The purpose of a movie poster is to create intrigue in
the audience and encourage people to see it. True, most romantic comedies
follow the story line of, “Boy and Girl meet, shenanigans ensue, and in the
end, the couple live happily ever after.” This being said, each love story has
its own defining uniqueness that makes it different, and the movie posters successfully
depict this, making each movie special. No two movies are the exact same. While You Were Sleeping’ train, The Wedding Planner’s dreamy, far off
look, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’
rivalry, A Lot like Love’s silliness,
and The Wedding Date’s romanticism
all create the own individuality. I will be analyzing 5 different romantic
comedy movie posters in hopes to help show how the individuality behind each movie
is what makes it worth seeing.
The five posters I will analyze are for the following
movies:
·
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
·
The Wedding Planner (2001)
·
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
·
A Lot like Love (2005)
·
The Wedding Date (2005)
All
of these movies follow the general formula I have previously stated, but, each
of them have different shades of coloring, word placement, positioning of
couples, and capsulate different emotional reactions from the audience. I will
analyze all of these aspects for each of the posters. After evaluating these
things, The Wedding Date poster is
the best at involving all of the features needed to draw an audience’s attention.
About
each of the movies
The While You Were Sleeping poster has the movie title placed
towards the bottom, underneath the couple. The title is easy to read and is large
enough to draw in the attention of the audience. The actor’s names are written
in black and are located in the top corners of the poster. Sandra Bullock, the
female lead, name is shown on a bright white background which makes it very
easy to see and read, whereas Bill Pullman’s name is not nearly as easy to see.
This aspect helps to conclude that the female actress, the main character of
the movie, is in the center of the story being told. Even with the words, the couple
is what the audience is immediately drawn to because the words outline the
picture. They white glow surrounds them and makes the image of the couple look
clear and visible. The placement of the female lead’s feet draw in the fact that
a train is coming toward the audience, which creates a sense of intrigue in to
why the creator put a train on the movie poster. The train brings in a sense
uniqueness to the poster that implies that a train station is of importance to
the plot of the movie.. The couple’s positioning shows the man looking lovingly
upon the woman. The woman is looking toward the viewers, which strengthens the
implication that she is a vital character of the story. This is important
because it is as if we are making direct eye contact with her. This helps to
create a connection with that character before you even see the movie.
The visual of the woman smiling and the man lifting her
up into the air creates a true sense of happiness between the pair. This use of
pathos attracts an audience and due to the emotional appeal of the happy
couple, the audience senses and feels that joy. As I have said before, Sandra
Bullock’s name is visually easier to read than her male counterpart. The
designers of the poster knew what they doing when they did this. Sandra
Bullock, at this time, was a girl next door figure who “normal” women could
relate too. Women are going to want to see a romantic movie where they can put
themselves in the plot and feel as if that love story could happen to them. An
actress like Bullock helps to create this belief in women. This being said, the
type of audience this movie poster would attract is young women who love to be
in love, or at least the idea of it.
The Wedding Planner poster
does the worst job at drawing in an audience and creating a sense of intrigue
for the movie. It shows the title written across the couples bodies in black
ink on a white banner. It seems misplaced and actually covers the picture,
going right through the female lead’s body, for no necessary reason. The
actor’s names are written in the top, left corner. The font is small, and the light pink and
white roses in the background distract from the names and come across as too
much. As for the visual, the couple themselves seem to be disconnected. Her
positioning seems stiff and her placement, in front of him instead of with or
next to him, makes the audience see the couple as not much of a couple at all.
Jennifer
Lopez, the female lead, is wearing a dreamy expression and her eyes are looking
upwards. This gives of the feeling that she daydreams about Matthew McConaughey
because his face placed above her. This is a distinct quality to this movie
poster alone. It shows that, in the plot, the male lead may not be available
and in that, the reason for her daydreaming is explained. This use of emotion
will draw in an audience of dreamers and romanticists. Despite this successful
attempt at drawing in an audience, the text and visuals don’t work together to
spark any reaction. Nothing on the poster directly correlates with the
“Wedding” aspect of the title and the wording is hard to read because of the
busy background.
The How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days poster
has the couple leaning their backs against each other. The title, seen between
their legs, does a great job at drawing in attention. Specifically, the angling
of their legs does a good job at bringing the viewer’s attention to the title. The
long title creates the need to stack the words on top of each other in order to
condense it, while still making it legible. The words, “How” and “Guy” are red
and the rest of the title is green. This emphasized the fact that the movie
centers on a question involving a male character which is presumably asked by
the woman. The actor’s names are on the top left and right. They are placed
above the person whom possesses the name which creates a clear sense of who is
who. The actor’s expressions and body language imply that there is some
trickery and deceit going on. The female lead has blond hair and a yellow dress
and the male lead has brown hair and a dark black suit. This does a great job
at contrasting the characters. This interaction between the two characters
creates a distinctive feel of trickery and deceit. It provides the audience
with the idea that the couple may not begin their relationship with the
greatest of intentions. The background is blurred out and consists of far off
trees and buildings. The blurred aspect of the image helps to emphasize the
couple. In the end, this poster would entice an audience that enjoys sneaky,
witty, and conniving characters who learn that love beats all.
The A
Lot like Love movie poster has a very noticeable placement, font, and color
for the title. The title, placed towards the bottom of the poster and centered
is the best part of the poster. The font is thick and makes is effortless to
read. The letter “a” is red, the word, “lot” is gold, the word, “like” is blue,
and the word, “love” is the only capitalized word in white. The multi coloring
and font size and boldness is very effective at drawing attention to the title.
The actor’s names are located at top. Far left and right, and are in white ink.
They are noticeable due to the pictures in the center of the poster being black
and white. The pictures of the couple are in the form of photo booth pictures.
There are four small images instead of one large image. The pictures, themselves,
are goofy and fun. They are making faces and interacting with each other by
kissing and laughing. The pictures don’t seem posed. I think this creates a
sense of uniqueness, in contrast to the staged pictures in the previous posters
we’ve looked at. The creativity of the visual and the text work together to
form a “fun-loving” feeling in the members’ of the audience. The chemistry
between the couple, evident to the audience, and the goofiness of the pictures
emphasize the “comedy” aspect of the “romantic comedy’ style movie. The stress
of the “comedy” sets this movie poster apart from the other ones.
The
Wedding Date poster has two clear and separate parts.
The lower half is of a white table cloth draped over a table. The title, written
in the lower left corner of the table, is in a thin, green font. The green
color on the bright white table cloth is very easily seen. The actor’s names
are written above the title in black. The separation between the words and the
people works well because it brings your attention to both aspects of the
poster, distinctly. The title of The
Wedding Date is emphasized through the picture. The couple dresses up, with
the man wearing a traditional tuxedo and the woman wearing a black dress. This
shows that she is most likely not the bride. Wedding receptions traditionally have
tables set with wine and flowers. So, the fact that both of these objects are
present in the photo help to emphasize that the couple are at a wedding The
background of the picture consists of waiters with their heads cut off at the
top of poster, and guests at the wedding are also cut off. This all helps to highlight the couple, in the
front, as the main characters in the movie. Also, the title emphasizes the
word, “Date” by making it much bigger than the rest of the title. The date
aspect of the title connects to the romanticism of the couple. The type pf audience
drawn to this movie would once again be romantics who find wedding to be joyous
occasions. This poster is the best at drawing in an audience because of the
little things, such as the elegant outfits, the pureness of the white cloth,
and the blurred out background character work together to create a movie poster
that produces a true feeling of love.
The appeal of pathos is seen through the happiness
displayed by the couple. The romantic chemistry, shown through their body
language, as they are seen sitting next to each other is romantic and loving.
Their facial expressions are seen as joyful, with the female lead laughing and
the male lead smiling. Like the movie poster for While You Were Sleeping, this poster generates a positive, happy
reaction from the audience. Although this audience can immediately feel the
undeniable presence of love, whereas the While
You Were Sleeping audience can mistake view their characters interaction as
simply goofy and fun. But, the difference comes from the romantic atmosphere
that the designer was able to convey in the visual and the text.
In
conclusion, although a romantic comedy gives off generally the same vibe as
another romantic comedy, each different movie includes their own specific
aspects that make it different and worth watching. While You Were Sleeping had the unique image of a train and train
station. The Wedding Planner spoke to
dreamers through Jennifer Lopez’s dreamy far off look. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days visual creates a sense of deceit and rivalry between the movie’s couple. The Wedding Date highlights the romanticism
of the movie through the couples well shown chemistry, and A Lot like Love displays the comedy part of the movie through the
goofiness the couple expresses.
After
analyzing each of the posters, I have come to support my claim that each of the
movies have a specific quality that is unique to them. The visual and the text,
along with the pathos, logos, and ethos expressed through each poster helped to
back my claim. I hope these analyses encourage people to not be so quick to
cast a romantic comedy aside as being, “just like the other ones.” The only
poster that I think captures the comedic essence of these movies is A Lot like Love. But, as a whole, each
movie poster create a sense of romanticism, some more that others, buts its’
there nonetheless. Love is the most important thing.
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