James bond posters help the audience to uncover the possible story before watching the film. This essay will be closely analysing, comparing and contrasting two well known James bond posters. Firstly I will be analysing the James bond “Thunderball” poster.
The mis-en-scene of this poster is initially the images of James bond. We can see James Bond in a variety of different activities which connotes the film is full of action furthermore gives us the impression James bond is a strong, fit and healthy man. James bond is shown in a significant way to suggest he is the main character. In the first shot he is wearing a black suit which shows he could be high class. Bond is holding a gun and carrying a jetpack suggesting that the film will be violent. His face expression seems to looking in another direction in a quite serious look. This implies he is suspicious or ready for action. The fire also suggests a bit of violence. The brown background is quite dull however is an effective way to make James bond appear more conspicuous hence capture the audience’s attention. The guns, jet suits and fire are appealing to a male audience. In the next shot we see the same man in the first shot; he is wearing a orange swim suit. This connotes he is a very sporty masculine man. Bond seems to be holding back another diver out of the way, we cannot see the diver’s face, but we can see him possibly aiming to get the metal object off Bond’s hand, maybe this object is the key device that will ‘blow up the world’ thus he could be the villain. Perhaps Bond is trying to get the device away from the villain giving the audience the impression he is the heroic character. We see a different background as opposed to the first shot. It is shot in a different place which implies the film will also be set in many countries/places. We can see water and speedboats in addition other drivers seem to be falling into the water, this whole background scene connote that it is an action packed film.
In the next shot James Bond is placed in the centre of the shot. He is wearing a vivid red suit holding a gun. The red suit is symbolic as it denotes love therefore suggesting James Bond is a very romantic man. Maybe the red suit is combined with the gun to alert the audience of coming danger and violence. He is surrounded by half naked, sexy looking girls suggesting that he is very attractive which is appealing to a female audience in addition indicating romance in the film. The fact that he is with many girls implies he is not a sustained relationship hence he is a player. One of the girls seems to stand out from the rest, she is not placed as close to Bond as the other girls. While the other girls are half naked, she is wearing a very sexy looking black dress looking directly at Bond. Both her body language and dress sense shows she could be sexually attracted to Bond. Maybe she envies him. The black dress symbolizes evil and death. This indicates she could be the stereo typical female villain who will die in the film. In this shot all of the ladies are represented as very beautiful sex-objects, this is appealing to male spectators. We notice that the ladies hair styles look old-fashioned suggesting the film was timed in the 60’s. One of the most eye-catching images on this poster is the text. Three phrases stand out from the rest, “LOOK UP!, LOOK DOWN!, LOOK OUT!”, this is because the font is in capitals, they are bold, and are in a bright red colour. The use of the capitals feels as if it is to shouting to the audience making it attention-grabbing. The red font connotes love/violence so we would expect to see romance and action in the film. The use of the explanation mark also makes the phrase look imperative. What is significant about the phrases is the iconography of the logo OO7 which we can see emerging from the phrases. This is a good way to help the audience to engage and become familiar with the film.
I will now be exploring “The world is not enough” poster. Firstly the mis-en-scene of this poster appears more motivating and exciting than the other poster. The most striking part of this poster is the fire; fire is literally everywhere, on the characters, in the montaged film shot and even outlined on the background image of a map of the world. This connotes there will be lots of dramatic and violent action scenes in the film. The flames that are outlined on the continents of the world map, which implies the world in danger. This strong and vibrant fire is an effective way to draw the audience’s attention. Four major characters stand out in the poster. Firstly James Bond; Bond is wearing a classy elegant black suit suggesting he is a wealthy man. Two attractive ladies are both surrounding Bond, this connotes that maybe bond has to choose between the two women, it gives us the impression he is in control. This also shows that James bond is very good-looking thus attract more women. There are significant differences between the ladies; one of them seems to look more superior to the other. She seems to be holding Bond, this connotes Bond is her possession; maybe he wants to protect her from other women or villains. She is wearing a startling dress which is set on fire. This suggests that she is a seductive, dangerous and a sexually promiscuous girl therefore she is the female villain in the story. However the other lady is placed behind James Bond signifying maybe she is the women who Bond falls in love with and so he protects her. She is wearing sporty clothes, suggesting she is a fit and strong women maybe she assists Bond on his mission. Both women are attractive which is appealing to men. Similarly to the other poster Bond is holding a gun. This implies that the gun is his favourite weapon; he could be holding it to protect the ladies. The gun also indicates violence. Comparable to the other poster Bond is placed in the centre suggesting that the film revolves around him and that he is surrounded by danger. It is significant that in the background there is a emerging red and black face. The red symbolizes evil while black symbolizes death in addition the fact that he is rising out of the world map which is on fire suggest he is the villain who wants to ‘blow up the world’.
Most of the montaged film clips all look very lively and active. In the film clips there are lots of fast and expensive looking vehicles such as the car, helicopter and speed boat. They probably all belong to James Bond. This indicates it is an action film in addition the vehicles are appealing to men. In one of the film shots we can see a small image of the millennium dome. Since the millennium dome is in London, it becomes obvious where some of the action will take place, James Bonds home sweet home, Great Britain. All the scenes suggest it is set in the 21st century because of the hi-tech graphics, props, and the vibrant use of colour. Although the text this time is not in capitals, the images on the poster are already very noticeable. “007” is a shown as the iconography. The gold colour font can easily be contrasted with the black background to make it stand out. Gold could have been used to indicate the rich and high class such as Bond. What is quite interesting about the shape of the title is that it seems to be in the shape of a gun, this suggest guns play an important part of the film thus a lot of violence.
In my opinion both posters are very much alike. They both look like the genre they were set to be by using guns, explosions, vehicles and many more which suggest its action genre. They both have the original “007” logo which help us to become familiar with the theme of the film but most importantly they both have James Bond placed in the centre to show that he is the leading character. Personally I would go for the second poster as it is much more appealing to younger viewers. It has more explosions, violence, action and the characters are set in the 21st century which we can relate to hence it will produce a wider audience than the first one. The second poster is also a lot more effective, all the images blend in well with the luminous fire background; therefore it is much more eye-catching than the first poster. On the other hand the first poster has a certain mystical feel to it as there are certain characters that the audience will be curious about such as the driver that is holding back Bond or the mysterious women in black. In addition the phrases such as “LOOK UP…” “HERE COMES THE BIGGEST BOND OF ALL” is very effective as it is quite persuasive; it builds up curiosity and tension questioning the audience’s mind. The first poster is more appealing to older viewers, couples or just any real James bond lover as it ends with a much more romantic look. If we came to think about it both posters reveal how the 60’s has changed significantly, it points out that the 21st century has become a violent world, so could the next James Bond film be more violent?
By Nahima Akther Miah 10s