Poster Deconstruction

Beverly Hills Cop

I have decided to deconstruct a poster of ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ which was a film directed my Martin Brest and included famous actor Eddie Murphy. It was a famous police comedy in the 1980s and I chose this on the basis of what we wanted to base our action trailer on and the era we wanted to do.

His character in this is a reformed criminal who is a successful police detective for Detroit. This attitude of his is shown in the poster with him in a relaxed stance on the bonnet of the car. This explains a lot about his character to the audience and they want to find out more about him and why he is holding a gun. He looks really relaxed and has casual clothing which isn’t usual for a police officer. The audience therefore get the perception of him not being a model officer and something of a character. The audience will want to know why he is so casual, what happened in the past and what he is going to do. His facial expression is cleverly used as it lures the audience to find out more about him. The way in which he raises his eyebrows shows that he is confident,

There are also an abundance of cars surrounding him which excite the audience because of their high cost and quality for that era. This tells the audience that cars will be a big part of the film and car-lovers are immediately drawn to this film. The cars are also very bright and attract the audience's attention as soon as you look at the poster.

There is also a caption on top of the main picture which leaves the audience wondering more about the film and wanting to watch it to discover what it means. "He's been chased, thrown through a window and arrested. Eddie Murphy is a Detroit cop on vacation in Beverly Hils". The word 'vacation' adds a lot to the poster because it adds to the excitement of it. The audience will think that the film will be an exciting journey and have an upbeat atmosphere along with a lot of action when it is said that he has been chased, thrown through a window and arrested.

An effect used in the poster is that Eddie Murphy has his foot on top of the 'Hills' part of the title. This gives off the impression of a dominant character who is 'stamping down' on crime in Beverly Hills. The audience will want to know what he is planning to do in Beverly Hills and if he succeeds in his mission.

The poster has very distinctly mainly used the mix of black, white and red. The idea of using red gives the idea of danger which is an effective connotation, especially for the word 'cop' in the title. The way in which he is sat on top of the car gives a connotation of confidence and relaxation, but with his foot on top of the sign, it also shows the dominance and the colours therefore affect the atmosphere of the poster.