Mise-en-scene of a film poster

 How does the mise-en-scene and camera angle/composition within the poster communicate concepts and connotations to the audience?

Step Brothers was written by the two main actors: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, their humorous writing style was seamlessly pulled off, almost like it was written for them!! Mise-en-scene and camera angles within the poster communicate many concepts and connotations to the audience; furthermore, enhancing their humorous style.

The poster is relatively simple, it displays two grown men who appear to be in a physical fight, almost how young children fight with their siblings. The background is completely white and almost all of the writing is written in a sharp red. The people are displaying silly facial expressions as they look at the camera.

Despite the simplicity of the Step Brothers film poster, it really is quite engaging when you delve deeper into it. The use of the white background makes the bold, red writing stand out more, as the contrast between the colours helps the title to ‘pop’, drawing the audience's attention to the title, as the sharp colouring tends to be where people first look. The use of the strong yet traditional font works well alongside the red colouring as they both generate a bold, standout-ish vibe. The title is located in the central-lower quadrant of the poster, the positioning is well thought through as alongside the colouring and font, most people are drawn to the title first.

The ‘brothers’ are only visible in the right quadrant and take up the upper half of the poster. The lack of visibility reflects the genre of the movie as much like a classic comedy they’re all over the place! The actors are clearly grown men, although they’re being portrayed in a childlike manner, insinuating that they’re immature and that the movie is going to be a comedy based around their childish mannerisms. The men appear to be in a physical fight, as one has the other in a headlock and they’re both expressing silly faces, the facial expressions correspond to the genre of the movie, straight away the audience will be anticipating a comedy. 

The use of a male-dominant poster suggests the immaturity of ‘boys’, highlighting the common saying ‘boys will be boys’ this is backed up by the tag line ‘they may have grown up but they haven’t matured.’ this is shown in a black, bold font and is in a clear eye line. The use of the modal verb may, shows the uncertainty as to whether or not the men have grown up mentally, this is also backed up by the use of the full stop which shows that the tagline is more of a statement than a humorous opinion about the two men. The movie's target audience would most probably be men, as it’s a mostly male cast and crew which backs up Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze. Even though the movie will be marketed towards everyone, and every audience should enjoy it; men will be more likely to relate to it; despite the lack of over-sexualized women.

The film poster leaves lots of the plot to the imagination of the audience as there isn’t too much going on, what is clear is the film genre and the fact that it is going to be about the ups and downs of the ‘brothers’ relationship. The simplicity behind the poster was definitely intentional, it could be foreshadowing the movie or the personalities of the characters, simple yet chaotic! 

At the top of the poster, there are the names of the two main characters, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. The names are displayed in big, red, bold writing, drawing the audience’s attention to familiar names. The prevalence of their names helps to sell the movie, as the actors are widely renowned and have their own audiences and fan bases who would help to sell and gain more attention to the movie, as very often people watch movies due to the strength of the cast. The positioning of the actors’ names is strategic as studies show that the top is usually where the audience tends to look at first when looking at new film posters.  

To conclude, the film poster clearly reflects the movie through the use of camera angles and mise-en-scene, it portrays the genre- being a comedy- through the use of positioning and facial expressions. Furthermore, the use of a red and white colour scheme entices the audience, helping to maintain the audience's focus on the characters and their shenanigans.