DVD cover and poster analysis

Here is one of my favourite films; Mean Girls.

Firstly, let's take a look at the front cover. The first thing I notice about it is that the background is pink. This connotes girls and light hearted stories about love and friendship. I can instantly see that Lindsay Lohan is the main character as she is bigger in the foreground, whereas the other girls are in the back in a group, much like a gang, or clique. They are all posing with their hands on their hips, showing they have attitude, relating back to the title - "Mean Girls". Lindsay is looking towards the other girls with a weary look. She is wearing a red top, which matches her red hair. This connotes passion, love and danger. The girls at the back are all wearing at least one thing that is pink.

The title font is the same that is used in the credits, which creates the film's narrative image as this font is used consistently. The title makes the audience expect bitchiness and confrontation, and the main characters are introduced on the front cover, so we can infer that they will have confrontations with each other.

The review from "cosmo" magazine is in bold on the front cover to entice people to buy the DVD. It says "TEEN MOVIE OF THE YEAR" which shows the target audience (teenage girls) and that it is a good film.



The back cover shows the three "plastics" in snapshots, which is an interesting and quirky way of displaying them. It also shows their teacher (who also co-wrote it - Tina Fey) and a funny moment when Lindsay has fallen into a bin. There is a picture of "Cady" looking happy, and there are little graphics such as lipstick marks (connoting love and girls) and the catchphrase of Gretchen (one of the mean girls) - "SO FETCH". Since it is a 12 rating, we expect it to be light-hearted and funny. Another review on the back from the Times says "IRRESISTIBLY FUNNY", showing it is a romcom/chickflick.



Here is the poster, which says "watch your back", suggesting that bitchiness will happen. The pictures are the same as the ones on the DVD cover, showing continuity, and continuing the brand identity. Since Lindsay Lohan has been in The Parent Trap her name is fairly well-known, so the marketers have used her name to promote the film. Due to the success of this film, Lindsay Lohan was inundated with film offers, and has been a famous hollywood movie star ever since. I like the way the title has been put on its side and divides "Cady" from the other girls, showing they are different. The background to this poster is blue, which suggests that they could be expanding their target audience to boys aswell, most likely boyfriends. You can tell that the genre is chickflick/rom-com just by looking at the poster; the "mean girls" are in a slightly stereotypical pose of highschool queens. The colours are light, and bright (light blue background, bright pink text) suggesting that it is a light-hearted film. The title "Mean Girls" gives the audience an idea of what the film is about and it outlines the general theme of the film. From this title, we can guess that it is about a group of girls who bully/bitch about other girls (and with the image, we know who the mean girls are). The word "Girls" in the title suggests that it is targeted at girls, thus targeting their audience. The studio is not mentioned, nor the release date. This makes me think that the poster was released way in advance of the film premiere. One of the writers (Tina Fey) is mentioned, because she also acts the part of "Ms Norbury" the teacher. The image shows "Cady" watching her back (anchoring the tagline) and looking in the direction of the mean girls. This works well as it sums up the light-hearted comedy that is in this film, (comedy from the mean girls' matching pink, and over the top poses).

It is a good DVD cover because it sums up the film and promotes its best points, while creating a successful brand identity that is used on all the other promotions such as posters. It made me buy it, and I am a teenage girl, so clearly it works!!