Unseen text practice

Explore how media language is used to create meaning in the Joker teaser film poster

Step one - underline key terms

Step two - knee jerk reaction

you need an opinion to present a coherent structure. For this question you need to not only evaluate but demonstrate a point of view. Never change your opinion halfway through the exam.

Hermeneutic code - encoded by producers as a way of creating meaning to draw audiences in and ensure the film is successful

Step three -plan

-the sans serif font is bold and powerful, connotes style of film and establishes genre

-the green, murky colour palette is stylistically in tune with the narrative of a antagonist being a protagonist. it's symbolic of greed and jealousy and toxicity, normally green is symbolic of life. 

-The lighting outlining the Joker's form establishes his importance as a character

-The red smear on his chin is mimicking of blood and connotes violence, a genre convention and connotes he's a villain. also functions as a hermeneutic code

-the undone collar in his costume suggests stress and discomfort, his entire costume is ragged

-the mise-en-scene of the way he leans back 

-the bullet in the graphics, is an action code for violence suggesting narrative elements

-the actor is looking up, hermeneutic code which directs the audience to look up at the title

-clown iconography is indicative of horror/thriller, anchored by the dark backgrounds. which also function as a symbolic code

-STEVE NEAL - repetition and difference of the makeup, archetype. different actor and isn't represented as intimidating 

-lack of text shows brand confidence and assumption that the audience will be aware of him. lack of elements shows how big it is as it doesnt have to be emphasised

-lack of anchorage in terms of context within the poster, hermeneutic code

-tagline - 'put on a happy face-' - ironic

-doesnt make eye contact with an ignoring gaze, suggests he is hiding something. Atypical of super-hero genre which normally have a star studded cast, in this case it's just one individual.

-Genre hybridity - drama, sci-fi, horror- atypical as it's not clear on what to expect

-mise-en-scene of his confidence pose is characterisation and contrasts with the blood on his face

-angle of his face distorts features which anchors ideas of broken identity

-because he's the only subject in the poster and is isolated audience can anchor this as the reason behind his unhappiness

-coming soon builds anticipation

-the text is faded, gritty and urban

Step four - introduction

Can be divided into 

-Definition

-Argument

-Context

context isn't as important in unseen section

Media language is formed of visual elements that are encoded by producers to communicate meaning, using media language is key to any media product in order to construct ideologies to be decoded by target audiences. The joker poster uses such language to encode its genre, which allows the producer to target specific demographics, which is overall important as a the teaser is part of a product designed to make money. This was achieved as the joker was a huge hit upon release and made plenty of profit to fuel the film industry and, more specifically, the conglomerate DC is a part of.

Step five - the paragraph structure 

Point

Evidence

Further argument

[theory]

There's a range of genre conventions in the teaser poster. The sans serif font is bold and powerful, it communicates that this is not a lighthearted film, encoding themes of violence and imperfection with the crooked style and proairetic code of a bullet - a symbol of the action genre. The tarnished additions to the text connote something that feels urban, conveying the conventional setting of a city, often associated with superhero films. The city setting, however, is set in binary opposition with the image of the joker. The city is often a place associated with life and endless amounts of people, but the one shot of the joker paired with the lowkey lighting represents him as isolated. This juxtaposition encodes themes of conflict and outcast, also establishing the hybridic nature of this films genre.

The colour palette of the poster is very murky with its use of green and black, it creates a creepy atmosphere that's commonly a staple for the horror genre. The green is also connotative of greed and jealousy, encoding toxicity that adds to the characterisation of the joker. It represents him negatively and as evil, something subversive of the superhero genre, here we can apply Steve Neal's genre theory of repetition and difference.