Research: Film Posters, Romeo and Juliet

Case Study: Romeo and Juliet

The denotation of this film poster is that it contains around six still images from the film itself. It introduces different characters from the film and also different themes that will be present.
The connotations of this poster is that there will be a love story but with difficulties. This is through the binary opposition used in the pictures as it shows the happy side of the relationship compared to the reality of what does in fact happen. Each picture shows a different element of the film 'Hope & Despair', 'Tragedy & Love', we then see too characters who's names aren't shown but we are left to presume they are in fact Romeo and Juliet. By doing this it enables us as the audience to fill in the blanks and encourages us to watch the film to see if our ideas are correct.
We can see from the images chosen that it is a love story due to the two characters kissing and underneath the caption reads 'Love' the kiss is again very iconic to the romance genre as it shows the love they have for each other.
This poster shows very well the contrast of emotions that are involved in Romeo and Juliet. The font is very soft and the colour red is used to shows the element of love, however this could also represent blood to show the tragedy and death present in the film. Also at a glance the poster doesnt appear to show any signs of violence except the few pictures, however the way in which the names of the actors are displayed on the poster are in red writting on a dagger and this could represent the blood on the knife being the actors characters and this again shows the element of tragedy and death. We also see another dagger a the bottom of the poster and this could represent the ending of the film as being tragic and final, which in a way almost prepares the audience for the romantic tragedy.