Analysis of La La Land posters

Film Poster Analysis

La La Land



The second poster.

 



The first poster.

 

Previous Credits	The first poster for La La Land doesn’t actually feature all that much, there isn’t much going on with it. The only previous credits used are under the main title. It simply says ‘FROM THE DIRECTOR OF WHIPLASH’, indicating to the audience that this film is from Damien Chazelle, who, at the time, wasn’t well known aside from having made Whiplash. This is a great way to bring in an audience who otherwise may have overlooked this film as just some musical, however the credit is very small, only a little bigger than the positive quote, so perhaps Damien didn’t really care all that much for being the main attraction to the film, but rather the story or the setting or some other thing. The second poster has the same previous credit only this time with the addition of also stating that it is a film by Damien Chazelle. This further enforces who is the director and would be able to grab more attention from people who may not have seen Whiplash but might know about Damien. The choice to state essentially the same thing twice on the second poster could be to make sure people know who made it in case it becomes successful, which it did, and now everyone knows Damien Chazelle. All of these previous credits act as a form of anchorage for the poster, without the text or any previous credits it would just be an image of 2 people dancing, which does happen in the film, but isn’t a great way of grabbing peoples attention.
Positive Quote	Both posters feature the same quote, ‘Here’s to the fools who dream’, only the first poster has it almost hidden in a way, near the top of the poster and in a  very small text size, making it initially hard to find and then hard to read. The choice to do this with the positive quote could be to try and draw attention to the rest of the poster, and the rest of the features. The second poster has the same quote, but this time it is far easier to find and read, being right in the middle of the poster and in a bigger text size. Perhaps this was done in contrast to the first poster in a way to draw away from the quote in that one, but draw the audience to it in the second one. The quote itself isn’t actually heard until somewhat near the end of the film sop it would make some sense to hide it, but at the same time it would also be a smart idea do draw attention to it, as it is a powerful and moving quote. There is a lot to be said about this quote and what it means, it could be a reference to how the stars of the film are chasing a seemingly impossible dream and are therefore foolish, but it could also be used to reference that there is still hope for people who have massive reams, so it is making a toast to the people who do dream.
Film’s star	Both posters feature name drops of the 2 main actors in the film, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, in that order on both posters. In the first poster the names are placed above the title of the film ion the same font but a smaller text size, obviously to draw attention to both but draw people more to the name of the film rather than the actors. This can be seen as showing that who plays the role isn’t really that important, but rather the film and the story itself. It could also have been done to initially draw attention to the title of the film and then have people go ‘Oh, and they’re in it too’, which is a great way of showing who is in your film to an audience who may not have seen a trailer for the film. The second poster has the names of the actors above them at the top of the poster, this time in a regular font rather than a stylised one like the title is. This could have been done to normalize it and make it look like the rest of the text on the poster, again drawing away from who is specifically playing the characters.
The title	The first poster features the title of the film in a large bold type at the middle right of the poster, making it one of the first things you see when you look at the poster. The second poster instead features the title at the bottom of the poster, meaning you don’t notice it immediately like you would with the first poster. This could have been done to instead draw the audience to the quote in the middle of the poster, or to the actor’s faces at the side of it instead. The font type used for this title on both posters is Yasashii, while Neutraface font was used for the rest of the text. The choice to use this font for the title is an obvious call back to old age cinema where all film titles used this kind of font, especially on Broadway, which was obviously a massive inspiration for La La Land’s story. Neutraface was more than likely used to make the rest of the text easier to read against the background and colours.
Colour Saturation	Both posters feature a massive amount of blue and some white. Blue is seen as a relaxing, calming colour, so this could have been used to sort of relax the audience into the poster, as there isn’t much going on in it. The blue in the first poster is the night sky, slightly illuminated by the city of LA. The blue leads off to a slight purple at the right side of the poster, where the sun is beginning to shine for the day. There is a bright, old fashioned street light illuminating the actors as they dance, which is an obvious reference to Singing In The Rain. The 2 actors are dancing with each other under the title of the film, with Ryan wearing a white shirt with a black tie and trousers, while Emma is wearing a bright, vibrant yellow dress. This could be to draw attention to the dress and then the actors as they dance, but it could also be a distraction from the rest of the poster, as it is quite a beautiful poster in its simplicity. The second poster features only blue/purple and white, with no bright yellow dress this time. Again this was most likely done to draw the audience in with the white text and then relax them into a feeling of calm while looking at the bluish poster.
Certificate	Neither film poster features a certificate or age rating, similar to Interstellar. This was more than likely done to show the audience that it is a film for all ages that anyone can watch and enjoy, and they aren’t wrong in thinking that.
Costume, props, Iconography	The only poster that really has any props or costumes in it is the first one, with the street light from Dancing In The Rain and the bright yellow dress. The street light is an obvious reference to how the entire film is one great big reference to previous films from an age of cinema long since gone. The costumes the actors are wearing show this as well, by being slightly old fashioned, with the dress being a full body outfit and not looking too modern, while the shirt and tie outfit it very reminiscent of how people would dress back in the 50’s/60’s. Also of note is that they are both wearing tap-dancing shoes, showing a style of dance that has all but died out nowadays, again referencing an older age of cinema. There is no real way of telling what the actors are wearing in the second poster, as it is just a close up of both their faces.
Intertextual references	There is an obvious intertextual reference in the first poster to the musical Dancing In The Rain with the street light, but other than that there isn’t much going on in either poster, aside from both referencing Damien Chazelle and Whiplash. This use of the 2 actors dancing is very symbolic of a musical film, the dancing in the rain scene is an icon of the genre so using that stance in the poster is a way of immediately grabbing the audience’s attention.
Credits	Aside from the obvious telling of the names of the actors and director, there isn’t much going on in the way of credits on either poster. This could have been done to draw people away from worrying about who worked on it or which company produced it. This could also have been done to show that the rest of the poster and what is in them is more important than the credits of the film, and showing them would be just taking up valuable space, because both posters are very beautiful in their own simple way of not showing too much text and being too wordy.

 

When looking at reviews for Chazelles previous film, I found one on the guardian that simply called it 'genius' and Robbie Collin went on to say ‘Superb performances from Miles Teller and Oscar nominee JK Simmons make this jazz drum drama a dazzling success’http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/whiplash/review/

Another review talks about Chazelles ability to turn almost any scene into a masterpiece, referencing the Oscar winning editing at the very of whiplash. ‘Perhaps Chazelle’s most remarkable achievement is the fact that he manages to turn an impromptu drum solo – that most unforgivably indulgent of musical breaks – into a tense and engrossing dramatic set piece that sets the heart racing.’https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/18/whiplash-review-drummer-miles-teller-mark-Kermode