Serenity. Compare the poster of the film with the TV trailer of the firefly series.

Although river is the main subject of the poster she has a limited speaking part in the film. Captain Malcolm is the main star but other members of the crew have a good or reasonable share. The background also contains the largest explosions which are conventions of action films the background is a sky going from light to dark with planets making us feel like we are going into space; the general background is white, making characters in dark clothes stand out. White symbolises purity and serenity; river is a pure individual this could be the link between the background and making river the main subject of the poster because river is a very innocent pure person but if necessary can turn into a dangerous highly skilled warrior and her personality is reflected in the background because its starts of white where she is standing low to the ground then it fades up into a grey then a black and that is where her axe like weapon is raised with a beam of light flowing over it almost as if to say its blocking out the good and shows river is going into warrior mode. However it could be that the axe is angled over her head with the light hitting it making it glow so that it almost looks like a halo around rivers head telling the audience that river fights for good and not evil. The way the light hits the axes forms a cross shape just at the tip almost looking like a star, this links back to the biblical story of how Jesus Christ was born and how the 3 wise men had to follow a star to find him. The positioning of the star in this case could mean that river is the star as if she is the map and she is the chosen one almost sent from heaven blessed with the powers and knowledge to find and guide the rest of the crew to the planet merander. The white lining of river and the axe gives it a more realistic look unlike in cartoons when they are outlined in black making it obvious that it is animated.  

The title serenity is very misleading because the definition of the word serenity is calm and peaceful, however the movie is the complete opposite, it’s like serenity vs. the direction so they both contradict each other so when people read the title then look at the poster they get a little confused because they are expecting something serine but they see explosions and guns making their minds open and allowing their imaginations to take over making them wonder what the film could be about. The title “serenity” is written in grey on a white background, in all capital letters making it look bold and violent to suit the film the R and the Y both have a serif this means the stick part of the letter is shaped like a sharp blade or a weapon. The title its self reflects river completely that’s why they chose her, to link the title to the movie even though she isn’t the main character. In my opinion they chose river because of how innocent she is and that even though she is probably the best fighter on the team she still has a serine thing about her, this effect the audience because they think that river is the main character of the movie and that although she is serine, pure and innocent she is also a fighter like the title because it has sharp edges.

The slogan of the film is “they aim to misbehave”, this particular statement is sort of funny at the same time as being serious because they actually mean it that is what they aim to do but the way that it is said the audience don’t really take it serious but if you look at the captain he has a gun in his hand, face is serious and he looks dangerous so when you think about it the statement is a serious understatement of what they intend to do, for example the explosions in the background shows something is being blown up and the crew  is looking away and completely ignoring it, this shows that they were the ones who did it and that they don’t really care.

They have specifically chosen the characters to be shown on the poster because most of them are fighters

• River-boots on so it’s like armour because she normally walks around bare foot so she feels everything under her feet, fighting style is very raw and pro-active she will not wait to attack.
• Zoe-pointing her gun forward< there must be an enemy approaching, from a military background already knows how to fight.
• Jayne-middle of the explosion, enjoys fighting, he is angled specifically to show off his gun to show how manly and blood thirsty he is.
• Captain Malcolm-leader of the group, head high very confident, gun down he doesn’t feel like he needs to use it, angled with his back to Jayne to show how different they are because Jayne is a act 1ST think later kind of guy that enjoys violence but the captain is a tact full guy he tries to avoid violence and tries to do what’s best for the team, angled towards Zoe because of their history and because he trusts her.
• Inara-not really a fighter so she is in the far back and is the smallest, has the most connections to call on people to help in bad situations, has the most status.