poster analysis - making a murderer

This poster was used to advertise a Netflix documentary called making a murderer, which was an observational documentary following the life of a man who was wrongly accused of murder. This poster is typical for a social documentary, as it uses aspects of the person being used in the documentary in the poster title, as well as the trademark Netflix logo and the tagline "A Netflix Documentary series". 

In terms of layout, the poster has put the titles and subtitles in the top left hand corner of the screen and dates/additional information on the bottom of the screen. There is no star system or additional information about who is featured in the documentary as typically this is only done for film posters as social documentaries usually look into the everyday lives of normal people. The poster has been centred around the image used, in which shows two photos ripped in half.

The right photo shows an old photograph of a young boy. We can tell its an old photograph as it is in black and white, in which is something we associate with being old or outdated. By using a photo of him when he was young, it expresses his innocence in which means it would cause empathy. This works in contrast with the image used on left, in which shows a picture of the same man in his mug shot (prison photo). You can tell its a prison photo through use of mise en scene, as the background of the photo is striped which we can associate with prison bars or uniform. You can also tell its a more recent or modern photo as it it done in colour, in contrast with the other photo which has been done in black and white. 

The use of the rip down the poster shows a divide between the two photos. It represents the change in character from a young innocent boy to a prisoner, in which gives the audience hints as to what the documentary could be about. Also the fact that the line divider is torn could represent the fact he is mentally torn or "broken" as a person which further shows the difference and change in character in the pictures. 

The font style colour used are the same as the ones used for Netflix logo, and so is a font that would be instantly recognisable and familiar to the audience;