
          The poster of the movie The Phantom Menace uses several strategies to create the desired effect that is produced. Each detail included in this piece of artwork correlate with one another and aid in portraying the wanted message to the target audience. This poster introduced the prequel series for Star Wars, a movie series that stunned the world. This means that the poster needs to convey the strength that the other movies had, as well as connecting to the new generation as an audience. This poster’s job was to make a connection with not only the adults who watched the original trilogy, but with the new generation as well. This poster uses color, image placement, and size to its advantage, and creates a visual that attracts every passerby.

           This visual text shows the Star Wars characters that are in the new movie. The placement of Annaken Skywalker in the center of the poster is an attempt to bring the consumer’s eyes to the center of the page and attract those previously familiar with the series. This allows the poster to cause the reader to look over the entire poster, all with one simple strategic action. This poster has eight characters, all placed in a circle around the poster. Some are larger, and make the viewer come to a conclusion that these characters are more important. While others are smaller, causing the audience to think that the characters are less impactful or important. The size of the images, although seemingly insignificant, is actually used as an important tool to communicate the significance of certain characters.

The light that the creators of this poster used varies throughout certain parts of the visual art. The use of complete darkness around the outside border gives an interstellar feeling, and gives the older fans of the series the feeling that their beloved movies haven’t changed. The closer to the center of the poster the passerby looks, the brighter it is. There seems to be an aura around each of the characters, giving off an almost heavenly feeling. At the top half of the poster, Darth Maul’s face is depicted, occupying a large amount of space. This makes the consumer conclude that this character is going to have a large role in this upcoming movie. The bottom half of the poster includes text that states the name of the movie, the corporations who created it, and those who played the characters; these are all traditional traits of movie advertisements. Due to the way that this poster was crafted, those who pass by will look from the center and then out, focusing on the images first, then the informational text.

          Color is used in this poster to grab the attention of the consumers. Color plays important roles in all visual texts, because it can provide information just by being there. Certain shades of colors can completely change the meaning of an image, and can give off a completely different theme. The creators have brighter lights towards the center of the poster, where the top of Annaken Skywalker’s head is positioned. This draws attention to the main character of the movie, and makes an emotional connection between the child and the viewer. The use of what seem like orbs of light create an extraterrestrial theme that reoccurs throughout the poster, and is also central in the movie. The contrast of bright and dark colors allows for the average passerby to immediately get drawn into the center of the poster, then move outwards to the darker colors. This is done to get the reader to look at the important images first, then once they’re intrigued, they move onto the words and the darker, more subtle images and colors.

The layout of the characters within the poster hints to the storyline. The young boy, Skywalker, is positioned in the middle, showing that he will be playing a central role in the movie. The size of Qui-gon Jinn emphasizes the important role that he will play within the story as well. In the background, there is the foreboding picture of Darth Maul. Only his eyes are shown, bloodshot and seemingly angry. The significant use of color is again seen here in that red is used extensively, both in Darth Maul’s face and eyes. Red, the color of blood and anger, often signifies evil and is used to illustrate villains in many stories. The viewer can infer that this character will be the villain of the story, and by the size of the picture, also that this will be the main villain. The characters surrounding Skywalker are given an orange hue with spots of light around them to show that they are symbolic rays of hope. This can lead to the viewer concluding that the characters included within the ray of light are the force of goodness that will combat the villain lying in the background.

Due to this movie being a start of a prequel, the public doesn’t know what the plot line of this story is going to be like, or how it is going to relate to the original trilogy. This gives the poster a completely different task than the posters to come for the original movies. This poster must not only intrigue the audience, but also inform them of what it is about. This poster must also show the strength that were in the previous trilogy. This poster successfully does that. A poster’s job is to hook into the target audience’s minds and trigger certain emotions through different connections. The poster for The Phantom Menace has multiple interactions with the target audience, generates extreme interest, and triggers the curiosity of the average passerby.

The poster for the movie, The Phantom Menace, effectively informs the public about the film that has just come out, and entices them to come view the movie by using visual representation of small parts of the storyline. This poster successfully provides enough information to interest the general public while leaving most of the plot in question, causing viewers to want to find out the true story that is hidden inside of this films plot line. 