Poster Analysis - Face/Off

The film poster for the film Face/Off is very simply in comparison to contemporary film posters. The Face/Off film poster denotes half of John Travolta’s face as well as half of Nicolas Cage’s face. By having half of each characters face merged together to nearly form one face implies to the audience that they are going to turn into one person. Focusing on John Travolta’s face, he is being represented as a more stern character with authority due to the fact he is an FBI agent in the film. This conforms the ideologies of an FBI agent/police officer as they have power over the rest of the people in society due to their occupation. Nicolas Cage plays a terrorist in this film, so he is being represented as a character that just wants to win the battles he faces and that he completed everything he has set in mind. The image denotes half of his face, which looks like a mug shot image that would be taken after the FBI has captured him. This appeals to the target audience as John Travolta is being represented as the protagonist character and Nicolas Cage is being represented as the antagonist character. In addition to this, as both images being placed right next to each other it connotes that they are in a battle fighting each other. This appeals to the target audience as they both are competitive characters so it will be a very hard to fight so they will only find out who has been successful in winning the battle by going to see the film. The poster denotes that the image of the characters takes up three quarters of the film poster, therefore they are the main focus in the film and the audience are aware of this immediately.  

The film poster follows the narrative theory of Roland Barthes and Claude Levi Strauss, as Roland Barthes believes that there are five codes, which are woven into any narrative. These consist of the hermeneutic code, which is the code of enigmas, and puzzles as well as the porairetic code which is the code of action and any action initiated must be completed. In addition to this narrative theory, Claude Levi Strauss as he believes all narratives are driven by binary oppositions. As John Travolta plays the FBI agent in the film, it is clear to the target audience that he is the protagonist character. John Travolta is needed by society to capture the antagonist character of a terrorist whom is played by Nicolas Cage. This appeals to the target audience, as they can see from the film poster that both characters look competitive and confident yet they want John Travolta to be successful and win. Yet they will know, the events that occur in the film unless they go and watch it for themselves. This leaves the audience with hermeneutic code an enigma and it can only be solved by the porairetic code, which is the action, completed by John Travolta in the film. Yet following the narrative theory of Claude Levi Strauss, as he believes that binary oppositions drive all narratives. As John Travolta is being represented as a “good” character and Nicolas Cage is being represented as an “evil” character, both these characters together are binary opposites. Claude Levi Strauss also believes that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society to be more valued over the other. In the film Face/Off John Travolta featuring as an FBI agent after Nicolas Cage featuring as a terrorist is seen as more valued.The main assumptions underpinning the poster is that after a long, difficult battle John Travolta will be successful in the long run against his enemy Cage. This appeals to the target audience as it creates confusion and anxiety for them, which encourages them to go and see the film, and follows the conventions of an action film. I believe the target audience this film would appeal would be to both males and females of the age from fifteen upwards. The region in which I personally think the target audience are from are mainly America and Britain, however the film is aimed at any region. The target audience could be any ethnicity or occupation so this doesn’t impact on a defined target audience the film could appeal to anyone from the age of fifteen upwards.