penn's character to be smart, intelligent and serious. The movie is about the rise of Harvey Milk's political career as a gay activist, so the character needs to be shown to be serious and this colour scheme does that well.

The fonts used in this poster are clear to see, all of the text is written in capital letters to attract the audience's attentions. The word Milk has a faded use of blue, with small pieces of white seeping through the letters. As the case of Harery Milk was very important at the actual time this could done to show Milk being a newspaper headline. Another reason could be that it is an old case so the letters are faded because this has been a long time.

The way that Sean Penn is dressed up is very serious and on the left of his waistcoat he has a blue badge that says, 'Harvery Milk'. This badge is like the badge someone campaigning for a political position would wear so it keeps in context with the political career of Milk. The smile of his face is there to show Milk as a happy candidate and to make the audience see that he is a likeable character.

Film Posters

A film poster is used to advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in s

ize and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s,illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on film posters usually contains the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include a tag line, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date, etc.

Film posters are displayed inside and on the outside of movie theaters, and elsewhere on the street or in shops. The same images appear in the film exhibitor's pressbook and may also be used on websites, DVD (and historically VHS) packaging, flyers, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, etc.

Film posters have been used since the earliest public exhibitions of film. They began as outs

ide placards listing the programme of (short) films to be shown inside the hall or movie

theater. By the early 1900s, they began to feature illustrations of a scene from each individual film or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Other movie posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film, represented in a wide variety of artistic styles.

Cinema Trip - Majestic King's Lynn (15/07/2011)

Before deciding what genre my trailer should be in I thought that going to my local cinema and looking at film posters would help me decide what to do.

Whilst I was there I interviewed 2 women who were 17 and 23 respectively. They told me their opinions of movie genres and what they like in a movie poster.

Cinema Interview 17 Year old by MiniManJamJam


Cinema Interview 23 Year old by MiniManJamJam

The films that were out at the cinema at the time I went were; Transformers Dark of the Moon,

Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Bridesmaids. Reviewing the interviews with the women the things they said meet conventions of film posters. Characters from the films are prominent on these posters. There is a sense of mystery with all of the posters apart from Bridesmaids. I think that when creating my poster I should think about what the women said and try to follows codes and conventions already in posters.

Momentum Pictures

Momentum Pictures is a relatively small film company in comparison to the like of Paramount Pictures. It was founded in London in the year 2000. On average it produces about 20 films a year.

Here are some of the more popular and successful films Momentum has produced.

• Defiance
• The King's Speech
• Milk
• The Young Victoria
• The Men Who Stare at Goats
• The Fighter
• Chalet Girls

Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures, sometimes shortened to Universal Studios is an American film institution and 1 of 6 major movie companies. It is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and was created in 1912, being younger than Paramount Pictures by a month. It is based in Universal City, Calafornia.

• The Railway Children
• Jaws
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• The Flintstones
• Jurassic Park
• Apollo 13
• Blues Brothers 2000
• Notting Hill
• American Pie
• Hannibal
• Bridget Jones' Diary
• Hot Fuzz
• Frost/Nixon

20th Century-Fox

20th Centrury-Fox is an American film comapny that started in 1935 after the merge between 20th Century Film and Fox Films.

Here are some of the movies that 20th Century-Fox has produced.

• The Fly
• Die Hard
• Home Alone
• X-Men
• Mr & Mrs. Smith
• The Simpsons Movie
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Avatar

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures is the oldest American film company, it was created in 1912 and is the only one of the big 6 still situated in Los Angeles, Hollywood.

Each year Paramount Pictures are credited as being one of the biggest grossing movie companies.

Some of the major movies that they have produced are;

• The Italian Job
• The Godfather
• Indian Jones Collection
• Forrest Gump
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
• Jackass: The Movie
• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
• Mean Girls
• Shutter Island
• Thor

Like many film companies Paramount Pictures co-produces many movies, Thor is an example of this. Thor is a co-production with Marvel Studios.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. is a subsidary of Time Warner, a large American company. Warner Bros. itself have a long list of subsidary companies, these make up the different parts of the company and each focus on different things.

The 4 Warner brothers were the original founders of this film company, now classed as one of the big 6 film institions.

Some of the films that Warner Bros. have produced are;

• A Streetcar Named Desire
• Pokemon: The First Movie
• Scooby-Doo
• Harry Potter movies
• I Am Legend
• Gran Torino
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Inception

Warner Bros. always includes their logo on the movies that it produces.

Film Institutions

In preparation for A2 I am looking at film institutions in order to gain an inside knowledge into how film companies produce their work and how important advertising forms, such as posters, really are.

There are going to be 4 main films companies that I will have a look at; 'Warner Bros.', 'Paramount', '20th Century-Fox' and 'Universal Studios'.

For a smaller film company I will be looking at 'Momentum Pictures', a British film instituion.