Analysing work already out there..

From this image we can automatically see that Pearl Harbour is a war film, but it also comes under the genre of romantic drama. We can see fighter planes flying high and low across the image, this is a convention of war films but also a code for drama and danger. The image is very dark and the clouds are black and grey, this is a code for death, pain and heartache, it tells us that a storms coming. The young woman has been placed in the centre of the image for a reason, she's an important character who we are going to see again. This image tells us that she is right in the middle of the war, she is involved somehow. Most likely, her husband is away fighting, this links back to the genre of romance, will he come back? will he not? The film already has you asking questions before you have even put the disk in the dvd player. The fighter plane on the right of the image is actually cut in half which creates a sense of an ongoing flight path. This places the audience in the middle of the action and is a convention of war film advertising.

On this image we can see plenty of conventions of  war film covers, we can see the film name, the main actors name and the tag line. We are told what year the film was released and details of other actors, the producer and director.

From the cover of 'The Lovely Bones' we can see that the film is centered around these two characters. The man is standing in the foreground, this shows his importance and authority over the young girl. The background goes from dark, dull and storm like on one side to light, happy and sunny on the other this is a code for the character's personalities. The man is standing in the dark, this is code for enigmatic. We can barely tell any of his features apart, this tells us that his personality is dark and frightening, he is a bit of a mystery and doesn't plan on being figured out. The young girl on the right is positioned slightly further back than the man and this tells us that she feels small and belittled around him. She is wearing a bright, bold costume which is a code for her happy, bubbly, extravert personality compared to his costume which is dark and dull. From her facial expressions and body language we can see that she is scared, she is standing very rigid, she was not expecting to see this man standing here.


This cover image has very similar conventions as the one above, we can see the film title, who the film is directed by and the tag line, 'the story of a life and everything that came after'. We are told when the film came out and who the company were that produced it.

Brokeback Mountain is completely different from a typical love story, it involves a great twist, which we can tell just from this image. The image of these two males is all we are focused on when we see this, we can tell something happens between these two. Their facial expressions are codes, they tell us that they are relaxed and comfortable together, enjoying each other's company, neither one of them are pulling away. The fact that both these character's are male automatically brings controversy and drama, this is not something we expect to see from a typical romantic story. Their costumes are code for their shared lifestyle. They are interested in the same things, they have many things in common. The costume is a convention of the western genre. The background is not particularly striking or bold in fact its faded and blurred in order to focus the audience on the central characters. The colours used are calm and relaxed, code for their relationship.


Again, this image has the typical conventions, the film title, actor's names and a tag line etc.




All these film titles are written in bold, white letters and they all stand out, they grab your attention, you cannot really miss them. This is exactly why they chose to use these fonts. In all these images there is not too much going on, in both Brokeback Mountain and The Lovely Bones we can see two characters, this tells us that they are important, ones to watch. Pearl Harbour does seem a bit more busy but is still rather simplistic. The fighter planes are conventions of war, we expect to see them. The dark, dull colours are a code for sadness and also a convention of war films.

• Pearl Harbour was released in 2001 under the director Michael Bay.
  
• It is set during the war of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, two childhood friends both serve as Army Air Cops but when love starts to blossom everything becomes complicated.
• Michael Bay went on to create more films but most of them being horrors of thrillers.

• Peter Jackson who directed ‘The Lovely Bones’ also produced ‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ and ‘King Kong’. Both these other films involve scenes of romance and action and fantasy. All three films could come under the genre of drama.
  

• Brokeback Mountain directed by Ang Lee won 3 oscars and had another 78 wins. Ang Lee himself  is not a massive well-known director and hasn’t produced much work but brokeback mountain was a big hit.