Research and Planning: Film Poster Analysis

Friends with Benefits
Genre

I think that from looking at this film poster you can tell that it is going to be a Romantic Comedy because the characters on the poster are a male and a female, which suggests there will be some romance between them, and the expressions on their faces show the comedy side of it. The title 'Friends With Benefits' also suggests that it is a Romantic Comedy because they are friends who have 'benefits', most people would think that this kind of relationship never works so we know that they will hit a few problems during the film which could be funny. I suppose this fits with Andrew Sarris' theory because we can recognise that it is a rom-com just from looking at the poster. I think that this poster could also conform to Steve Neal's hypothesis that 'genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations' because if you look at the poster for the film 'No Strings Attached' although they look very different they suggest the same things about the films. For example they both only have a male and a female character appearing on the poster. The 'No Strings Attached' poster also has a quote on it saying 'Friendship has its benefits' which is basically the same name as the 'Friends With Benefits' film, so we know they are going to be very similar. The film has also used well known actors as the main characters, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis which will attract the audience to watch the film. But this also gives us clues about the genre as both actors have been in Rom Coms before. For example, Mila Kunis has been in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' and 'Date Night' and Justin Timberlake has been in 'Bad Teacher' and 'The Love Guru'.
Representation
I think that the characters are represented as being young and carefree because having a friend with 'benefits' from the view of an older and perhaps more responsible person might not be a good idea but they both do it anyway because they are still young and can do what they like. But they also both come across as successful as they are both dressed in smart, possibly expensive clothes. However the male characters shirt buttons are undone and his tie is lose but this shows the comedic elements. I wouldn't say the poster conforms to Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' hypothesis because the poster doesn't look like it is from the males point of view, it seems to be balanced equally.
Narrative 
From looking at the poster for this film I would say that there are two protagonist characters. But from watching and knowing the film quite well I would say that Justin Timberlake's character is the protagonist because we get to know a lot more of his story. From only looking at the poster I don't think you can tell if there are any certain character types, but I would say that the female character has a much more confident look on her face, which might tell us something about her personality. I think that Todorov's theory of 'equilibrium, disruption, equilibrium resolved' is apparent in the poster. I didn't notice it straight away but the title is placed on a black banner running downwards in between the images of the two characters. The banner splits the characters up which suggests to us that somewhere along the film they encounter a problem were they split and are no longer friends. But the happy, smiley expression on the female characters face tells us that it will get resolved in the end.
Audience
I would say that the targeted audience for this film would be 15 to 25 year olds who are not regular cinema goers. I think it is targeted at both male and female audiences because of the well known and attractive cast which would appeal to both genders. I would say the audience fall into the D/E socioeconomic groups because they are young so they will be students, unskilled workers and semi-skilled workers.
Media Language 
I noticed that the poster uses two medium shots on each character rather than one two shot, this suggests to the audience that there will be something stopping the characters falling in love. This works well with the banner running down the middle which I mentioned earlier splitting the two characters from each other. High key lighting has been used on the poster as well as a three colour rule of light blue, white and black, this tells us that the film is going to be happy and funny.