Module 1 Revision
Advert - Citroen C2

The form and purpose of this advert is to advertise the car to a young target audience aged between 21-25; who are able to drive and afford an ‘urban-sports car’.

The advert has a simple, yet sophisticated colour theme of black, red and yellow and the composition of it all is simple. The main image of a car is dominated by text and the two are the main images caught by the eye. The car is the only and dominate image on the advert and is shown to be smaller than the text, the car is clearly represented as the product that is being advertised. The car itself is black; a classy colour within cars and clashes with the black background yet at the same time showing some continuity within the advert, however, the whiteness/silver of the car makes it stand out.

The text that is used on the advert is dominating over the whole advert and is written in a red and bold font. The text reads ‘It’s got a feminine side.” which subverts the patriarch society and the ideologies that a car is a man vehicle. However, the smaller part of the text reads ‘The passenger seat.’ reinforcing a patriarch society and the advert has no representative nature of femininity; the colours of black and red don’t have many connotations of females. The dominant black can be seen as a colour for men and although the red often connotes love; against the black if also has connotations of death and dark imagery that is not very lady-like. The ideology of patriarchal society reflects the male audience that is being targeted by the advertisers.

As cars manufacturers often have similar ways of making cars, the company logo is place on the top right of the advert, however, as it is in white is stands out against the black background. The colour theme of red and white conveys the Citroen logo and creates a sense of continuity. The smaller text gives the audience a chance to find out more about the car; through a website or a free number and the price is also shown below; to give the audience an idea of how much the product costs. The smaller print at the bottom of the page is a conventional text that is used in car adverts and shows the ‘official government fuel consumptions figures’ that also represent the topical issue of the rising in CO2 emissions.

Furthermore the simple style of the advert is conventional for car adverts, as the car is the main focus of the text. The use of dark colours appeal to the younger audience and so does the simple composition on the whole advert. The patriarchal jokes also appeals to the male audience and gives the car a masculine association and reinforces a patriarchal society. The theme of red and white shows continuity with the advert and the cars company logo. Finally, the image of the car is clearly shown to promote the product that is being advertised.

Module 1 Revision
Film Poster
'Little Miss Sunshine' (2006)
A family on the verge of a breakdown



The purpose of a film poster is to reach the target audience and engage them, making them want to watch the film that is being advertised. In the case of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ the film poster appeals to an art-house/independent audience; which is often a white, middle class audience.

The genre of the film is art-house as the poster shows the film was selected in the Sundance Film Festival and this therefore reinforces the appeal to an art-house audience. The institution of the film further has suggestions of being independent as is it produced by ‘Fox Searchlights’ and also the actors used are not famous Hollywood actors; and listing the main actors name on the poster is conventional for art-house films posters and has been used on posters like ‘I Heart Huckabees’.

The film poster has a colour theme of yellow and this reinforces the title ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ as the colour yellow connotes sunshine; the van is also yellow and this already shows continuity. The title has a suggestion of challenging the patriarch society as the ‘Miss’ suggests the main protagonist is a female and in the male dominated cast the ‘Little Miss’ can be seen on the little girl running and most of the male characters are focused on her. The male dominated cast reinforces a patriarchal society but the main protagonist being female challenges this; also there is a white dominated cast and shows no ethnic minority representation.

The main image shows a very long shot of a family, one member is pushing the van, another two are sitting in the van and the ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are running behind a little girl that seems to be enjoying a jog. The main image shows family values and the tagline further reinforces these family values. Although the family are on a ‘verge of a breakdown’ the poster suggests that the film is based around this one family and the image also shows a happy family that are working together.

The film poster doesn’t give much away of the narrative leaving an enigma, however, the review quotations help to solve the enigma. The quotations suggest the film is about ‘winning, losing’ and has part of a road-trip element. The ideology of competition can be interpreted in the film poster. The little girl is represented as training and the idea of ‘winning’ is reinforced by the image.

The film poster for ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is simple and sophisticated. There is a colour theme of black font and yellow; the yellow reinforces the diction ‘sunshine’ in the title. The male dominated cast reinforces a patriarch society; however, the main protagonist is female and therefore challenges those ideologies and values. Other values that are evident on the poster is the idea of family that is conveyed through the image and the tagline, also the idea of competition is shown through the image of the little girl and the review quotations. Finally, the poster is clearly targeted at the niche art-house audience as the film was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and the use of unknown actors/actresses reinforces this and also the simplicity of the poster appeals to a sophisticated middle class audience.