Poster Reasearch #4 - 'Radio Friendly' - Sam McLeish

'Radio Friendly' (Cormac Donnelly, 2014, UK)

Media Language

I actually find this poster really enjoyable to look at, even though it is minimalistic in it's design. For example, the cursive writing of the title reminds me of sound-waves that works incredibly well with the motif of the radio as the main visual. Also, the darker colour scheme promotes the idea to a literal darker issue that will present itself in the show.

Audience and Genre

However, the green and red lines leaving the radio seems incredibly sinister, which seems accurate that this film is also a sci-fi short as well as a comedy and a romance film, according to IMDb. This would suggest to the audience that the film is more tailored to a male audience that typically enjoy the sci-fi genre more, especially as the tagline mentions 'soldering', which is normally assigned as a male's job.

Representation 

Although this isn't directly addressed, we can also see that a male character is being represented to the audience through the three words of the tagline "Music. Love. Soldering". This is clearly a comedic attempt on the designers behalf but this represents the philosophy of the traditional rock band lifestyle that so many older man idolised in their younger years, as shown in the older style radio. This is then useful to appeal to because nostalgia clearly sells, but even better if it has a modern twist that will still appeal to this audience, especially in the sci-fi category. 
 

Comparisons to other posters

The issue with simplicity is that it seems to overshadow the key elements that are needed in a short film poster. For example this poster doesn't feature any social media platforms that is a useful tool to engage your audience even more, let alone the basic necessities of a billing block or actor accreditation. This suggests to the audience that this film is extremely low budget and wouldn't be worth seeing, especially with a lack of awards and reviews from key institutions in the media industry, so the designer has shot themselves in the foot if they aim to reach a wide audience.