Ice Road Truckers Analysis

The title of the documentary is in a separate box over lapping the background image, it is in bold, red, Arial font text. This font choice gives it simplicity but the colour stands out brightly against the black background of the box. The black box is on the right hand side of the truck. Underneath the title there is white text in the same font, and a slightly smaller size, stating a brand new series with a time and day. The text under this is also white and the font, though even smaller still, this one line informs the audience of the channel number depending on your sky box. In the bottom, right hand corner there is the logo for the History Cannel in all its’ colours, the logo appears to be bigger than both sizes of the white text, at least. It is captioned below with the website address for the History Channel.
The background image is of a truck on an ice road, with mountains in the distance. The colours are dominated by dark shades, which look almost black, the truck is the deepest of reds, only just noticeable against the dark shades of greys around it. The image does display tone by using white to show what could be light being reflected off the truck. The mountains look like shadows behind the truck, they are a misty lighter grey than the rest the image which differs from the rest of the picture so they too stand out. The ice on the road is shown through fine lines of lighter, mistier grey on the dark road. The truck has one small, but visible blood-orange light on the front, it is just a little bit brighter than the deep redness of the truck. I think these colours have been used to connote a dark side to ice road truckers, the title suggests danger too because of the word ‘ice’, it’s never safe to drive on ice roads. Though the image and title also imply that these trucks take a lot of risks and ice may not be their biggest worry.
There is a cover line on the image at the left hand side, the format of the lettering is set out so the writing looks like it is slanted across the road, in front of the truck. This text is the largest text in the whole image, it looks like Arial Black font with cracks that add to my theory on how the whole pragmatic of the advertisement being about the dangers ice road truckers are involved in. The main colour looks like black but there is misty effect around the cracks and the text appears to have a kind outer shadow in front of it, as though it is zooming backwards and the truck will just pass through it. The top of the ‘G’ gets cut off, another reason why the lettering looks slanted. The whole image of the truck with a cover line looks as though it is moving, it starts off big on the left side of the poster, and the truck gets smaller towards the right, the truck itself is positioned in the centre of the poster so it is the main feature of the entire poster. The sky on the background image has a grey and white gradient to it to add more tone to the image, and also for a dramatic effect on the target audience.
The target audience for this type of documentary would be working class, adult males who enjoy documentaries highlighting work related issues.