Analysis Of “ Mission Impossible 2” And “ Die Another Day” Essay Sample
Video covers are mainly used as marketing tools; they are designed to grab the audience’s attention in video stores. The video covers that I am going to discuss are for action films. In order to discuss the persuasive techniques of the film covers that I have chosen I will analyse the language and format of them. The video covers employ different methods and techniques in order to manipulate the audience. I will be analysing two film covers. The first cover is “ Mission Impossible 2” and the second is the James Bond film “ Die Another Day.” Both of these covers are from modern films and are aimed at the modern audience.
Video covers are generally laid out with information on the left side of the cover with an image from the film on the right hand side. The middle of the cover is a strip that contains the film title and normally has a smaller image of the main image, which is on the right hand side of the cover. When the cover is folded into the video case the image on the right of the cover is at the front of the case with the writing on the rear. The middle strip which contains the title and image is on the side of video case. The middle strip is very important as video films can be stacked together and only the side of the case may be visible initially. Although the middle strip only accounts for approximately one eighth of the total area of the video cover it has to contain enough interesting information to make somebody look at it closely and want to pull the video out to see the rest of the video cover.
The first video film cover that I am going to analyse is the “ Mission Impossible 2,” film cover. The purpose of the cover is to make the audience aware of the genre of the film. The front cover consists of an image of the main character in the film at the forefront with fire in the background. Fire and explosions are iconography associated with action films.
Mission Impossible 2 is often abbreviated to MI2 which is a connotation of the other film I am going to discuss “ Die another Day.” This being as James Bond works for MI6 which is all about peace keeping. However you would not realise this from the cover of Die Another Day which shows explosions which is not about peace keeping.
On the Mission Impossible 2 film cover the back part of the cover is split up into five rows. The first row is a single extract from a newspaper critic’s article which is designed to immediately attract the audience’s attention that the main character in the film is played by a top Hollywood star, Tom Cruise. The extract is short but the few words “ Tom Cruise is on the very top of his charismatic form,” would grab the attention of the reader straight away especially if they are Tom Cruise fans. The word “ very,” is very important as this emphasises that the film will not be mediocre due to Tom Cruise’s performance. This also raises audience expectations because they know his acting ability and the type of films he appears in. This also raises the audience’s expectations of the film as they know what Tom Cruise’s acting is like and the type of film he appears in.
The Mission Impossible film is based on an old television series and the younger audience are unlikely to have much knowledge of the series. They are more likely to look at who the star is in the film to determine their interest. However, there is a potential for a wider audience mix with this film as there will be older people who are aware of the old television series and may be attracted to the film for this reason rather than who the star of the film is.
The second row contains a series of photographs of the characters in the film together with another extract from a newspaper critic. The photographs include one of Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle which would indicate to the audience that the film will contain fast action. The newspaper critics extract in this instance refers to the film being “ an all out high octane, super stylised adventure…. with a dash of romance.” This description will attract two audiences, one who likes adventure films and the other type of audience being one who likes a film containing romance and a happy resolution.
The third row consists of a paragraph giving the audience more information about the film. This enables the audience to determine whether they will like the plot of the film before they buy it or rent it. The font of writing in the paragraph is smaller than the font of the newspaper critics so that it does not detract from the impact of those extracts. The font also needs to be smaller as there is a lot of information given about the films plot and a larger font would take up too much space on the video cover.
The third row also tells the reader that they will get bonus features on the video which the audience in the cinema would not see. This information is in red font which is eye catching, makes it stand out and has a strong connotation with danger which would suit a film like Mission Impossible. The red font implies that this is important as red is associated with danger. The additional features are designed to encourage somebody who may have seen the film in the cinema and now want to rent or buy the video to see something new.
The fourth row contains the film credits which includes the stars in the film and who directed it and produced it. These are in an orange font and the letters of each word are closely packed together. This makes the writing very difficult to read. This would indicate that the designers of the video cover did not believe that this information would be of much interest to the reader and have packed a lot of information into a small space.
The final row is made up of small chunks of writing making it easy for the audience to digest. In this section, the film company show to the audience why the film is a fifteen certificate. It is laid out in a clear table showing the audience how much bad language, nudity and violence there is in the plot. This information is important for parents who may be considering buying or renting the film for children. The row also tells the audience how long the film is and includes some technical information on how the film was produced.
A very similar format applies on the back cover of “ Die Another Day.” The “ Die Another Day,” cover has screen shots at the top of the cover similar to the “ Mission Impossible 2,” video cover. These screen shots give the audience glimpses of action from the film.
There are four main screen shots on the James Bond cover. The first screen shot shows James Bond fighting in army camouflage clothing which implies that the film will be all about action which would appeal to a particular audience. It also shows that he remains in a lead role working undercover for the government implying that he is still “ licensed to kill.”
The second screen shot shows two men running. This could be as a result of being chased by James Bond or that they are chasing James Bond. Action films normally contain chase sequences which may be people being chased on foot or there may be vehicle chases. James Bond films are particularly famous for lots of action packed chase scenes. The screen shots on the “ Die Another Day” video cover are designed to tell the audience that this film also contains chase scenes yet the enigma of who and what is being chased is raised but not answered.
The chase theme is further emphasised in the third screen shot where there is a car shown flipping over. This emphasises the iconography of James Bond films. The car screen shot could also appeal to fast car fanatics. All James Bond films are associated with unique spy gadgets and fast cars. This screenshot implies to the audience that this still remains the case, making audiences wanting to return to see the new gadgets and cars James Bond has got.
In the centre of the back cover there is a larger screen shot which shows two cars chasing each other. This indicates that there will be a lot of fast action just like the “ Mission Impossible 2” video cover. However James Bond has a car whilst Mission Impossible has a motorbike. This showing the audience that James Bond likes to arrive in comfort and style whilst in Mission Impossible 2 they prefer to arrive fast. From this we can see the different character of the main actors.
As with the “ Mission Impossible 2” cover there is a section where the producers have put newspaper critics quotes in. These quotes provide the audience with the plot of the film which will enable the audience to see if they would enjoy the film, “ supercool quality from start to finish.”
For the “ Die Another Day” cover the producers have applied the same format for the film credits. This writing is small with the letters close together making it difficult for the audience to read, implying that the credits are not important but have to be on the video cover.
The final section of the “ Die Another Day” cover is all about how the film was made, for example in Hi-Fi stereo. It also contains the film certificate which is a legal requirement on a video cover. This is in a large box so that the audience can see what age range the film is designed for. The reason being that there is not a certain age certificate for each Bond film; it changes with each film, due to there being more action or more romance in it. The producers have to put this on so that people know what age the film is suitable for.
On the right hand side of the cover in “ Die Another Day,” the audience can see who the main stars of the film are (Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry.) These stars are on the front cover to help to market the product. The same applies to the “ Mission Impossible 2,” cover where Tom Cruise is on the front to help to market the product. In the main picture on the “ Die Another Day,” cover the audience can see who has the main role of action and adventure in the film. James Bond has the main role of action as he is holding a powerful and authoritative gun. The woman however is behind him and smaller whilst holding a smaller less commanding gun.
This would imply that the woman is less important in the film than the man. The pointing of the gun by Bond shows his coolness and calculated nature while the pointing of the gun by Cruise shows the reckleness. of Ethan Hawk. On the front cover of Bond the main actress is wearing red leather making her like very sexy but not a stereotypical woman, as she has got short hair and is quite masculine. This contrasts between the MI2 cover as the main actress is a stereotypical woman with long hair. On the front of the MI2 cover there is a silhouette of a hawk in the fire. This implying that this is a metaphor of Ethan Hawk the character Tom Cruise plays. This showing the audience that Hawk’s are not afraid of fire or danger, relating to the character Tom cruise plays.
In the main picture on the “ Die Another Day,” front cover there is a sharp contrast in the imagery. The colour scheme is all about fire and ice (orange and blue.) These colours contrast with each other as the fire would melt the ice. This causes the image to stand out enabling it to be used as a marketing tool. The back cover also works in the same way as it is in an ice colour scheme with black text. The black text stands out so it is easy for the audience to read and understand.
On the “ Die Another Day,” back cover there is not a short synopsis, which gives the audience a slight idea of what the plot is about, like there is on the “ Mission Impossible 2” cover. Instead the producers have decided to put quotes in from newspapers. This is so the audience’s expectations are raised as it has had good reviews from critics. This is in black bold text causing the audience to immediately read it. The quotes are so detailed that they would bring the audience to buy the film, for example the News of the World said “ supercool quality from start to finish.” The word “ supercool,” relates to the front cover and the character of Bond. It relates to Bond being cool due to his gadgets whilst it links to ice on the front being cool. The Sun said “ Bond is back better than ever.” In this quote there is the alliteration of the letter B. This is harsh sounding making it fit in with an action film. These quotes enable the reader to know if other people enjoyed the film and to see if they would.
However on the “ Mission Impossible 2” cover there are quotes from newspapers as well as the short synopsis. The quotes act in the same way as the “ Die Another Day” quotes. For example on the “ Mission Impossible 2” front cover there is a bold white quote from The Sun saying “ A high-octane, white knuckle, eyelash-scorching, screen sensation.” The word “ scorching,” immediately makes the audience think of fire making the quote fit in with the cover just like the Bond cover did with the quote saying “ supercool.” The bold white text immediately stands out from the rest of the page to grab the audience’s attention. The aim of the quotes is to persuade the audience to watch the film; these quotes are used as a marketing ploy by the film producers.
Another marketing ploy for producers is to use big Hollywood stars to sell the film. This is shown in “ Mission Impossible 2” where Tom Cruise is on the front cover to help to sell the film. The producers have shown him in the middle of action with a scar down his face. This is to imply that he is tough and is not scared of anything. This is backed up with the explosions behind him. The picture is a close up with him holding a gun in his left hand. The close up shows the audience how big the explosion was as his hair is swept back with the force of it. Both covers use the theme of fire to get across the message about action. Bond however, is in a smart stylish suit whilst Tom Cruise is in a casual leather jacket. From this the audience can see the difference in character between both films.
In both video covers the shot of the main character or characters are taken from below eye level which gives a sense of increased height and authority for the characters. This is particularly useful for short actors such as Tom Cruise. This type of shot also gives a sense of speeded motion which is beneficial for this genre of film.
The marketing of the James Bond film “ Die Another Day” does not rely so much on who the actor is who plays James Bond so much as who plays the lead role in “ Mission Impossible 2.” This being as Bond is the icon not Pierce Brosnan.
A wide audience will be aware of the James Bond name and also his designated secret agent number “ 007.” 007 takes a large prominent position on the front of the “ Die Another Day” video cover. Pierce Brosnan’s name is only contained in small font and is not as prominent. Anybody seeing the cover would immediately recognise its iconography and know it is a James Bond film. However, with “ Mission Impossible 2” the main characters name would only be known to a small audience and therefore the vide cover gives a much larger profile to Ton Cruise’s name.
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