GRIZZLY MAN-Tasha Reynolds

GRIZZLY MAN

(Independent film poster)

Source for this poster

Applying MRANG-

Media language;

The poster is designed in a portrait format, the image is taken as a long two shot; giving us a unrestricted, clear visual understanding of what the image involves. The poster does look very edited to the point where the photo resembles a cartoon-like effect.

Mise en scene;

Dark tones and colours overpower the image while the bear is the brightest visual icon within the image; suggesting that the film centres on him or his kind. The format of the text varies, for instance the title is in sharp big capitals like a blade resembling defensiveness. The top part of the poster is consumed by grey clouds where small writing sits in a column saying “In nature there are boundaries”, this form of text might be a quote by one of the characters suggesting it’s to do with nature and wildlife. The sun appears from behind the bear suggesting that the brightness and hope revolves around the bear. The whole setting is in the outdoors in some sort of field. The body language is very contrasted as the man looks very weary and cautious as he’s approaching the bear.

Whereas the bear himself is midway through growling at the man, suggesting the film relates to the relationship between animals and humans. The tagline says “One man spent the last 13 years of his life crossing them”. This tagline is quite long and detailed suggesting the film explores certain issues in detail. The fact that we know from the information given that the film is about bears suggests that the genre may be a documentary. As it includes detailed information on the poster; like the tagline suggesting that it revolves around a man researching and investigating into the animals for a long period (thirteen years) of time.

Representation;

The representation of power and status in this film poster could be interpreted in a variety of ways. For instance, you could say that the bear has the power in the situation seen on the poster, as he is much larger and stronger than the human opposite him. The bear also looks quite stand offish and defensive as he has its back arched and is growling towards the oncoming person.

Whereas the male character that is approaching him is obviously defenceless and he has no weapons or equipment to defend himself against the bear so you could say that he is very vulnerable in this picture. On the other hand when analysing the fact that the man is approaching the bear defencelessly; this suggests that he is trusting towards the bear and believes that he will not hurt him. So you could also say that the level of status is equal as they are both confident within themselves.

Audience & Genre;

Like the other short film and independent film posters, this one doesn’t have a visible age certificate on it. Therefore, spectators are unclear of what age rating this film is targeting.

However, through certain semantic codes such as the setting in the wildlife and the fact that it contains atypical character types like bears it suggests that the film genre is a documentary. Within this genre is a sub-genre; ‘Nature Documentary’ as it revolves around animals.

The target audience would therefore be anyone male or female who likes this type of genre. However, I think there would be a slight age restriction towards younger children as a lot of documentaries to do with wildlife contain violence and disturbing scenes. So the age certificate may be directed towards a 12 or 15.

Additionally, when analysing the body language and facial expression of the bear itself it is clear that the bear appears to be promoting some form of violence which suggests that this independent film contains this theme.

Narrative;

As I said before the theme of violence is strongly communicated through the actions of the atypical character of the bear itself, in the poster. Additionally, the poster also suggests that the film is about the analytical research into the life of bears and the way humans understand this; suggested through the tagline which tells us that “one man spent 13 years” understanding and learning about this. Therefore, another theme could be the understanding of other species as humans.

Additional information;

For an independent film the overall semantic content of the poster is very well structured. The poster also includes additional information like the film production company logo's as well as their own website that helps promote and give information about the film.