Martha Marcy May Marlene Poster

Deconstruction

• The primary colour in this poster is white. White has connotations of purity and innocence, which could link to the girl featured. The film is about her escaping from a cult so this could be reflecting on the corruption of innocence.

• The image of the girl is featured in the shape of an ‘M’ which is related to the repeated initial of the names in the title. This film is about identity and life and so this could represent how she has been branded like cattle (in the cult) with this name.

• The way we can only see her through this shape creates enigma as he cannot see her full face.

• The simplicity of the poster is also reflected on through the font used for the text. The title in black demands a little more attention than the rest of the text as this is the most important. The rest of the text is in a grey/brown shade including information such as the actors’ names, a quote, a release date, festival name and credits. There’s also in a smaller font a website, Facebook and Twitter link encouraging the audience through social media.

• Even more interestingly, there are 2 QR codes at the bottom used for a quick route for smart phones to access these links. This is more encouraging for audiences as it is instant and is therefore an effective means of promotion.

• The ‘M’ image is the focus of the poster and although other elements i.e. the text doesn't seem to be placed in any particular strategic manner, they are all clear to see as the contrast well against the white background.

• There is no tagline and as the image doesn't show anything other than a few facial features of the character, nothing about the story is given away.

• One thing about the poster is, the genre and the target audience are not clear as hardly anything is shown to give any clues. This could encourage audiences to look more into it (the QR codes are useful) or it could put them off as there’s nothing there to attract/entice them.