Film Poster Analysis:Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is the 1994 thriller which tells the multiple stories of individuals on the same day,showing the harsh side of the life of crime, violence,drugs and sex are a prominent part of the film's plot.

This film poster shows a very creative and effective visual of promoting Pulp Fiction, Showing a frayed comic book cover as a layout, showing that through the damage of the cover, that the story (film) is rough and sets out a prominent look of violence. This is also due to the image displayed largely on the front showing a gun placed in front of the woman. This theme gives off the impression of a comic book styling for the actual film, suggesting to the receiving audience that these could hold the violent, slapstick conventions that you find in comics.

The titles shown on the cover are also that of what you would find on a comic book, with bright yellow capitals in bold, against a bright red background, it sets the outline for a bold movie, again with the violent conventions being conformed to with the red background. Although we see two areas of black text, the first underneath the title stating "a Quentin Tarantino film", this would be an effective statement to put onto the film's poster, due to the fact that Tarantino isa highly successful film directer and writer (amongst other things), which effectively draws in his fans to come and see his next film. Then the last black stated at the top of the poster which claims success for the film," Winner best picture 1994 cannes film festival", which again effectively aims for the target audience ,who attend the film in cinemas and buy the film, to be an older audience who appreciate film, due to it's high success from critics.

The image also states a lot about the film with the woman taking up the majority of the poster and being the main focus on the cover, showing her wearing all black as she smokes a cigarette, wearing red lipstick. Her mise en scene portrays her as a seductive and powerful woman due to her having a gun laid in front of her, as she appears to be lying on a bed also reading what appears to be a book called Pulp fiction, making an echo chamber of sorts occur due to this, her expression also shows her to be a very serious woman, also due to the fact that she is staring directly into the camera and is not accompanied by anyone, makes the audience find her very enticing and makes them wonder more about her character and more about her role within the film. Also the way her hand is positioned on the book, almost grasping it, makes it appear as though it states a way of life or a moral that the film bases its plot on.

Overall this poster proves to be very effective due to the creative way they layout their poster, with their target audience although seeming to be young due to the comic book style, need to appreciate the sense of art within film due to its high success and critical acclaim.