Film Poster Research - Elizabeth

Personally annotated version of the film poster

MISE EN SCENE

This film is clearly very heavily influenced by the theme of power, the colouring  choices clearly show this. Red is a colour commonly associated with the royal family, linking to the film which is about Queen Elizabeth, other connotations of red are blood and danger this could also link to what comes with power. Her costume in the picture is typicl of the period and her status as Queen, it is very formal and the orangey gold colour really stands out to the audience and pops against the deep red background. The writing in the background is very interesting, the lowest word comes to her shoulder height and the rest are level or above her head, this suggests that maybe these words such as: 'Murder.' 'assassin'  or 'prisoner' may be all inside her head as thoughts or memories of what people have said about her, this could link to what is to come in the film.  

REPRESENTATION

This film has many representations to it from the poster alone. Power as mentioned in mise en scene is a big theme portrayed through the use of colour, the deep red background has many connotations including danger, wealth, blood and royal nature, this also links with another point of representation, Male vs Female. This film was set in the 16th century which was a very male dominated era with virtually no rights for women so it would have been incredibly tough for her to succeed in such a important position. In the poster she is the only character shown and the image of her takes up the majority of the page, it is also central, this all implies that it was all about her and she has the most power and is in command. 

Ethnicity is also a theme, on the poster although their is only one character she is white british which is very reminiscent of the period as there was a divide between white and black people back then.

AUDIENCE

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/elizabeth-1998

According to this website (BBFC) the age certificate for this film is 15. 

This is due to the film supposedly having gore, sexual content and moderate violence.

Therefore the producer must have set the target audience above the age of 15. However because of the vast historical content of the film i doubt that even at the time of release (1998) that many teenagers would have been interested in such a genre or film, therefore i would suggest the target audience to be from the age of 20 onwards. 

GENRE

The genre of the film is considered a Historical drama, there are a few clues in the poster which link to the genre of the film. Firstly it is very obvious that it is historically based because of the picture being Queen Elizabeth, her dress is very period and her face looks powdered and pale, common of that era. 

CONVENTIONS

• The title is big and central which stands out, it is also in a very smart, posh font which would link to the period in which the film is set. 
• Billing block at the bottom is a legal requirement 
• Actors and actresses names are shown at the top
• Slogan hints at the plot of the film