This is a very interesting film poster for the acclaimed film 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. It is very creative in its design, for the obvious reason that numbers cover the entire poster. This is appropriate for the film, which is about espionage and finding a mole in the British Secret Service, so the numbers represent code and secrecy. Within these numbers is written the line 'the enemy is within' - hinting at the storyline being about a mole in the secret service. The line is hidden inside the character's eye so that it will be easily noticed, but it also hints towards the film being a spy film. This poster would need to be quite large, so that all the small writing can be seen, so I'd imagine it would be used at big display boards such as bus stops, where the people waiting would have time to take in all the detail. It could also potentially be used as a poster that is sold to the general public, as when it is displayed in a room the details would be noticed. By selling posters to the public, the company is not only gaining money from selling posters, but are also getting free advertisement when the buyer puts up the poster in their house. It is a genius method of advertisement, as they are gaining money in many ways, as well as just in the shop where the posters are being sold. Also within the numbers is the word 'winter', indicating the time of year that the film advertised will be released. It is written in red so that it will be noticed amongst the numbers, as it is not in an obvious place and is a short line.
The other place that the font appears in red is at the bottom of the poster where it says 'Based on the John le Carre classic that redefined the spy thriller' and 'A film by Tomas Alfredson'. There is a lot to fit on the poster, so these lines, although important, have been relegated to the bottom of the poster where they are not as obvious, underneath all the credits. If they were not written in red then the person looking at it may not see it. Both lines are unique selling points, as John le Carre is a very well known and acclaimed writer, whilst Tomas Alfredson is an established director. By using the word 'classic' to describe the book, the poster draws in a wider audience of people who are interested in seeing adaptations of good books. The line also tells the audience directly that the film is a 'spy thriller', but it also says it 'redefined the spy thriller', which leads the audience to believe that there is some sort of twist involved that makes this spy thriller different and more interesting then others. It makes the film stand out from the bulk of Hollywood action films released each year. However at the start of the line it is careful to include the two key words 'based on', which protect the film from claims that the film is distant from the book. The beauty of using these words is that most people won't notice them as being significant and assume the film is an accurate interpretation of the book, whereas the film makers are giving themselves a bit of space by being able to say that is was never falsely advertised.
Perhaps the most unique selling point of the film is the amount of famous actors that star in it, and especially, the amount of famous British actors. Gary Oldman is the central actor on the poster, whilst underneath the title are the names 'Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones and Mark Strong'. Any one of these names is a unique selling point for any film, and would easily boost a film's income. Here they are presented all together, not individually, which makes the focus not on the individual, but the collective cast. A person looking at the poster would be amazed by the amount of famous actors the film was able to employ and the fact that they are all in the same film. Also the fact that they are all British actors draws in a large British audience, of people who have a sense of national pride and want to support British cinema. The film itself has a very British feel about it, so this is not inaccurate advertisement.
Overall I think that this is a very powerful and effective poster. It combines clever visual effects, such as the numbers, to utilising it's strong unique selling points. It comes across as a very clever poster, and as a result would draw in a large audience who would assume it's a clever film. There is a lot that can be learnt from analysing this poster, and for our poster it would be very good if we were to come up with a clever way to present the picture, as this does in numbers. Some posters can be more than just pictures and text.