Film poster analysis

The poster is of the film the pirates of the Caribbean which is in the genre of historical action and adventure.
The conventions of action-adventure is , exotic locations, gunfights, ship battles, car chases, sword fights, villains, explosions and attractive women in order to appeal to the audience who are interested in the genre of action-adventure.

The key signifier of this image would be the pirate in the middle with a red turban on as he is a sign that he is a pirate as he has a tattoo on his hand which signifies that he could be part of a group of pirates associated with that tattoo. he also seems to be the main character as he is situated in the middle and higher than the rest to show he is of importance in the film. He has two weapons in his hands, one a sword and the other a olden gun to symbolise old and new together and also pirates used to use these weapons. These weapons signify that he will be in a lot of fights which shows what to expect in the film. The skull on the top has a red turban to show he is the main character. The man with the skull in his hand seems like a villain as he has a skull which symbolises death to show wherever he goes, death will follow. He is in contrast to the man on the other side of the poster as he is very good looking and young whilst the man holding the skull is old and un-attractive.

The poster denotes a group of people with the man in the middle wearing a red turban with a sword and gun whilst the old man is holding a skull and on the opposite side is a young man next to an attractive woman.
This connotes that the man with the turban is the main character as he is in the middle and seems that he is a violent person as he is carrying a gun and sword. The lady signifies romance in the film as she has cleavage and is also young and good looking. The man with the skull could be a villain as he is older than the rest and that he has a skull in his hand which suggests death and he is the only one smiling to show the audience he is different to the rest. The background is also dark which shows that the film will be dark and have evil in it.
The poster suggests to the audience that their will be sword/gunfights in the film as the main character is wielding both weapons. The woman suggests romance will play a part along with the young man who is stood by her to suggest they will be in love. It also suggests that the setting will be in the Caribbean and be based around pirates as the skull and bones is the insignia of many pirates who used to exist in the past.