Research: 'Total Recall' - Poster Analysis

Total Recall (2012), starring Colin Farrell and directed by Len Wiseman, is a remake of the action/thriller/science-fiction 1990 film Total Recall. The poster below was used to promote and market the film before its theatrical release, and uses many tools and skills to attract a specific demographic.

 All of the text on the poster has been aligned to the centre, drawing our eyes automatically to the tagline in the centre of the poster, which anchors the information suggested in the image.  An image of a white male (stereotypical of the genre) is also situated in the centre of the poster, which lets us know that he is the protagonist and main focus of the film. His isolation signifies that his character might work alone throughout the film and suggests that he might be quite lonely. The position of his body (standing up straight, looking down with his head cocked slightly towards his left) suggests he feels as though it’s him against the rest of the world, and he is working for his own agenda. The use of a mid-long shot from a fairly low angle represents his dominance and alludes to the fact that he will probably ultimately have control over any disruption occurring in the narrative and will overcome any struggles he may face, which is also a conventional narrative feature in action/sci-fi movies. In the protagonist’s hand there is a gun, which is an icon of action films and appeals to fans of the genre, complementing the cross between action and sci-fi conventions within the film, marketing it as both genres by using it along with the futuristic setting of the background to capture its target audience. By using London’s most famous landmark (the Big Ben clock tower), we can instantly see that the film is set in London, but the fact that the rest of the background is crowded with other unrecognisable city landscape features, we know that it is definitely set in the future.

The dark blue, grey and green colours have connotations of loneliness and suggest there may be dark/sad elements to the film, including the dark clothing which helps to signify potential sorrow within the protagonist’s inner feelings. This is conventional for action films starring a white male as the main character, which is also stereotypical of its genre and helps the audience instantly identify with what is to be expected from the film. White and silver have been used for the text, which gives a metallic edge to the poster, and re-enforces the futuristic background, whilst contrasting with the other colours that have been used and standing out dramatically. The use of the sans-serif font of the title and tag line is both futuristic and masculine, which identifies with the target audience. By having the tagline “What is real?” in the direct centre of the poster, our eye is drawn to it immediately, and allows us to consider the question it is asking us as we look at the rest of the poster. The largest font on the poster is of the title ‘Total Recall’, which is simple and straight to the point, telling fans of the original movie that it is a remake from the beginning, and summarises everything else we have seen in the poster so far, anchoring it all and making as much sense of it as possible.

Under the title, the vague release date of just stating the season of its release (rather than a specific date) builds up hype around the film is positioned right next to the website (which is written in smaller font size), providing a place for potential fans to go for more information along with the name of the studio that created the film, as a point of research/information for the audience. The lack of credits on the poster, and the lack of Colin Farrell’s name appearing on it suggests that the film is being sold as ‘Total Recall’, rather than ‘the new Colin Farrell film’, and doesn’t overcrowd the poster with too much time, leaving room for our own independent thoughts about the film, which creates suspense and leaves us questioning the film’s tagline “What is real?”, which encourages people to want to go and see the film to find the answers of their curiosities.