The Shrek Franchise



The bold, bright colours used in these posters prove the intended audience to be children. The vibrant blues, greens, yellows and reds supports this and demonstrates that the target audience is young parents too as they’d be the ones taking them. This also shows the genre. The animated characters on all of these posters, prove that there is going to be a mixture of genres, including animated, fantasy and family. They also prove that this film is for children. The fact that someone is always smiling in the Shrek posters demonstrates that it is also going to be quite comedic.

Excluding the Puss in Boots poster, they all include Shrek and he is always bigger than the rest. This, supported by the fact that the films are called Shrek, demonstrates to the audience that he is going to be the main character in each film which gives us an idea of what to expect – the main role to be focussed on him and quite comedic. Having blue as the background colour in each of the Shrek posters tells the audience that they can expect a similar story line that follows on from the previous. The style of the Puss in Boots poster is similar to the first Shrek one – the fire and flames. This implies that these two films may be similar - exciting, fun and mysterious. It also implies that it will be quite action filled.

In each poster, more characters are shown (except the third). This insinuates that the same characters are going to be in each film along with new ones, implying that the story line is going to develop in a new way compared to the last. Puss in Boots is a part of the Shrek franchise yet that poster is different to the others, this informs the audience that the film is going to be different to what is already evident in the Shrek series and instead he will be the main focus. Moreover, as he is familiar to the fans of the Shrek film series they will have a vague idea of what to expect in this film as they know the character he is. Also, because none of the other Shrek characters are shown, it leaves a mystery as to whether they’re going to be in it or not. Fiona is different in the first two posters which implies to the audience that her character is going to change at some point. This will excite the audience as it will build curiosity about why she changed and subsequently, what impacts this may have on the story line, if any.  Puss in Boots is a spin-off prequel to the Shrek series and this builds excitement and anticipation with the fans of Shrek because they will want to see it because it is a part of the franchise.