MEDIA EVALUATION

CONNOR FITZGERALD, 10C

For the media practical, I was tasked with creating two film
posters, accompanied with a mock-up of each poster, of
different movies falling in the romantic comedy genre, with one
poster being aimed at males and the other at females, whilst
capturing a sense of Britishness in the presentation of the films,
which both needed clear storylines. The need for it to capture a
feeling of Britishness links to the written coursework, where we
had to analyse and compare the Britishness in two romantic
comedies, being Notting Hill and The Holiday. My first film, with
its poster aimed at females, is titled Under the Tree, where a
man and a woman, both struggling with their love lives in
different ways, with the woman being unlucky in love and the
man thinking hes got the perfect girl each time but always
falling short, coincidentally meet under a tree in the autumn,
eventually making it a habit and part of their daily routines,
trying to give one another advice on what they should do,
before both realising that theyre falling in love with each other;
its slightly fantastical in the way in which fate brings them
together, providing escapism for the audience watching. The
name Under the Tree is an open title, where it seems as
though it could range from calmness to romance, with people
possibly picturing a tree in a park, and their minds jumping to
things like picnics which has the connotation of love and dates,
so it allows for an audiences interpretation and for the film to
play on those expectations. My second film, with its poster
being aimed more towards a male target audience, is called
The Accident, where a young Indian woman, whose family is
heavily tied with Hinduism, takes part in a one night stand with
a down to Earth yet shy man from London, but as they both try
to forget one another after what they view as a drunken
mistake, theyre quickly dragged back together as the Indian
woman discovers that shes pregnant with his baby. The films
title The Accident gives a slightly playful feel to the movie,
supplying instant connotations with mistakes in relationships,

and can connect with audiences if they relate the title to an

accident that theyve made in the past. Both films are different
enough from one another and fit naturally with their specific
target audiences.
Before beginning to make the posters and their respective
mock-ups, I conducted research on posters for Notting Hill,
Love Actually and Hitch, all three of which gave me a look at
the conventions of the presentation of the romantic comedy
genre, often having quite simple text and images to partner
them, whilst Notting Hill and Love Actually also gave me an
insight on how to integrate the Britishness needed into my two
films, such as the British performers names as well as the
production companies commonly associated with the genre.
This research gave me the idea for the simplistic tone with the
red and black on the white background, used in the posters for
Love Actually and Hitch, and also the idea of having two
characters appear in a typical environment in the film yet be
distanced by certain factors, as seen in the poster for Notting
Hill. Along with this research, I also watched Notting Hill and
The Holiday in preparation for my written coursework, giving
me a greater understanding of the generic conventions of romcoms as well as the escapism it provides to the audiences. This
indicated that these storylines should be unique from one
another whilst keeping them in the same fairly light hearted
spirit that the target audiences for the movies would appreciate
more.
Whilst producing the posters for the two films, I began by
outlining a clear plot for both of my movies that fit in with the
specific target audiences. I then produced mock-ups for each
poster using pictures found on the internet and included basic
poster credits and taglines. For my mock-up of the Under the
Tree poster, a tree is there and represents a clear British
countryside as well as being a romantic setting that could
appeal to females, with simplistic font used for the title, whilst
the mock-up for The Accident relies much more on its crude

British humour to supply double meanings tied with both its

tagline, Oh baby, and its title.
When creating the posters for the two rom-coms, I made
certain decisions to make sure that it came across with
authentic romantic comedy conventions whilst also maintaining
Britishness. In the Under the Tree poster, the tree remains with
the two main characters either side of it, but this time the
background has a much more urban feel to it, and with the
tagline font more stylised to make it seem as if it has been
etched into the trunk of the tree, and, with it being a pun,
having a hint of comedy in there. Other key differences include
that the font that is used for the title differs from that used for
reviews and the tagline, having much more of an elegant finish
to it though also maintaining the simplicity that the title used in
the Notting Hill poster captured, this simplicity being able to be
pulled off by the title being written only in lower case. The
colours shown are easy on the eye, with quite a mellow
undertone, reflecting the movies plot, and the characters are
both looking towards each other but there is a barrier in the
way, once again acting as a metaphor to the overall storyline.
Britishness is displayed in several ways, with an iconic red bus
in the background, as well as the two different weather
conditions on either side of the tree, showcasing Britains
stereotypical ever-changing weather. The poster confidently
shows its light hearted manners through its font, the colours
are warm and welcoming and the overall theme of love found in
nature is conveyed well, although some of the font colouring at
the top for the names of actors are slightly lost, the characters
seem fairly generic with their poses and I couldve used more
well-known actors in order to make the Britishness even more
poignant. In the poster for The Accident, it stays more faithful
to its mock-up than Under the Trees poster does, with it having
the same fundamental ideas with the black and red on the
white background, inspired by Love Actually and Hitch, allowing
the content of the poster, like the title and the tagline, to stand
out more. The boldness of the title adds to the connotations

that can be made from it, with the word accident also being in
red, meaning that it could be a slightly urgent situation, and
with the characters being on one side and hunched up together
suggests that theyve been thrown together, with their facial
expressions implying that theyre not sure what theyre going
to do. Britishness is not only showed by it having a slightly
suggestive tone, but it also stars Daniel Radcliffe, a highlyesteemed British actor that the country is largely aware of. The
image of the two characters is shot at eye level, particularly
with Anoushka Desais character, where it is looking out and
breaking the fourth wall, inviting the audience into the
discovery of her pregnancy. It sticks to the idea of its unique yet
familiar design, the transition of the the on the arm of Desais
character to the accident on the white background, and the
poster credits being able to accommodate the characters
outlines, however the design isnt particularly eye-catching, it
runs the danger of leaving too much to the audiences
imagination and the Britishness is rather hidden and could be
explored upon a lot more, despite it meaning potential changes
of the original design that its based upon. Both films also have
a convention of romantic comedies and Britishness in that
genre in the poster credits, as theyre being produced by
Working Title, which is the same company that have had
success in the past with rom-coms, Notting Hill being one prime
example.
Several theories were also considered as these posters were
being produced, such as escapism and personal identity.
Escapism is displayed on the poster for Under the Tree, where
the background showing an urban environment establishes a
world in which people can get lost into and can leave the world
to build around them from their imaginations, and personal
identity is shown in the poster for The Accident, as the
expressions in which the two character are pulling allow
audience members to relate to them if they consider how they
would react if they were placed in the same kind of situation
that the two characters are.

With the posters needing to appeal to separate target

audiences, I firstly needed to check on people from those
sectors and their opinions on the specific posters. For Under
the Tree, the target audience was females aged thirteen years
and older, and when asking people that fit in with these
specifications, they said that:
The design of the poster seems natural and different.
Its clear that this was meant for a female audience based on
the subtle colours used.
You can see that theres a romance there but the comedy is
slightly more hidden.
The visual of the different weather scenery on either side of
the tree is very effective.
Its exciting to see new names in a film produced by a
company with so much experience.
The main criticism there was the seeming lack of comedy,
which could be improved on by either changing the tagline or
the font that it is presented in. My other film poster, being for
The Accident, is aimed at a slightly older male audience,
preferably for those between sixteen and thirty years old. We
asked this target audience to share their opinions on the
poster, and some quotes included:
It is presented in a striking design, though could be missed
amongst busier posters.
The simplicity of the presentation fits the genre perfectly.
Some of the posters wording gives you a lot to think about.
The fact that it stars Daniel Radcliffe interests me because
Ive liked work of his in the past.
The characters seem really well developed and clearly
comedic based on the faces theyre pulling!
The main criticism here is that it could be missed amongst
other posters, so small modifications like font could be
changed, but if I rearrange it too much then the individuality of
the poster would lose its charm.