It’s a poster from the “Pretty Little
Liars” series, season two.
Looking at this picture you can tell
straight away who the main characters gonna be – four young good-looking girls,
as they are sitting at the foreground. They
all are located pretty much at the same distance from the audience, nobody
massively covers another character, what gives a connotation that they all are
equal and there is no leader and that the series will cover the story lines of
all four equally. Also the camera angle is eyelevel, what puts us at the same
step as the girls – this may force us to put ourselves in their positions
during watching a series, what will probably effect us further.
Moreover, I believe the directors had
done a great job as this poster reflects and supports the contrast created in
the name of the series. “Pretty little” and “liars” is the oxymoron, and the
poster mirrors it as presents a contrast between nice white table, fresh
fruits, high-heels(!) fancy clothes, all ripped up and dirty and girls covered
with dust, sitting on the elegant chairs straight on the raw ground.
If you just glance at that poster –
you probably would not notice anything strange. That what makes it so good –
you actually need a bit of time to find this contrast, to see that the girls are
supposed to be looking like they are about to go the the wedding, or the
restaurant, but their clothes and faces are strangely dirty and instead they
are in the middle of nowhere with some scary black trees on the back ground. It
provides a connotation to the audience, that girls in the series would be
somewhere or in the situation they would not want to be in, feeling lost and
weird.
From that little piece of information
we already can identify a genre. It’s going to be a thriller. And there’s gonna
be a lot of unexpected, strange and dangerous things going on. You would even
see some deaths and murders, some crimes, involving hiding a body, as you can
see there’s a shovel at the girl’s feet, what also gives us an idea that they
gonna be the killers.
What is the most interesting thing
about this poster – are the emotions of the girls, in my opinion. There are 4
female characters on the poster and each of them provides a clue for the audience
which we have to uncover.
Two girls on the left are both looking
directly at the camera, but I would argue they have different emotions written
on their faces. The blonde girl’s chin is pulled down, so she’s looking at us
sullenly, like trying to threaten us. This gives a little clue about what kind
of character she is – stubborn, strong, maybe even dangerous.
The second girl on the left is
looking straightly at the camera also, but her facial emotions are rather
mysterious, questioning, and even a bit tired. This may have a connotation of
her being a weaker character, who cannot stand up for herself, but she doesn’t
look terrified, she’s more looking seeking for the answer for me.
The second girl from the right is
sitting at an angle with an open mouth. I would say she’s looking somewhere
just above the cameras, what may be an indicator of her being a character who
always look further, analyzing her current actions and trying to plan the
future. Her open mouth may suggest that she’s talkative, or that she has a
secret she’s just about to reveal to somebody who’s just above the camera.
The last girl on the right holds a finger on her lips. By the way, she appears like that at the every single season poster
of the “Pretty Little Liars”, the directors promise the reason for that will be
revealed in the last season. However, this gives us a strong imagery of this
girl being highly important in the series. Also, as she looking straight at us
we may feel a bit uncomfortable with that look at the way she tell us to keep
our mouth shut. Moreover, I find it incredibly interesting how they put two
girls I’ve talked about just above together. It looks like the one with an open
mouth is just-just about to say something, and the one on the right tells her
to shut up. This is a great way to make us realize that however this girls are
equal, they would have secrets from each other, they are going to argue from
time to time.
To conclude I want to say that this
is an incredibly nice poster, as it’s full of juxtapositions in every little
detail. I love the way the mise-en-scene is set, like they’ve ripped out a
picture from a magazine and pasted it on the top of the spooky isolated place,
with possible graves around. Just this one poster creates so much questions in
your head that unwillingly you would love to watch that series. It also sticks
in mind quite well, due to beautiful actresses and the soft pink and blue
color, which, despite thriller genre, will probably be a series for young
girls with love, dramas and nice clothes.
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