How does the mise-en-scene and camera angle/composition within the poster communicate concepts and connotations to the audience?

How does the mise-en-scene and camera angle/composition within the poster communicate concepts and connotations to the audience?

First of all the characters displayed on the poster are: Moana, Mowie, Pua, Hey-Hey and the Ocean. 

The poster shows us that Moana is confident due to her assured and powerful stance. We can assume she is the protagonist of the movie as she is positioned front and centre of the poster, her facial expression hints that she is excited for an adventure. She is dressed in some traditional clothing from her island which does not sexualise our needlessly, in short, the male gaze has not been applied. Moana is holding a prop, an ore, which provides the connotations that she is capable of sailing a boat and will be doing so in the ocean. She provides representation for teenage girls which is fairly stereotypical for a Disney film however she is confident as I mentioned before which is a huge twist on the representation and presenting her as a countertype of a teenage girl. 

Standing beside Moana on the right is Mowie, he stands tall with his arms crossed this implies he is self-assured and powerful, he has a smug look on his face which suggests he is not threatened by anything. He has a green skirt made of leaves, the greenery implies that he may be the key to life yet also poisonous in some way, almost showing off conflicting sides to his personality. He has a bare torso shows off an impressive physique which would tower over people. His tattoos further push an impressive male figure archetype but yet he is not front and centre Moana is. The prop he is holding is a hook which is as big as him which may signify its importance within the narrative.

 On the Left beside Moana’s feet is Pua, he is a pig that may be a companion to Moana as he stays very close to her. He has a white and grey spotted body which goes against the typically normal pick pigs displayed in the media; this is nice change and is a form of representation for animals who dont look stereotypically normal. Pua has a joyfull expression on his face which indicates he has a loving personality and a sweet nature.

On the top of Pua’s head is Hey-Hey, he is a chicken who looks incredibly startled; this hints that he may be the comic relief of the movie. His positioning further serves this narrative as it is unusual to find a chicken on a baby pigs head. He is yellow, blue and read which are the primary colours which are often featured in kindergarten which suggests his inclusion in the film could be to entertain the young children.

The final ‘character’ presented on the poster is the Ocean, this is an unusual choice because a water source as been manufactured into a life form with a personality. its positions itself directly over Moana’s head which would imply that there is a special bond between her and the ocean. The oceans mesmerising blue colour emits the connotations that it is a calm being that will act as a sort if guide (almost like road directions). We can see the Ocean leaves a circular space for Moana and the other characters to stand on which further implies the importance of the characters within the circle but that ocean will be acting for good and is well respectful.

 The setting of the poster seems to be of a tropical island as in the top right quartile is a rocky island with mesmerizing blue skies, the bright colours conveyed signify that a fun adventure awaits. The dark blue section of the ocean towards the bottom of the frame has a negative connotation that this movie is not purely sunshine and rainbows but trouble also will await. 

The genre of Moana is a family musical, we can suspect this by the fact that the film is an animation and how cute animal sidekicks are also presented because most Disney films feature a companion such as Frozen, Tangled and Aladdin.

The poster composition is Asymmetrical, Moana is front left of the poster which enables the viewer to see Moana before any of the other characters, this further emphasises that she is the main character of this movie. We can confirm this further by taking into account the name of the film which is imprinted along the lowest quartile of the poster. A high level of saturation has been applied to the overall image which radiates life and will clearly draw kids in due to it standing out among other more adult posters which could blend into the background with a far more subtle appearance. The poster could also be viewed as being in two separate halves if you place a centre line horizontally through the middle, it separates the poster into the top half (with the two humans) and a bottom half (with the two animals); this could infer that the movie could be viewed in two different ways. One that features that human’s world which is what we usually focus on or the world of the animals and how Pua and Hey-Hey may interact with each other.