The blue hue of the poster provides a sense of unfamiliarity and obscurity. This highly desaturated image has been edited to this colour, often unused in terms of movie poster production, to evoke a sense of distortion. This colour is indicative of the sci-fi/thriller genre and hints towards a dark and unsettling plotline. The slight blur of the characters’ features adds to this ambiguity and suggests confusion and chaos in the story’s world. The overexposure of Evan (the male protagonist’s face) may indicate him either being in shock or being scared. Alternatively, his pale face may also demonstrate a more demonic, villainous character as the washed-out appearance creates a ‘dead’ effect. The blank expressions on both of the character’s faces also adds to the movie’s ambiguity as it leaves the audience unsure as to whether or not these characters are victims or perpetrators. This enigmatic character has been captured in a way that looks as if he is staring directly at you, no matter where you are standing. This is especially effective as it creates tension and a sense of intimidation from the audience as well as establishing a sense of connection between the onscreen action and the viewers. The hint of a dark brown/red colour can be seen in Evan’s right eye – this colour has also been used to anchor the colour of the film’s title and is particularly distinctive in contrast to the white and blue hue covering most of the poster’s image. The red colour of the pupil may also indicate a supernatural outcome for Evan, possibly an outcome only we, as the audience can visibly see.

The picture of the two protagonists has been enlarged to frame the image in a way that establishes a sense of intimacy between the two characters, possibly reflecting their relationship to one another. Kayleigh (the female protagonist) is situated in front of Evan – the image indicates the use of shallow depth of field. The proximity of the female protagonist to the camera juxtaposes with the direction she seems to be staring in. This indicates to the audience that she is deep in thought which leaves us to question what she is thinking about, thus engaging the audience. Alternatively, Kayleigh may be staring at something off-screen, which also adds to the sense of mystery and ambiguity surrounding the plot line. This also makes the female protagonist appear detached and disconnected from her surroundings leaving us to wonder what psychologically damaging event happened for her to appear this way. Despite Kayleigh appearing to be physically closer to us than Evan, she appears psychologically distant and our focus is primarily drawn to Evan who covers more of the frame and is staring towards the lens, establishing a closer connection with the audience. This suggests that the film largely revolves around this character and amplifies his importance within the film. Due to the large picture covering most of the poster’s space, the billing block has been separated and put around the borders, possibly to avoid the writing spilling over onto the image.

The typography used for the title is similar to the typewriting font giving a rustic and vintage appeal and possibly hinting towards the time period the film was set in. Despite this, the actor’s names are displayed in a different colour and in bold, emphasising their involvement in the film. This may have been used to stand out against the darker border and the title may have been adjusted to be the colour red to stand out against the white/blue hue in the centre of the poster.

The tagline to the film ‘Change one thing…Change Everything’ are situated just above and below the title. Whilst the font size of this catch phrase is small it emphasises the film’s mystery and suggests a problem/secret that, during the course of the film, will be uncovered. The repetition of the word ‘Change’ reinforces the sense of instability and disorder the poster evokes. The words have been capitalised potentially to emphasise the sense of chaos and urgency, highlighting that these two protagonists aren’t in a safe place either physically or psychologically. The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 Psychological Thriller starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. Despite having a small budget of $13 million and receiving a mixture of reviews (a lot of which were negative) the film was a box-office hit generating over $96 million. This may be partly due to Ashton Kutcher’s rising popularity in the film industry after acting in films such as ‘Dude, where’s my car?’ and ‘Just Married’ as well as being a main character in the popular US TV programme ‘That 70s Show’ from 1998-2006. Amy Smart received a lot of praise for her role in ‘The Butterfly Effect’ and consequently it helped her cement her career in the film industry and led to worldwide recognition. There are certain aspects of this film poster that we would wish to feature in our film’s poster. The colour scheme included in the poster is unusual yet effectively portrays the genre in a way that is unique and representative of the genre. We would also wish to include a photograph of our protagonist to introduce our character and suggest the emotions she is experiencing.