The Maze Runner Poster Analysis

The Most of the posters for the Maze Runner films are dark and desaturated in appearance. This may be because of the audience that The Maze Runner is targeting. As TMR is a Young Adult fiction book, and is under the dystopian genre, the posters are reflecting the dark times that entail within a dystopian based society. 

The first poster is showing a small segment of the Maze and a character jumping mid air across a gap in the Maze. With the character positioned in the middle of the poster, and in the middle of the air, this heightens the emotion and feel of danger that could be present within the film. The Maze itself is shadowed and is clouded in darkness, suggesting to the audience that the Maze is mysterious and could also hint that the Maze in the antagonist within the film. The canted angle of the shot of the poster also suggests to the audience that the Maze, or the character is not as it seems. A canted angle also suggests abnormalities with people's sanity/mind, and if people have watched the film, we would know that this is true. The title of the film is then placed at the bottom centre of the poster. 

This is the second poster that I have chosen to analyse. Although the there were round about 10 posters released for The Maze Runner, I feel like the ones I have chosen best represent the feel of the film. This one is a full length body poster of the main character Thomas. Here, he is in a mid shot running pose with the text "Never stop running" in the foreground which makes the audience question themselves, 'running from what?'. The background is blurred, suggesting to the audience that Thomas is running at a high speed, linking in with the text displayed in front of him and with the name of the film itself. Specks of dirt and debris can also be seen near the ground and near his hands. Through the clothes that Thomas is wearing, the audience can tell that his is a slightly different world/way of life than ours. The expression in Thomas's face also makes the audience feel like whatever he is running from is dangerous. 

The third and final poster that I will be analysing is of a mid length body shot of one of the main characters called Newt. His body is slightly turned away from the audience suggesting that he doesn't want to show his full character/personality or perhaps he has a side that other don't want to see or mcould be dangerous. He is wearing clothes similar to Thomas, ragged, brown and leathery in texture, suggesting that they are from the same place. In the background of the poster, the audience can see the Maze in much clearer view. It is foggy and dark which leads the audience to believe that it is mysterious and evil. Newt is also holding some sort of knife, suggesting that he is either a dangerous character or that he needs it to protect himself, which leads to the question, 'what is he protecting himself from?'. Even though this poster in in Spanish, underneath the title The Maze Runner, is says 'Based on no.1 best seller' allowing the audience to see that it has been very successful as a book, which may influence them to read the book before watching the film, and also allows the fans of the books to learn about the film, giving the film an inherited audience. 

HOW THIS HAS INSPIRED ME 

Looking at TMZ posters has inspired me. I might use some the the techniques such as using darkness and fog to create mystery within my poster and might also use the idea of just having text in the foreground of my poster.