Poster 1 Analysis

 

This poster is generating curiosity, instead of saying “He did it, we have proof.” Which would spoil the ending, the words “Did he do it?” encourage the viewer to wonder and make their own minds off, it is also possible that the person it is about is in court during it’s release, or has been declared not guilty, which would mean exclaiming he did it would be defamation, along with that, despite the very real crime, this is still a documentary for engagement, meaning they need to make it exciting/make people curious to find out the truth The Staircase poster uses 3 different fonts, with the majority being the same font, the two lines under the word Staircase use the other two fonts, while the names of the other documentaries are in italic. The layout is interesting, as it uses “The Rule of Three” where the poster has 3 invisible lines, with the majority of the middle being full of text and the persons face, this is because the eyes usually land on the middle (Although with bright colours it can be other places, but with the red being in the middle section it doesn’t change the eyes bias.) The colour scheme is very appealing, as the text is red or white, making them work well together. The person in the background is in greyscale, the entire greyscale are good colours that blend with most others, making the poster eye-catching but not ugly. The only image in this poster is of someone’s face, he’s looking away with a hand to his mouth, likely this image represents the suspect, and his reaction (whether real or false) to the news of his wife’s death, as his face looks like he’s confused or saddened by the news. The main target audience is likely adults given the nature of the documentary, its likely too graphic for children, and not interesting to most teens, meaning adults who have heard of the incident are the primary audience, having said, some teenagers (on the older side) may have an interest in, or do a college/university course based on crimes, meaning Documentaries on crimes would help/entertain the few that like it.