Production: Warp Films and Film4
Distribution: Optimum Releasing (UK), The Weinstein Company (USA)
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Richard Ayoade
Synopsis: Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is a Welsh teen who has some things on his mind; losing his virginity before his 16th birthday is evidentially the most prevalent. He initially intends to woo his feisty classmate Jordana (Yasmin Paige), but is then forced to focus on holding his family together. His father (Noah Taylor), a depressed marine biologist, seems unequal to the task of preventing Oliver's mother (Sally Hawkins) from succumbing to the dubious charms of a spiritual guru (Paddy Considine) from down the road.
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American Poster: This poster heavily relies on the use of primary colours to stand out, promoting the sense of simplicity and rawness about the subject mater of coming of age, and whilst the colours fail to have an evidentially clear relation to one another, they combine to perhaps spark the manifestation of the contrasting emotions and tones in their most simple form during puberty which the audience will relate to as it's fairly generic, and in relation to Levi Struss's Binary Oppositions, there is a clear divide in Oliver's emotions; emotions and pragmacy are conflictive. The blue, a denotation, can be connoted as depression or sadness, contrasted with the red of perhaps anger or love (regardless, passion), and the yellow is happiness which is transparent of a gentrified version of the spectrum of human emotion, further alluding to how this can appeal to a mass audience as it's about such a tangible topic; romance. The combination of these colours seem fairly dull, having the inclusion of the black and white effect, perhaps due to an American audience seeing Wales as a dreary, rainy, depressive place in contrast to how an English audience would be accustomed to the darkened scenes.
Additional ways in which colour is utilised is the splicing in half of Craig Roberts; a blue lense covers the bottom half of the photo, which alludes to him being submerged in water (an allegory for emotion), and his eyes are wide and worried. Confirmed by the film title, there is an implication of overwhelming emotions, and consequently this fundamental ideology doubles up to create the impression of a drowning protagonist; his vacant exprthe protagonist being submerged under the water.
The mise-en-scen's costume of Oliver's tie and shirt allude to a school boy's confusion, the facial expression also promoting the fact he feels lost; this is archetypcal for teenagers to be presented as unintelligent and inexperienced. This is emphasised, again, by the monochrome tint which embodies the ideology that not only is this British drama is dingy and dark and perhaps something that will not wholly relate to American culture (ie. there is a grey area of situated culture), but there is a 'grey area' of teenage knowledge.
A significant feature to this poster is the inclusion of Ben Stiller's name, and whilst he is known worldwide, he is an American actor/comic which provides a sense of proximity, autonomy and perhaps respectability that would promote it to this audience as they may not feel as though it is strictly exclusive to British people; they have put this in a red box to draw the attention away from the simple aesthetics, but as it is consistent with the colour scheme, it is a reflection for how American audiences will fit in and enjoy the movi even if they do not fully understand the British intertextual references.
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This poster is undeniably more chaotic, but still coincides with the colour scheme; the theme of their coats representing who they are (a middle-class ideology, that clothes make the man) is a concept that echoes the characters personality, and how teenagers are emotionally-driven. This is alluded to through Jordanna's red coat (anger and passion) and Oliver's blue coat (depression and lonliness), and it is only together they can reach the yellow (happiness), however much like the split-screen layout, this will be challenging and difficult. This style involved screenshots of the movie, an ensemble of story-board looking images which create the sense this is quite ammaturish, eradicating the ideology to the audience that there has to be some kind of perfection in everything, and in contemporary society this is an ideology that is continually challenged.
The simplicity is continued with the sans serif font, a convention of the drama/romance genre, which is undeviating in this poster but is often used excessively/incessantly to the point where it looks unprofessional and less likely to catch attention. This provides a sense of pragmatic thought and sensibility to the movie, perhaps alluding to a Mainstream audience as it's a familiar genre, but also perhaps alluding to an Aspirer (the attractive cover), and maybe even an Explorer (it's an indue film, so a Prosumer is required, and fluffy romance films need to be challenged with realistic movies sometimes).
Levi Strauss's Binary Oppositions relates here; there is a clear divide of male and female through the use of colours and how they express themselves; Oliver is more enclosed and vacant, whereas Jordanna is energetic and flamboyant. This conforms to common stereotypes that men are stoical and pragmatic, and women are good-communicators and expressionistic.
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UK Poster: This is the DVD cover for the movie, but it was also the English poster, and I feel as though this effectively portrays teenagers in a different light than the American one; the aforementioned minimalistic design and colour palette are energetic and vivid, moreso than we usually see them. This hyperreality lends itself well to the intertextual reference of the psychadelic artwork of the Beatle's song Yellow Submarine, as the first part of the title is in yellow; this rewards a British audience as they will be more likely to understand this, particularly as Wales is in the North West.
The blue strip consuming one third of the poster, and through the use of thirds in photography, we are drawn to the vulnerability of youth and vacant expression of awkwardness in Oliver's eyes, and with the rise of technology with the birth of this movie, communication (or the lack thereof in Oliver's case) makes the movie comedic, alleviating some pressure from stereotypes of teenagers as incoherant or ignorant, as we can see Oliver is just socially awkward. These colours make this poster stand out from Mainstream movies, connoting to how this is for a niche audience.
Oliver is in colour in this poster, connoting to the frivolity of puberty and how engaging the movie will be; he is shown in a human light, like a normal person suffering, not in a negative monochrome light. I think this basic primary colour palette links to the simple beauty of innocence and the genuine representations.
Representations can include class and age, aswell as gender; Oliver Tate is evidentially young, juxtaposing his outfit, which is a connotation of his possible middle-class stature.
Albeit minimalistic with the names included on this poster, this demonstartes the niche audience as they are careless about the lack of a star vehicle the movie is; it is not about huge profit it's about discussion and the themes. However, to broaden the audience, Richard Ayoade is name dropped, and whilst this was his debut director film, he is recognisable and may attract an inhereted audience for the Channel 4 show 'The IT Crowd', where he is infamously known to play comic relief, echoing the tone of the movie and the British values/humour. The names mentioned are ones recognisable to the British Film industry and Submarine is another alternative drama film funded produced by Warp Films and Film4 Productions like This is England, showing that there will be familiarlity for Mainstreamers.
Another audience successfully targeted at the age group of 18-25. As a 'student' age group, alternative texts have mass appeal, so by commendearing the film festival awards (London and Toronto Film Festival), the raw nature of indie genre is confirmed. The reviews at the top of the page is manipulative of a conventional layout as the title in the right half of the landscape, though due to the rule of 3, this is centrefold so audiences may look here first. The quote 'The best British comedy in years' is effectively proclaimative of authority of the poster as it tends to be the first thing that audiences read besides the title, reinforcing it's vital to the movie; the adjectives have engaging attributes, promoting the ideology it is a thought provoking film. The reference to the British film industry is integral as the target audience of this is British, and potentially may agree that our indutry is neither particularly compelling or intruiging as a spectacle, and is in need or reform...this films fulfils this as it stands out.
Another indication to the demogrpahic to this film is the soundtrack, "Featuring original songs by Alex Turner", the name indicating importance as his notoriety as Arctic Monkeys frontman and frequent songs about love, less, turmoil and adolescent draw attention and selling point as he is reknowed for indie music.
Richard Ayoade talking to Empire Magazine on his directing debut, Submarine:
Website: http://warpfilms.com/feature/submarine/ : As I am unable to take screenshots of this particular website on a varying degree of computers, I contest that it is very simplistic, in keeping with the rest of the marketing. There is a simple palette of black and blue, and there is a bar that allows you to skip past some stills of the movie.
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DVD Cover: This is a very typical DVD laylout, starting with the five stars at the top which is also the same yellow used throughout, including the middle, alluding to the global positivity from the film. Whilst this is not exclusively happiness associated with the movie, it promotes the high ratings to audience, telling them that this is a movie worth buying.
Henceforth, the interesting screenshots from the movie act as Enigma code to the plot's relevance, encouraging the audience to become Prosumers, effectively puchasing the text to unveil what happens, ie. why Oliver is sitting in a bathtub in the middle of nowhere, fully clothed. The stills combine various degrees of colour, imminently creating a very interesting, albeit minimalistic, intruiging DVD case. It is heavily aesthetically pleasing for an indie audience as it doesn't undermine audiences by sensationalist, prevaded cases that represent teenage life as glorified; this seems gritty and realistic, subsequently allowing foreign audiences to engage with the realism and simplicity as it respects the intelligence of the audience (as they are independent, they are more likely to be Prosumers and henceforth consumer more intellectually engaging texts).
All DVD’s feature a blurb on the back, informative of a synopsis, and some may even include a ‘special features’ box, highlighting often funny, behind-the-scenes documentary-esque videos, appealing to a Prosumer who yearns for more content of their own, that isn't just the film itself. There are some conventional features listed here, including but not limited to a barcode, age certificate,producation companies/financial partners billing block, etc. There is also the inclusion of running time and a scanning item that looks like it's purposed for satisfaction of entertainment, fulfilling a Uses and Gratifications criterea, but also a Prosumer as by scanning this barcode, some companies enter you into a bundle pack competition.
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