12 Years A Slave poster analysis

The contrast of using a pure white background shows the characters dominance in the film especially as he is the only person on it which also helps him stand out massively due to the different tones of colour as he has been shown behind a shadow which can also reflect the type of character he is - an important individual that is trapped behind others power. Something else that also shows he is trapped is the position his body is in, appearing as though he is running; he could be running from or to something making this shot type interesting because it shows nearly the whole characters body as it is a medium shot, but still keeping important hints to the plot such as the location a secret from the audience which creates enigmas. 

 

There aren't many obvious unique selling points in this poster except in the text, by mentioning the more well known actors in the movie such as Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender will draw in a wider range of audience. Another unique selling point in this poster is what it mentions under the main title - 'The extraordinary true story of Solomon Northup',  adding this into the poster will make the movie seem a lot more worth while to go and see in theatres due to the shock factor of how society used to portray black people as 'slaves'. The use of font in this poster is very important because it is the main way to present the genre of the film - historical; using a different font for the number '12' and the words 'years a slave' shows the time period of this movie as the '12' has the effect to look like it was written with a quill, which was what they used to write with all those years ago making the overall poster look more authentic. 

The simplicity of the background and colours lets you focus your attention on the only character on the poster which shows his importance in the film as the leed role. Showing the main character on the poster also allows the audience to feel sympathy and happiness for this person in the film as we are only shown life from his point of view although the plot of the movie would make the audience feel a range of negative emotions for him anyway because it was such a devistating time for many people.