Film poster analysis: 'Heat' (1995)

 

‘Heat’ (1995) is an American crime thriller directed by Michael Mann and stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The film follows the lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief. Intense bank robberies, gun fights and a very suspenseful ending is what is great about this movie. ‘Heat’ is considered to be one of the top crime thrillers ever made. The film poster displays the main characters by using images from the actual movie. The poster primarily focuses on the contrast between the blue background and the characters which have been blackened and shaded. The technique of shading creates a sense of mystery and deception as the characters are hardly visible and the dark colour of the characters could give the audience the impression that they are immoral and ill-fated. The blue background is quite contemporary facilitating the audience’s attention of the main characters and also shows the audience that this film is a thriller as blue is a colour that is quite frequently used in thriller movies. Blue is a colour that can represent the police therefore telling the audience that this movie with include the police as well. Close ups of the characters have been used to highlight their facial expressions and convey their emotions; this immediately tells the audience that this film is serious and will definitely contain violence and criminality. The font used to display the film title is very bold and in a white colour to make it eye-catching for the audience. The simplicity of the title font not only matches the simple title of the movie but is also very effective as it does grabs the audience’s attention to the poster. The same font is used to highlight the actor’s names and this is also a very effective way of maintaining the audience’s attention on the poster. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are two very prestigious actors who have had much success therefore immediately making the film a lot more interesting and appealing. The names are placed at the top of the poster to make it even easier to spot. This film poster does not conform too many of the other film posters whereby they will rely on including a lot more content on the poster such a tagline or ratings of the film. Heat has kept is very simple but also very bold and eye-catching.