Scarface advertising and audience

        Scarface advertising and audience

There are a variety of techniques that are used in bother the trailer and for the film ‘Scarface’ to target the intended audience.

Narrative

Poster

Tagline: On the poster the tagline  ‘He loved the American Dreams. With vengeance’. This small but chilling sentence, this targets the audience because this short tagline puts ideas in our minds of what the film is about therefore makes us eager to see it. The tagline as conveys a bit of the narrative to the audience, we associate the American dreams with fame and wealth. This tells us that the film will be based around wealth and power. Then ‘With a vengeance’ is added to the tagline, so could suggest that the protagonist rises to power and wealth through violence and that he wanted it all e.g. money. So in relations to anchorage, this connects to the narrative.

Verbal language: On the poster there is use of verbal language. This targets the audience because it is intended to entice the audience, by giving them a short synopsis, a short taste if you will of the film. The text is intent on captivating the target audience by given them a little taste of the film but also conveying how serious the film is, hinting the genre of the film. This will target and is aimed at an older audience, possibly those of an age of 18 +.  The anchorage between the short narrative and protagonist convey to the audience that the film will be focused on the protagonist violent acts.

On the poster the protagonist is portrayed holding a weapon to be specific a gun. Due to the shape and length of the gun shown it's quite clear noticeable.  This targets the audience by telling us that there are aspects of murder and violence in the film so it already is aimed at an older market.

Trailer

Voice-over: in the trailer voice-over is used to tell background information on protagonist. The voice-over talks about where it all started, with Tony’s obsession to rise to the top. And that he was willing to do whatever it took to do so.  It then goes on to talking about how he entered the world of power, money, and how he had it all for a while.  Then states how the protagonist made the name Scarface for himself and he’s relationship with the American dream.  This targets the audience by giving us information on the main character, where he came from and where he’s going.

Conventions: in the trailer a there is a bit of the gun convention used, this is extremely conventional in terms of gangster films. And is used in this trailer to target and convey the amount of violence this film will feature.  Another convention used is wealth and a luscious lifestyle, this is another thing we expect to see in gangster genre, and targets the audience by telling us what the genre of the film is and who it is aimed at.

Character

On the poster there are many ways that the audience has been targeted. On the poster the title and his name ‘Al Pancino’ are the same sizes and in the same place this could suggest the importance of this character and shows that he is the main focus of the film. Al Pacino is also a well-established actor, known for playing gangsters. For example The Godfather, so he's his reputation is used as the main point of focus for this poster. In addition the protagonist Tony Montana is the main emphasis on the poster, due to him being the only person on the poster’s primary target audience gender is male, seeing that the main character appears as a strong male lead.

In difference to the poster that shows us more characters, in involved in the film. In the trailer we see the protagonist close friend, as he is always seen by Tony’s side and interacting very friendly with him. Also in the trailer there are parts where it features a woman, which hints to the audience a romantic interest of the protagonist. I think this would appeal to a female audience as supposed to a male audience, due to the fact the love interest conveys a sense of romance in the film.

Editing

On the poster there isn't much editing techniques used, but there are some. Firstly the protagonist is represented in a graphic sense; he blends in with the background of the poster. And he is captured in a medium shot. I think both of these aspects are to show the characters importance.

Whereas in the trailer there are a mixture of camera shots used such as long, medium and close up shots. And fast cuts are used throughout the trailer; I think this was intent on emphasising on suspenseful scenes and to create an emotional response of exciting in the audience.

Representation

Poster

The main colours used on the poster and seem to be the theme colours of the film are black, white and red. The distinction between the colours black and white on the poster tells the audience and conveys a sense of the genre drama. It is such a clear contrast; it is also a representation of how serious the film is, as it doesn’t bother with any other colours or shades. This also targets the audience by telling us what type of genre film this is, gangster gerne of this group often deploys similar or the same colours. In addition the fact that the protagonist is placed in the middle could connote that he could be on both sides. And could denote that he could be disguised as a good guy but is bad at in the shadows.

Title

The red title could connote and be a representation of blood, and can symbolise death, danger and murder. To add also horror and violence, this again targets the audience telling us that the film is violent. The denotation could be that this colour is to suggest and be a representation of newly formed scars that normally come out a deep red.

Trailer

In the trailer guns are featured and used quit a lot, I think this is a representation of violence. So targets the audience by telling us how much violence the film is about.

Identify and explain reasons for similarities/differences in the techniques used to target the audience.

Similarities and differences

There are a variety of similarities and differences in references to the techniques used in the poster and trailer that have been used to target the audience.

In terms of the narrative of the film both the poster and trailer portray, the storyline across to the audience using different methods. On the poster the anchorages between the tagline, verbal language and gun shown on the poster, these all connect with the narrative of the film. I think that this poster has used these methods, to attract and grad the audience attention. Because before you see the film trailer you are most likely to stumble across the poster first. It all depends on how effective the poster is to make you want to see the trailer.  So in this sense this is why the poster uses these methods to try to achieve an effective poster to best target the audience. In comparison to the trailer that uses, voiceover to tell the audience a brief summary of the protagonist story. And also uses conventions, such as weaponry and wealth to convey the narrative. I think these techniques are used to give the audience more information on the film, as the poster has already grab their attention the trailer is there to hold their attention and make them eager to see the film.

Even though the poster and trailer have different ways of portraying the film to the audience, they do have a similarity between a convention used to hint to the audience narrative. The convention that both the trailer and poster use is gun. On the poster is shows the protagonist holding this weapon, in similarly to the trailer which also shows the protagonist holding this weapon again.  I think that this technique is used on both the poster and trailer. Because its intent on telling the audience that the film is based on violence, which is aimed at an older market.

Another difference between the two media products is the characters represented. In the first media product the poster, the audience only sees Al Pacino hinting that he is the protagonist in the film. It tells the audience that he is the main focus of the film but doesn't give us any other insight into any other characters that the film might feature. Apart from the names displayed at the side of the poster. I think that this was intent on portraying the gangster genre to the audience, seeing that the actor is so well known this supports this conclusion. This is to target those who enjoy this genre and this well established actor’s film. In comparison to the trailer that shows more characters, we see the protagonist close friend and a possible interest. In terms of segregation this is to target small parts of the audience. For example the love interest is to target the secondary target audience, females.

The similarities between the poster and trailer are that they both use aspects of representation in the same way. The anchorage of the title and gun used in both media products, are a representation of violence. Also the title of film is represented in the red in both the trailer and on the poster, which supports the connotation of blood and violence. I think this was intent on portraying the violence of the film to the audience and targeting those of an older age group.