Orphan - Poster Analysis

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Media A2 Blog Research
katherine martin9800
Flashcards by katherine martin9800, updated more than 1 year ago
katherine martin9800
Created by katherine martin9800 about 9 years ago
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Image (Click Note to Flip for More Information) The character shown is Esther, the main character and the unforeseen antagonist. Straight the way connoting who the focus is in the movie as she is the Orphan. Allowing the audience to start developing questions about her - specifically as she doesn't portray innocence through the other conventions.
Esther is centre framed in a medium close up, filling the majority of the frame except for the spacing for the tagline at the top. So, this again draws the attention of the audience towards her, even more so considering she has an effect of a soft blur around the rest of the photo except her face. The audience learn her importance to the plot, which she dominates, almost immediately. The lighting and colouring conventions also help to establish her dominance. The focus of lighting is on her face, creating a shadow behind her. By creating a more dimensional image the focus is onto her. However, they do not over use the lighting to make it seem false, so the low edited dull lighting creates a sense of verisimilitude. By having the lighting from above her, the shadowing cased upon only the lower half of her face, specifically her eyes. Portraying a sense of another side of the story, that only she knows. Which is a massive theme within the film. Colouring creates similar effects. Two colours stand out the most, her dress coloured blue and the ribbon around her neck - which matches the red text. Additionally, the effect of the ribbon standing out adds to the future narrative that is revealed towards the end. (Self-inflected scars from trying to escape a straight jacket in the past). The rest of the colour pallet is quite dark and neutral colours of browns, greys and blacks, again making her stand out.
Colouring creates similar effects. Two colours stand out the most, her dress coloured blue and the ribbon around her neck - which matches the red text. Additionally, the effect of the ribbon standing out adds to the future narrative that is revealed towards the end. (Self-inflected scars from trying to escape a straight jacket in the past). The rest of the colour pallet is quite dark and neutral colours of browns, greys and blacks, again making her stand out. The background includes dark colours, which is a typical convention for thrillers and horrors, particularly if the film involves death or danger. For this specific narrative, the background colour of dark green may be referring to the dark envy the Orphan has in the film. Another convention that clearly stands out immediately to the audience is how she's staring straight into the camera. Leaving a lasting effect on the audience, seemingly quite harsh and intimidating. Thus, causing the audience to feel inferior to her yet want to know more about her and her character. (After the film was known to be successful, the actress was given recognition for the 'stare', being asked to do this in interviews).
Overall, without knowing about the clothing being a part of the plot twist at the end (she's actually over the age of thirty, but trapped in a younger girls body), she seems young, yet old fashioned - as if the photo isn't from the 21st century. The pig tails also add information about her ethnicity, which is Russian as well as demonstrating childhood. This does seem to develop a theme of innocence that is typically associated with children yet is juxtaposed with her stare, opposing the idea of innocence that her clothing and props form. Used to include visual clues to the film, making the audience question their meanings. Esther's facial expression is very noticeable. Mainly because she breaks the connotation of childhood and innocence through looking evil and stern. With her also looking at the audience and intimating them, the facial expression can also make them seem unsettled. The facial expressions are supported by the eye make-up, which is dark around her eyes and eyebrows, adding depth and darkness to her face.
Titles Compared to the other titles, the film name 'Orphan' has a different text style. Which looks as if a child had drew it, which complements the photo. Yet also builds onto the idea of manipulating the theme of innocence that is associated with children. For the audience, they understand why the text was made this way, to connote childhood yet it also stands out more for them due to the font change. The text isn't placed over the image too much, in fact the sizing of it hardly makes it stand out in that function. Yet its positioned as if a name tag or the orphan herself is insignificant.
The Taglines Compared to the other titles, the film name 'Orphan' has a different text style. Which looks as if a child had drew it, which complements the photo. Yet also builds onto the idea of manipulating the theme of innocence that is associated with children. For the audience, they understand why the text was made this way, to connote childhood yet it also stands out more for them due to the font change. The tagline has a type of authority behind it, as if a statement told by someone with power over Esther, deeming her worth. The text font being sans-serif creates power and need to be read, whilst simply standing out and the colours stands out against the dark background & the image. As if the statement is demanding urgency to be read - as if believed, the narrative would have been different. So, it adds a visual and informative clue. The meaning of the text itself will create confusion and intrigue the audience into finding out what it means. The second tag line, reading "Can you keep a secret?" is directing the audience, in a eerie way. As if they're being told to and have no choice, so they don't have a option to answer. Therefore creating a sense of authority for them. The second tagline is in red, connoting danger and pain yet also implies romance and lust - which is a theme within the film. The size is also smaller than the first tagline, suggesting a sense of secrecy directed from the girl. Also, its in almost the opposite place - creating a sense of dialogue.
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