ATM Poster Analysis
The “help” written on the left window is a faded red colour, this is written in what looks to be lipstick but the colour connotes blood and anger, expresses the idea of murder and death. This writing and the fact they’re enclosed is what shows that they’re being targeted by the figure empowering the poster. The guy is presented as a silhouette through the use of back-lighting from the neon lighting of the ATM shelter behind him, this gives him an unsettling and creepy look and he’s positioned in the middle and also captured as the largest thing on the poster, this alongside his pose helps add to that unsettling theme he’s letting off. It also shows how his identity remains a secret. Through the use of props with mise-en-scene we see he’s standing outside of this shelter holding a crowbar, showing this is a weapon he uses and through the use of the silhouette gives us the impression he’s the murderer. The poster is made up of dark illuminating colours representing actual ATM machine colours. The red text over the image which shows no certain red parts represents the colour of text on an ATM machine when there’s a problem or error, emphasizing that these people trapped in the shelter behind the figure are in a “problem”. The text on the poster is bold and white and red, representing the idea of an alarm. The title “ATM” has a few interesting features which represents it’s film, firstly the font is bold and straight-forward, getting across the power of the murderer. Secondly it has a ruined/dusty/worn out texture which connotes damage and wreckage, which signifies how much damage this figure is doing. Lastly, the text has a lens flare behind it, which shows it’s bright which ATM’s are at night, this is effective as it represents the use of light in the image against the night sky around. This lens flare also fades which is the sort of blurry flare we see when we squint our eyes, this may play around the childhood fear of darkness and isolation when they squint their eyes to hide or even the fact we’re trying to see this figures face yet we can’t because of the bright lights. The windows of the shelter has a frame effect, which looks to be picturing or capturing and holding the people inside of it, which is exactly what this figure is doing. This frame also looks to be almost smashed, but more so frozen showing the danger of temperature inside this shelter, these contrasts against the “help” written on the glass. The tag-line “No warning, no control, no escape” describes the situation that these guys are in, having no warning this was going to happen, they have no control over the situation as they’re enclosed in a shelter while this unknown murderer surrounds the exits which represents the “no escape” part.