The Terminal 2004

The text normally being the easiest source of information on a film poster instantly gives the audience three clues( in this poster), as to the film. Ethnicity, location and relationship.

Relationship I believe comes from the names of the two actors located on the bottom third of the film poster. Instantly we are told that there may be a connection of some sort between these two characters within the movie which may develop through the stages of the movie. Thus allowing the audience to build up an image to what could progress between them.

Choosing white as the colour of the information allows the text to stand out and be read with no difficulty. “Das Leben Wartet” is Russian and could be considered a giveaway on the film poster; it may not be the set location for most of the movie however it’s a clue to what could be involved in terms of language and setting. When read by the audience some may understand it straightaway however others may connote different ideas such as, the ethnicity of Tom Hanks(main caharacter), the country the movie may be set in or even a place in which a problem may occur.

The penultimate piece of textual information is the word “Terminal” as this is the biggest word on the poster we can infer straight away that this is the title of the movie. Interestingly we can also denote that the word actually means what it stands for because of the image of an aeroplane as the dot of the “i” the different sections of an airport are called terminals; this allows the audience to understand that aeroplanes/airports/terminals are a main idea of the movie. The use of the aeroplane as the dot of the "i" could be considered a semiotic. Smeiotics is the study of images and signs. It helps to take the images apart and study their deeper meanings.

Once again choosing white allows it to stand out and make sure that the message would not be missed, also the colour white in context of this movie, I believe has been used because white is one of the colours that makes up the Russian flag and from the short phrase on the poster we can connote that the country does have a role to play within the movie. Towards the end we see the informative information that is mandatory for all film poster, as this information is usually not important to the audience it has been hidden in thin text that is illegible however unnoticeable.

At a first glance we the audience may see a blur of colour that has merged together, a closer look will show us that the background is a busy image containing a vast amount of people rushing around a supposed airport. This may connote that everyone around the main image (man) in the middle is busy going about their lives and more importantly they know what they are doing where as the man in the middle seems lost and confused to what he should be doing.

The expression given off by the man shows vulnerability and he seems as if he wants help or even someone to talk to. His pose (leaning slightly to the right) again portrays innocence as if he really doesn’t know what to do in the airport. After researching into Russian culture I came across the Russian flag which incorporated the colours of red, blue and white, this brought me back to the poster and complimented the smudges of red, blue and white of what the people were wearing. The choices of the colours for the background were obviously taken from the Russian flag. This once again makes me think to what the country could stand for in the movie however to the audince it would be used to aesthetic pueposes, allowing the poster to stand out and be seem from a distance.

The main subject matter (being the man) has much significance as it is the soul image which relates to the movie. However we, the audeince can connote many different views due to him being secluded by others. The space around him may mean that he is alone and unadided - meaning that hes unable to get help. As we discovered that the country Russia and its cultral values may play a role in this movie: this could be the reason he is unable to interact and communicate with others, due to the language he speaks, this could be the answer to the gap between him and the rest of the world.