Hannah - This film poster is from the film ‘La Dame de Shanghai’ also known as ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ which is an American film-noir thriller released in 1947 and directed by Orson Welles. I choose to analyse the French version of the film poster because I found it more aesthetically pleasing and I felt that it embodies the spirit of film noir well.
The main layout of the poster is quite diffrent in the current set up of a conventional modern day thriller. This is due to the overlapping of different images, which almost tells a story in its own right, introduces the characters and lets the audience begin to draw their own conclusions about what they think the story is about.
Film noirs were the thrillers of their time and were in a sharp contrast to the musicals that were very popular in the fourties and fifties. The extreme close up on the female lead shows her expression and emotion which leads the audience to believe that her emotions are of importance.
Red sky
Dark sea
Shadow on face
Small boat - signifying an voyage/journey/adventure of some kind
The cartoon style of images with the lead female and male protaganist in a clinche pose on the front show their relationship as the hero and herione. This shows that this film will have very defined roles, such as the hero, villian and herione. The cartoon style is synonamous with the film noir posters from this time period. The cartoon effect gives a dramatic and intense effect and connates that the storyline will be dramatic and interesting. The style is imiatating that of a cartoon strip/comic book. The bright, bold and clashing colours are effective in making the poster very eyecatching and exciting. The technology at the time was also limited and they could only have black and white pictures and films. This meant that to have a colourful poster was to have a cartoon poster which was drawn. The target audience would be people at the time who were interested in cinema.
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