Bond Through the Ages

Skyfall (2012)

They have used a long shot for this image to show the location as Big Ben shows it is based in London which is a well known big city, drawing in the American audience because they love British culture. The long shot is also there to present the main character which is a unique selling point as Daniel Craig is well known and popular, using him as the main character will most likely attract more of the female audience as some may find him attractive, while the action side of the film will attract the males, resulting in a wider audience.

There are many other reasons why they decided to use a long shot for the cover, such as it shows an Aston martin in the foreground which has been a part of the movie series; making it iconic. The clothing the character is wearing shows a sign of wealth to the character as well as class, this creates a contrast between the character and the gun he is holding making it stand out, giving almost a hidden message that this films genre is action but not trying to give it away too much; they seem to be using the wealth and class of the character to sell this movie and intrigue an audience.

As you can see, this poster is almost completely black and white apart from the gold 007 at the bottom of the screen which is another iconic symbol for the movie series and also is another connotation of fortune. The black and white is a sign of mystery as it hides the colours and maybe even other objects in the poster that are harder to see such as gun.

The font used for the title is very clear and simple which means you don’t get distracted from the photo and what it includes. The colour of the font is another connotation for the films contents and what class the characters may be; in my opinion the rich silver writing makes the poster as it seems to resemble everything from the location to the story plot.

Golden Eye (1995)

This front cover is very different to the Sky Fall one because they didn't use just a photograph of the main character, but instead included other characters in the background which will also play an important role in the film just not as important as James Bond himself. We know Bond the man on the picture is the main character because he is in the centre of both of the girls suggesting he is a 'ladies man'; also shows two picture of him, one of him holding a gun and the other of him running out of fire surrounded by planes and helicopters, both of these images show that this films genre is action. Something else that suggests this movie is an action film is what it says at the bottom of the poster - "No limits, no fear, no substitutes", giving the audience an idea on how action based it will be. 

The black background connotes danger and mystery, which can hint that this movie may also be a spy movie giving it an appeal to a lot more people due to the fact males are known to enjoy adrenaline rushes in which an action/spy movie create. There is also a lot of gold in the poster; in the title and the '007' sign, they may have decided to use this colour as it connotes wealth and a higher class which reflects on the characters in the movie such as James Bond and also the two female characters standing behind him as they are wearing quite formal, rich looking dresses, showing off their power and dominance; conforming to the female stereotypes that women aren't very strong and are just known as not being able to do things for them selves, whereas men are the opposite. 

The clothing the women are wearing is showing the audience the type of role they play in the movie, for example the woman of the left is wearing white suggests she is innocent as the white dress connotes purity, but the woman on the right is wearing black suggesting she could possible be an antagonist and isn't so innocent because the colour black is meant to make her come across as a more confident character that isn't so innocent. 

Something that may be harder to see but gives a good hint on something that will most likely be a big part of the movie is the blue outlines of different countries at the top of the poster behind the two female characters, this shows that there will probably be some sort of rivalry between different countries or something of the sort. 

Goldfinger (1964)

The first thing that catches your eye when looking at this poster is the black background, just like the Goldeneye poster the black background is used as a way to show mystery. The way they have hinted that this movie is an action film is mainly in the text they used, by actually stating "James Bond is back in action", gives a massive hint that this movies genre is action. The other sentence on the poster - "Everything he touches turns to excitement", this creates an enigma because an audience would want to know who they are talking about although the first sentence makes it more obvious as Bond is an iconic character. The other thing that suggests that this movie is an action film is the second picture as it shows a gun, this object in used in every poster apart form the Dr No one, almost making it a stable piece in an action film.

The colour yellow is used against the black background to make the important text stand out, such as the name 'Sean Connery' which is also an iconic name as he is the original James Bond and starred in Dr No. The gold woman in the foreground connote wealth just like the use of gold used in the more recent James Bond movies, she also relates to the title of the movie, suggesting that this movie may have female character as an innocent person that Bond needs to protect; conforming to the stereotypes of the roles of males and females. 

The font used is very bold and clear, all of it is also in capitals to create a sense of excitement for the film. It appears that they decided to make the title bolder than the other texts on the poster to help it stand out as it has been placed at the bottom of the poster after "James Bond is back", making that text more important and using it as a unique selling point to a wide audience of males and females; the males would be excited about the action and the girls would be attracted to the main character playing Bond because the first film was such a success; these unique selling points benefits the films popularity.

Dr.No (1962)

This is the oldest James Bond poster I am evaluating, it is also very different to the others because they didn't make it obvious what genre this movie may be, I personally feel as though it is conforming more to the conventions of romance instead of action due to the lack of signs that link to action and how the characters are presented. The girl on the right has been captured as quite femanine and weak; the clothing suggests this as she is wearing white/pale pink which connotes innocence just like the woman on the left in the Goldeneye poster.

The only signs in this poster that are hinting that this movie is an action/adventure film is the writing at the top which says "introducing Ian Flemings master spy, James Bond 007 in his first motion picture adventure! He's licensed to kill...". The use of words such as 'master spy' and licensed to kill' gives an appeal to the target audience as it creates excitment. It would also create excitments because movies were a bigger deal around the time this came out because everyone was still taking in film and cinema.  One other sign there is that this movie is action based is the photograph of the girl and Bond running in the centre, showing them running away from something or someone. Looking closer into this image you can see the background is showing a swimming pool which shows wealth to the characters because they are placed by it.

An antagonist type character is presented in the poster at the bottoms, I feel this could be the antagonist because of the object he is holding - a cage, although I think this, he is dressed in similar clothes to Bond which suggests that he could be a good character that the audience will like.

The use of colours is interesting in this poster as they aren't an obvious choice to use for this genre, the blue in this image connotes sorrrow but because of the background image seems to be based in an exotic country, it changes the idea on why they used blue as the main colour making it feel like it is relating to the location and weather; it also helps the red title stand out a lot more. Putting 'Dr.No' in red connotes danger and fear but also love, which gives a wider idea on the plot and atrracts a much bigger audience because females tend to enjoy watching romance movies whereas males enjoy action/adventure. Font wise, they have used a very similar one to the other posters, almost as though they have set a theme for the movies series.