The film "About a Boy" is previously a novel by Nick Hornby and is sort of a "coming of age" film as it follows both a young boy Marcus and a bachelor Will. They don't know each other but meet by chance, and Marcus who is having trouble at home with a suicidal mother and bullying at school, takes a liking to Will and invites himself round his house every now and then. They both help each other through situations and teach each other different sorts of things as their characters are nearly opposites. The target audience would be people who knew the book, and also it is a feel good film, perhaps aimed at adults and onwards, mostly women but in some aspects men as it is from a male point of view.
The main feature of this poster is shared between the eye catching photograph and the bold title. The picture shows half of both of the two stars faces, and the boy is looking up at the man, which could suggest that he looks up to the sort of person he is, this links into the story line as Marcus does idolise Will in the film. The title is red, which could imply some sort of danger about the boy, perhaps not physical danger, but a danger of upsetting a current life style. The large picture of Hugh Grant is also part of targeting the women audience as many find him attractive, and he often plays the part of an awkward man who women seem to fall in love with. The boy with him also suggests that he has a son and the title just using the noun "boy" could imply that there is a certain detachment between them. This creates a mystery of the plot, thus making the audience want to see the film because there is not a clear plot give away from this poster as we don't know if they are father and son; there is also the question of exactly what about the boy?
Under Hugh Grant's name on the poster, there is also the name of some other noted actors/actresses which tells the audience who else is in the film, which would encourage people to go and see the film if they like those particular actors. Similar to this is at the top of the poster is the names of other films produced by the same production team. This gives the audience an idea of what sort of film it is going to be which whilst it can attract an audience, equally, it could steer some audiences away as they know that they don't like these sorts of films.
The poster also boasts a quote of "the best British movie of the year" which could persuade audiences to want to see it as if something is meant to be good, more people are likely to see it if it has good reviews. The age rating on the front of this also could change the audience because as it is a 12A people will know that it's not going to have loads of violence, sex or swearing in it. The age rating may give people the wrong idea as well because the plot is quite an adult idea, so maybe not all younger people would understand the deeper message within the film, and on the other hand, people may think that the film is going to be too childish and don't go to see it.
Clear analysis of the poster's choices and the audience it could hook. Consider the idea that the film suggests: that Hugh Grant's character is more the boy than the boy. Marcus deals with very adult issues where as Will is feckless, selfish, unemployed and selfish - more a boy! Perhaps that is why we see half of each of them - who is the boy?
ReplyDeleteMrs H