Shutter Island Film Poster Analysis

Shutter Island Film Poster Analysis (Psychological Thriller 2010 directed by Martin Scorsese)

‘Shutter Island’ font

The title is in big block, upper case letters. It represents that it is for a more masculine target audience, to portray the dominance. The word ‘Shutter’ has a horizontal drop shadow effect on each letter, which gives it a more eerie feeling. Red is used on the title, this is a thriller and therefore the use of the bold Red is to keep a constant alert vibe in their heads, as bright colours are more visual to the human mind. In addition, the film is a psychological thriller, so the more use of visual aids and messages on the poster the more effective the film is going to be promoted.

‘October’

The word ‘October’ is kept in the same font but in a smaller size. It is also in upper case. The location of the word on the page is convenient in its own way, as it is again in red which alarms the visual part of the brain to people, as it is bold and bright, it leaves a lasting impression on the target audience, and they acknowledge the date on their conscious mind, and it is placed in the middle under all the other companies’ names. However, it can be less significant, because it is placed at the bottom of the page. This makes it eye-catching for the audience, as they would get the feeling that they must go and see this film. The layout and style is kept the same, and so this would indicate that the whole film is giving the Target Audience what they expected, by keeping all of the conventions that make a horror/thriller film effective and the same. Thus satisfying the needs of the Target Audience.

‘Leonardo DiCaprio font’

The name of the actor/actress is normally placed at the top of the page, but here it has instead been placed on top of the title. One advantage of using a famous actor/actress’s name as the main strap line, it attracts the film’s target audience in and other new viewers who may not watch horror films as such, but would be drawn to the famous name that is going to star in it. His name is placed on top of the title of the film ‘Shutter Island’. I think this has been placed there for a reason, taking into account the font is in white, and ‘Shutter Island’ is in red. This is to show purity on Leonardo DiCaprio and to indicate to the audience that he is the good guy, and not the killer. Therefore, portraying ‘Shutter Island’ in red gives us as the target audience, an incentive of blood death, gore and thrills etc. It is visually presenting us an evil place where all bad things happen, warning the audience that he may be putting his life in serious danger.

Image of Shutter Island

The first feeling we as the audience get from the image of ‘Shutter Island’ is a very cold, chilling and creepy atmosphere. This is shown by portraying the building as black with square block lights, as if no one has used it  and it has been forbidden to go (for a specific reason) with grey rocks and cliffs. The fact that the movie is called ‘Shutter Island’ and the sub genre of the film is a psychological thriller, the first instant response we as the audience would get, is that the building is a mental institution. The lighthouse in the image represents the idea of being under surveillance. The light in the tower (as it goes round circulating the island) is quite sinister as is someone is watching you. The theme of isolation could also be related as someone might still being living in the tower alone, but they are not supposed to be there. The sea around the island looks very depressing and grotesque looking and rough and dangerous too. Furthermore, this is shown by the colour of the water, being a very murky grey and blue. However, this fits the conventions of horror/thriller film posters as being terrifying. In contrast, if the sea was bright blue it would not satisfy the audience because of the lack of realism and genuine thrills, thus not meeting the code and conventions of horror/thriller film posters.

Image of Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio’s face on the film poster is a big close up shot, which dominates the top half of the page. The portrayal of his face is shadowed within the night sky. You can catch a glimpse of his fingers holding a match. This gives us an early insight into what the film could be about, that there are deep dark secrets waiting to seek the tunnel at the end and come out in the open, and that he is searching for the truth. From the tagline ‘someone is missing’ (small font, lower case, shows isolation, helplessness and hopelessness. A sense of rejection as the person who is missing may not be evil, but instead confused) it states it clear to the audience that someone is missing on the Island and from Leonardo’s facial expressions and gestures it is up to him as he has been allocated the task to find the person. There is the use of irony as he showing that he is searching within darkness (from the portrayal of the match) and the location of where ‘Shutter Island’ is, is cut off, isolated and dark. His facial expressions show that he is determined from his eyes, yet you can sense some natural feeling of terror, as he is looking away from the camera. The flame that DiCaprio is holding is showing to be the only source of light on the poster that passes over ‘Shutter Island’, there is no natural source. In addition, this shows the fight between man and nature and that man does have more dominance, power and authority.

The institutions/companies that helped make the film and the date of when the film is going to be released in cinema is kept in the common place that it is located which is at the bottom of the page. It is the last page the target audience’s eyes goes to, so they would be left with the lingering memory of when the film is released.