Skyfall (poster)

The James Bond, Skyfall poster consists of Daniel Craig sitting on an Aston Martin, holding a small handgun. He is the main centre of the poster therefore the viewer will know immediately that Daniel Craig is the protagonist and is playing James Bond. The main features of the film help identify the genre of the film, classic spy props such as the flash car and the Walther pistol (generic spy handgun due to how compact and professional it is) show the viewer the genre of the film, the car is an Aston Martin, a British make of car, this is another indication of the heavy London setting.

The colour scheme to this poster is black and white, this sets up a very grim, melodramatic mood to the film, it also indicates a note of relative simplicity, as if to suggest that this film will not change what viewers tend to expect from a James Bond film. Either way, this is a very tired technique and has been used countless amounts of time by film producers, editors and mediocre photography "artists" alike. atop the dull colour pallet of black and white "007" is in bright gold, sticking out prominently from the rest of the poster, despite of it's small size. This is relatively effective in making this specific detail stand out, without blocking the viewers attention away from the main image of the poster. The use of "007" standing out is to make sure that the viewer is aware that Skyfall is another Bond film

Daniel Craig is causally leaning on his car, gun in hand, as the main image of this poster. He has a very solemn look on his face and he is not looking at the camera, this makes the viewer believe that he has a major problem on his mind and he doesn't have time to look at the camera. The gun in his limp hand has a very subtle implication of violence, without actually displaying any on the poster. I feel that this is a very effective method, because displaying actual fight scenes of a passable quality on a poster is very hard and the whole method of having the actor point the gun at the screen is overdone to the point of exhaustion. Therefore having his weapon fall limply to his side ensures that viewer can focus on other aspects of the poster and give the poster a vague sense of originality, but at the same time there is an air of menace radiating from the gun.

In general, I don't believe this poster is particularly effective in conveying  the main aspects of the film. It is very underwhelming as the trailer does not contain much. I believe the creator of this poster was attempting to go for a dramatic, deep look but there was simply too little content in the poster to make any real assumption from it, furthermore James Bond is not meant to be particularly brooding and deep, intellectual and suave yes, but he's not some misunderstood poet meaningfully gazing across the city of London, he is essentially just a hired gun, but the creator behind this poster seemed to want to give him some sort of thoughtful, sensitive side which I don't believe gave the films justice.