Terminator Genisys poster analysis

This film poster is the 2015 poster of the Terminator film franchise. The colour of
the title is metallic and the font style is futuristic and therefore represents the sci-fi
genre. Also the use of the word terminator sounds robotic and the word Genisys is
not a real word, as a result connotes the dystopian scientific world that is not the real
world. Apart from this the word Genisys sounds serious and very much suited for
the film title. Because of the graphics, the title stands out from the background of the
image of the buildings. However the title Terminator is a lot bolder and bigger in size
compared to the word Genisys, this may because the film title Terminator is well
known therefore having that stand out more will mean that previous target audience
will know about the film and instantly recognize the title and poster.
The key image of the poster is of the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) however the
other key images in descending order are of Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, Jason
Clarke as John Connor and finally Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese. The reason behind the
image of Schwarzenegger being the largest in size is due to the fact that he is the
face of Terminator film franchise, in other words many would say there is no
terminator without Arnold Schwarzenegger. The key image of the Guardian is the
largest therefore can be seen is most detail. The side of the guardians face is burnt
and as a result the metal underneath the flesh can be seen. This suggests the
guardian is robotic character and therefore connotes sci-fi film genre. Another image
that portrays the same idea is the image of John Connor amidst the fire and mostly
the metallic parts are visible. The second key image is of Sarah Connor who is second
biggest image in size. The clothing shes wearing is a leather jacket and the colours
are mostly all black. Asides from this the character is holding a prop which is a robot
skull with red eyes. This could suggest that the robot skull and guardians skull are
similar since the guardians eyes are also red. The next character in the poster is Kyle
Reese whos holding a gun and pointing it towards the skull. This suggests the robot
skull is possibly dangerous or a threat to human kind. Apart from the clothes that
these three characters are wearing is black leather with army style/green trousers,

which imply a serious tone to the poster. Furthermore the image of John Connor in
the fire as a robot gives the idea that robots are unbeatable as they are able to
survive in fire.
One interesting thing that I noticed of the key images is that all the characters are
looking straight, eye level at the audience. It gives off the feeling that these
characters are looking at the audience. Due to this it makes the poster more eye
catching. All in all the combination of the key images and the graphics such as the
fire suggest this film is going to have an adventurous narrative.
The main colour scheme used in the poster is black and yellow/orange. These colors
used to show the fire effect stand out against the black background or the poster. The
use of the colour red as seen in the eyes of the guardian and the robot skull show a
possible significance of the colour red as being danger. Another colour that stands
out is the grey metallic against the bleak colours of the city. The effect of the colour
black is that it gives serious tone to the poster and works alongside the serious facial
expressions of the characters; the bright colour of the fire draws attention to the
characters especially the guardian and John Connor. Therefore suggesting a possibly
relationship between these characters.
The setting is not specifically identifiable through the poster as it is small in size
compared to the character images, however the setting is implied to be a city place
as lots of buildings can be seen below the characters and the setting could possibly
in New York or somewhere that is more of a modern setting. The modern city setting
may have been chosen to put the unbelievable (the robots) and the believable (the
city) together, as the most audiences would have familiarizes themselves with cities
and understands about them however robots are more mysterious as little is known
about them.
The target audience for the film could potentially be teenagers and adults, especially
the audiences who know the terminator franchise. The narrative of this film is little
more mysterious compared to Frankenstein film poster. The body language/position
suggests that these characters are ready to fight or on defense mode, especially
the image of Kyle Reese with the gun. The impression portrayed from the characters
is that the characters are about to face or are facing a problem, it sort of creates
enigma about what has made them so serious. Apart from this the colours used are
relevant to the sci-fi genre, the colours that the characters are wearing are all similar
therefore could suggest that they are in the same team or fighting against something
together. Although the colour black would represent evil but in this image the
characters dont look evil due to their facial expression. However the colour black
could have been used to create a mysterious aura around the characters, which
therefore attracts more target audiences.
The images could have particularly been laid out in this size order to show the
importance of the characters, furthermore the fire around John Connor secludes him
from the rest of the characters, which may suggest he is the villain/evil character that
causes disequilibrium in the narrative. As a result of this the layout of the images
does give little clues about the possible narrative routes of this film.
The poster has been created using DTP/ computer generated design. Due to this the
design of the poster different in media compared to the older posters. The facial
expression is much more recognizable and the texts are clearer. Therefore the poster
is made attractive to the target audience through the use of innovative graphics such
as the fire and robotic face which look realistic and more eye catching. I think the

USP of this film poster is the character key images, which help establish the
relationship and possible narrative between the characters whilst still producing
enigmas.