Mise-un-scene film poster

Thor (2011)

The first thing you notice when you look at this intriguing poster, is what is highly likely going to be the main character of the film (using a long shot including his whole costume). You can see this because he is standing in the middle separate to the other characters above. He is also wearing a very dark costume. This may confuse the audience, do to stereotypically the bad/evil character is normally dressed in black/dark Armor. However, the red cape that he is wearing, also gives off a hero/soldier like vibe. His long hair fits in with gender countertypes as women are stereotypically the gender with long hair. This idea of the audience not knowing if he is good or bad is a very enticing concept. The character’s facial expressions suggest dominants and fear towards the audience. The exploding material in the background shows an element of pure power and strength, as it looks as if he has just landed from a massive hight with a ton of force. The hammer/mallet he is holding may have caused this explosion. This maybe the case because, it is placed in the middle of the picture and shows to be important. It also looks like a very heavy object to be carrying around, so this may also show that he is a very strong character physically and maybe mentally.

The film’s title (Thor) has been placed right underneath the character, giving the idea that the main character may be called Thor. In German mythology Thor is a god, who holds a hammer, that controls storms/thunder and lightning. The font of the title shows a grand and powerful theme with a chrome metal finish to it. Just above the title you can see the name of producers of the film (marvel studios). Marvel studios is a very well-known comic book/superhero film studio, this will make all of the fans of the comics and past film very interested in the film. It is located right in the middle of the glow being admitted from the hammer. Below the title you can see a phrase ‘courage is immortal’ this may relate to the main character and suggest he has courage, and he is immortal. All of these facts put together, suggests he might actually be Thor the Greek god, or someone that relates very close to the god itself.

At the top of the poster, it says ‘from the studio that brought you “iron man”. As iron man is a superhero, this suggest that our main character maybe a superhero too (also relating to that fact he maybe ‘Thor’). Also, as iron man being such an iconic and well produced film, this message will create a very high expectation for the film ‘Thor’. In doing so, it will bring in a bigger audience for its big release, due to the people expecting greatness.

At the bottom of the poster, you have the credits and also a sentence to show that the film is available in 3D and 2D (various forms of watching a film), it also says it is in the IMAX, which means that it is a massive film that is intended to have millions of viewers.

Gender has been used stereotypically, as the main character in the middle of the shot, has been shown as a strong, powering human being, as a male.

The characters in the background, especially the man on the far right at the top of the poster, show the audience that the film will have an element of Si-Fi. This is suggested due to their costumes being futuristic and with shiny/glossy metal parts to them, which is a common style of costume for Si-Fi films. Another point towards the characters at the top of the poster is that they are all separated by a lighting looking borders. Each of these characters all have some sort of gold on them e.g., eye patch, helmet. This suggests that they may be in the same organisation or alliance, and the gold clothing is what unities them.

I reckon the film would be aimed for teens and young adults due to the being a theme of Si-Fi related elements but looking to be a bit more grown up as is all looks very serious and intimidating. This is down to all of the characters fascial expressions being very concentrated mainly on either you as the audience or even something else that we don’t know. This creates a very powerful message toward the audience.

Using all of these details we can guess to what might happen in the film. For example, it might tell you how Thor came to all of his weather summoning abilities and how he learnt how to use them. It might also include what troubles and problems he faces as he goes through his intriguing life or maybe even his ‘immortal’ life.