Hangover Poster Analysis

The main theme of the poster is the background, with the bright gold lights and the title looking like a sign you see in a casino, represent to the audience that this film is about three friends getting drunk and the highs of being drunk. The gold bright colours in the background attract the audience and make them feel like their looking at something from Las Vegas, which is represented with money, fun and gambling. The red and gold colours also represent the feeling of excitement and happiness, linking it back to Las Vegas. However, the clothes of the characters in the poster seem dull and dirty, suggesting the aftermath of the night before, hence the name, The Hangover. The poster shows the anti-climax and the consequences of what happened the night before and antics that occurred when the characters were drunk, this is due to the loss of a tooth from one of the characters and also the baby with the sunglasses also suggest that the trio found the baby and now returning him/her to the parents. This main image in the poster is photographically making it seem like that the antics that occurred with these characters could happen in real life.

The posters main messages are primarily visual, this suggests that the plot of the film tells the audience that we get to see what happened to the characters the night before. This gives the audience the sense of humour and makes them raise questions, making them want to know what happened the night before.

The tag line is in capital letters, attracting the audience, the tag line quotes “SOME GUYS JUST CANT HANDLE VEGAS”, this gives off the humorous image to the audience and links with the genre of comedy. This tag line also tells the audience where the movie is set, which is Las Vegas in Nevada, and this is because Vegas is a very popular place for comedy films as it is stereotypes with just having fun, getting drunk and spending all of your money and this is well established for this genre. Conventions, for example, the location, the wear and tear of the characters we see from the poster imply that the trio have comical personalities and are represented well in the poster.

The main and intended target audience of this film is likely to be the younger generation, 15-30 year olds, this is because this film is certificated a 15 and this is for the audience to relate to the characters experiences and mishaps that occurred and they can relate those mishaps to their own personal experience.

The feeling of escape from the real world is one of the promises that this poster addresses and this helps the audience have the ability to relate to the main characters of the movie. The attention of the target audience is through the use of humour in the appearance of the poster and the tag line we see on the poster uses its use of humour linking it to the genre.

There is also a sub tag line quoting “FEEL IT JUNE 5^TH”, this tag line tells us when the film is going to be released into cinemas and also it speaks to its target audience (15-30 year olds). Using the capital letters in the writing shows its importance in the poster, wanting the audience to go watch the film on that date.

The expressions that are shown on the characters faces show the typical stereotypes of the comedy genre films and this suggests the trouble that they have caused.

We can see on the poster that it does not include the characters names of the main actors, this could suggest that they are not the major selling point of the movie. However, these actors are very recognisable and can bring in a range of different target audiences.