Film Poster Research: 'Jumanji' - Zoe Cameron-Waller

'Jumanji'

 

'Jumanji' is a portrait film poster that's main image is central and consists of a board game with a stampede bursting out of it. This implies a Fantasy and Family genre due to the unrealistic image of animals coming out of a board game. This suggests that the audience is a family based demographic due to the Fantasy genre and the harmless appearance of the narrative conveyed by the poster and it's images. This also reveals aspects of the narrative due to the main image displaying the board game that's clearly called 'Jumanji', which reveals that the film is focused on that board game because the title is also 'Jumanji'. It's also revealed that this board game may be magical and supernatural due to the unrealistic suggestion of a board game producing a stampede. It's clear who the main character is as he's the only character visible on the poster. He's positioned playfully clinging onto the main title which conveys Adventure and chaos, which works together with his exclaiming facial expression displaying panic. His age and class is represented by his costume and hair; his hair is neat and tidy which conveys that he's well groomed and cares about his appearance. His shirt is checked and creates a formal and smart appearance, despite the fact we can only see a tiny part of his costume, suggesting that the poster wants us to focus more on the main image in the background. The main image also displays small houses next to the board game, these houses seem rather big and wealthly looking which could suggest that the setting in the film is fairly upper class and powerful.

Looking at the poster, we are positioned at a low angle which almost personifies the board game and assigns power and control to the board game which further reinforces the super natural theme. This relates to Altman's theory of fixed characteristics and how super natural and magic are both themes often found and associated with a Fantasy genre due to the unrealistic occurrences and unexplainable events. This can also relate to Neale's theory of repeated conventions; the magical and super natural theme constructs the Fantasy genre and conjures up a formula in which directors follow in order to successfully portray that particular genre.

The main title font reflects the font on the board game which creates a link between the plot and the poster. It also allows the title to become more memorable. The font is bold and slightly curvy with slightly wonky edges to perhaps reflect the chaos and craziness of the narrative. It's centrally positioned at the bottom of the poster with an even alignment either side. The half orange half red colour has connotations of heat and fire which may suggest that the film is action packed, or those colours are used to allow the title to appear as abstract with a white outline, against the darkness of the background.

The main actor's name is significantly positioned at the very top of the poster and the letters are evenly spaced out to demolish any dead space. The font is thin and traditional looking which conveys that the actor is well-known and important in the world of acting. It's also the only name displayed which further reinforces how important he is. It also has even alignment each side which creates a neat and organised looking poster. It's also positioned onto a dark blue background that looks stormy and cloudy which is done to further establish the drama and to show pathetic fallacy of how hectic the narrative is and the use of white being the text colour, allows it to successfully stand out boldly, despite the thin font.

The white coloured text is sustained with the billing block which is positioned directly at the bottom of the page, equally aligned. Above the billing block is the slogan which reveals more of the narrative: "ROLL THE DICE AND UNLEASH THE EXCITEMENT!". The use of upper case allows the text to look bold and significant and the way in which the beginning letter of each word is bigger than the rest of the words enhances the significance and the exclamation. It reveals parts of the narrative by suggesting that playing the board game will generate chaos and heart racing events, as the use of an exclamation mark at the end of the slogan conveys energy and anticipation, another two repeated conventions of a Fantasy film in reference to Neale's theory.

The poster is fairly low key lighting with glints of high key. This reflects the fragmented action that's on and off, revealing more of the narrative.