Forrest Gump Poster Analysis

Narrative:
It is clear that 'Forrest Gump' is the protagonist of the film as it is named after him and the colours around him do not suggest that he is dark or evil. He is sat on a bench with a briefcase next to him which suggests he is going on some sort of journey. His body language suggests that he is eager to see the world and the fact that his hands are placed lightly on the bench shows that he's ready to move.

Layout:

The layout is very simple due to the small amount of text and images - which symbolises the mind of the protagonist.  The orientation used in this poster is portrait and the only image takes the main focal point. To the right of this crucial information can be seen and then below Forrest the rest of the information is displayed. This leaves part of the poster very bare but in this case, unusually, it works in the films favour. Forrest is seen looking up towards some of the empty space in the poster. It allows the target audience to imagine what Forrest is thinking about and try seeing the world in his eyes - which as you can tell from the tagline, is how they want you to interpret it. This is likely to increase their desire to want to see the film.

Text:

The tagline is ‘The world will never be the same once you’ve seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump.’ This is a short but powerful statement. It suggests that Forrest has been through a lot in his life (suggesting once again the drama genre) and that his look on the world is refreshing and new. I believe the target audience for this film is adults as it is likely to deal with his life story which will probably involve showing some of his ‘darker’ times. Information is shown at the bottom of the poster (production company, additional marquee names, etc.). The BBFC rating certificate is shown at the very bottom left corner of the poster. It is a PG-13 and parents are ‘strongly cautioned’. This reinforces the thought that Forrest’s story will have some dark moments in it with more mature themes. 

Colours:

A limited amount of colours are used in this poster, adding to the idea of this film being a simple look on the world. White, a colour which has connotions of innocence and purity, is used most (as it is the background). A couple of shades of brown are used (his suit, the bench and the text at the bottom). Brown is a muted, natural colour again adding to the idea of this film being based on simple, basic themes. The two contrasting colours of red and blue are used in the main text of the poster. These colours stand out in comparison to the other colours which is vital as they are displaying important information that the consumer must see.