Skyfall Movie Poster Analysis

As part of my A level media course we also have to look at movie posters and analyse them. Some of the movie posters we have analysed have been for James Bond films, looking at both the new release, Skyfall, and an older movie of our choice. Below are the annotated movie posters.

Here is my comparison of both...

The first thing we see when we look at the film poster for ‘Goldfinger’ is the title of the film. We are drawn to this as it is written in block capitals in a serif font. It is also striking as the text is white on a black background, which makes it stand out. It is also interesting to note that the title of the film is slightly off centre. This poster is the main movie poster, but it could also be partly a character poster. The film also has a tagline that reads “James Bond is back in action.” This tagline suggests that the film is packed with action, which we would expect from any Bond movie, and that he is back fighting. This film poster also makes use of a billing/credit block which gives us such information as the names of the producers and the company producing the film. The names of the actors in the film are also in block capitals, with the name of Sean Connery being in the same yellow as the iconic 007 image, showing that he is the main character of the film. The names of these big actors and actresses are used to help market the film, as many fans of these actors would watch this movie. There are also the names of some of the characters on the poster, which would be used to build hype and suspense for the film. ‘Technicolour’ is also provided in yellow text, which is striking to the eye. This suggests that colour film was still quite new at the time, which would also be used as another marketing tool.

As with ‘Goldfinger’, the ‘Skyfall’ title is also in block capitals. The text is a faded white on a black background, adding emphasis, which draws our attention towards it. This time however, the text is sans-serif, near the bottom of the poster, which gives it a more serious tone. Unlike ‘Goldfinger’, this film poster is a teaser poster, as it gives no clue regarding the narrative. The bottom of the poster, which contains the billing/credit block is hardly legible. This shows us that the Bond franchise is so iconic that the movie can sell itself. Black and grey is mostly used for this poster, showing its seriousness. The poster also has no mention of who the actor on it is, as most people would recognise who Daniel Craig is, as he is an A list celebrity. There is also a logo for ‘IMAX’, which shows that ‘Skyfall’ is a high budget film.

The movie poster for ‘Goldfinger’ contains a girl completely covered in gold which is part of the enigma of the poster. We ask ourselves who she is, why is she covered in gold, and what is so significant about her. We could also view this image as sexual, as she is wearing little clothing. As well as this enigma, there is also another image on the film poster which is blended in on the gold girl’s body. The blending of this image might suggest that perhaps the two images are related. The next image is of Bond and a woman. From this image we can see that Bond is a confident character, who is reassuring, as he has his arm placed on the girls back. Bonds clothing is the typical Bond attire, showing his confidence and power. The girl looks frightened as she is holding on to Bond. There is also another enigma in this photo, as we question who this girl is, and what she means to Bond. (We may even think perhaps she is another Bond girl.)

The ‘Skyfall’ movie denotes a picture of the main character, Daniel Craig, in the iconic gun barrel sequence (A USP). This sequence connotes that perhaps he is following a dangerous path on his journey. This sequence could also be used as a representation of death. The body language and positioning of Daniel Craig on the movie poster suggests that the film has a very serious tone to it, and that he is full of confidence and up for a fight also. His clothing is also that of the typical James Bond attire, like in the ‘Goldfinger’ poster. Daniel Craig is wearing a suit, which shows his power, importance and confidence. Within the gun barrel sequence, there also appears to be waves, perhaps showing a setting of part of the film. The enigma for this movie poster is that it gives nothing away regarding the plot, so we don’t know what the movie will be about.

The target audience for both films would be fans of action movies, or fans of the actors or actresses in them. Another target audience for ‘Skyfall’ would be old James Bond fans who have followed the franchise. Both movie posters contain the iconic 007 logo, which is a unique selling point of the franchise. As well as this, both movie posters were produced using DTP. However, the ‘Skyfall’ movie poster is portrait, where as the ‘Goldfinger’ portrait is landscape.