Analysis of `The Hangover` Film Poster...

This is the Film poster for The Hangover (2009). Straight away when looking at the poster we can see that the genre of the film is most likely to be a Comedy. You can tell that it will be a comedy as one man has a baby brace on the front of him; the baby is wearing big sunglasses resembling him, the man behind has a cut lip and the man on the left has a missing tooth and looks puzzled, all three characters look scruffy. At first sight we do not know why the characters are in this unlikey situation, however the title of the film sums this up for us. `The Hangover` suggests to the viewer that the three men have woken up after a drunken night and are stuck in a sticky situation- hence the baby, the scruffy look and the two mens injuries. To many having a hangover is not a nice feeling and we can see for sure in the situation of the characters it is by far a good situation. This brings the humour element to the film as we presume they have woken up clueless to what happened the night before. A tagline has been used to give extra information to the viewer, it says `Some guys just can't handle Vegas` This extra information gives the viewer a further insight into the film, we assume the film is based in Vegas through the tagline; where the three men come accross trouble. The theme of Vegas is kept in the poster through the glamourous, dazzling gold lights in the background and the shining graphics of the lettering for the film name. The title emphasises the `Hangover` part mainly, in a San Serif font to make it bold andeasy to read for viewers, we straight away know the film will be something to do with having a hangover. The `the` part is not so important so to make it more visually appealing and so that the `Hangover` part could be as big and noticable as possible to save room the `the` is put inside the `O` of `HANGOVER`, this is visually mor attractive. When looking at the poster we assume there are three main characters in the film as not one of them stands out more than another. Unlike other film posters the names of the main stars/actors have not been displayed, we presume this is because the three main characters may not be well known so to display their names would not be neccessary. People may not be familiar with the name so get put off seeing the film; by not writing their names on the poster it focuses more on the storyline of the film and attracts viewers through the image and the bold title instead. Above the tagline there is information on the director of the film, this is bolder than other posters, as usually information on the director is found in the `billing block`. `From the director of `Old School`` written on the top of the poster aims to pull in viewers. I presume `Old School` is a well known film, therefore if people know that this film is directed by the same director and they found `Old School` a successful film they will be more than swayed to want to see this film. Mentioning `Old School` will draw the attentions of viewers and make them want to see another film by that director. The colours used are bright and glamorous to fit in with the Vegas theme. The presentation of the characters are not how you would find a person to be presented in Vegas, this contrast makes the characters seem out of place in their surroundings. This is humorous for the viewer as they are supposed to be in classy Vegas, yet they are grubby injured and in charge of a baby. I believe the film would aim to target young adults, through the humour aspect and how it relates to a hangover which young adults would be able to relate to from watching the film!