Film poster analysis
- 1. At the top of this poster, previous films which the producer has produced are named. This is mainly done to show the viewer what they can expect from this film, as if the have seen these films mentioned, they can make an assumption as to what this film will be like and as to whether they will enjoy watching this film, which is a persuasive technique to include. This information is situated at the top of the poster in order to grab the audience’s attention when they look at the poster. The titles of the film is seen to be in the centre of the poster. The title for this poster is a simple, bold, capitalised font with faded drips attached to each letter, this gives an overall edgy effect and the dark colour helps reflect the dark nature of the actual film. The positioning of this title has been done so that it clearly shows the audience that this title is part of the main image and is also one of the most important features of the poster. The word ‘sinister’ itself connotes evil and makes the audience aware right away that this film is associated with the horror genre. There is only one main image used on this poster instead of a collation of many different ones. This is simple yet more effective as it is showing the film in one significant image. The image consists of a woman dragging her hand against the wall with what we assume is blood coming out of her hand. This gives the audience an indication as to what the film could be about through the demon which has been painted on the wall by the young woman. The woman is in pyjamas which can be considered to be unusual and out-of-place which can be linked to the overall plot of this film. Using a blonde character also conforms to the typical convention of having a blonde female in distress thus showing conventions of the horror genre. The image itself is quite graphic, with lots of blood, allowing the audience to establish the nature of the film and almost pre-warning the audience for what’s to come. The use of a projector tape at the bottom right links to a key element of the film and shows that it is a significant prop related to the film itself. The colours used in the poster are quite dull and de- saturated, which creates an overall gloomy effect which is closely linked to the horror genre. Despite this, the use of the de-saturated colour gives the very dark red blood colour a lot more emphasis and makes the it seem a lot more noticeable from the audience’s point of view. By emphasising the blood it makes the overall poster more graphic and amplifies the horror element within the poster. The text used in the poster are either black or white and are quite simple yet effective at the same time. This makes the poster quite minimalistic with only the relevant/images featured within it. Underneath the title of the film is the tagline for the film which reads ‘Once you see him, nothing can save you’. By using the word ‘him’ it keeps the content of the film still quite mysterious but relates back to the image of the demon face drawn on the wall. Even though it creates a sense of mystery around what the film is about, it also gives you an idea of what you can expect in the film. The text used for the tagline is simple once again, which is probably what you wouldn’t expect considering the nature of the actual tagline, but this could imply to the audience that it’s the little things that are unexpected that are the most terrifying things of all. Between the bottom line of credits, the words ‘Coming Soon’ are shown. This gives no details as to when the film is going to be released, which almost creates more excitement from the audience’s perspective as they will be on the look out for more teasers for the film. Just underneath the release date, the website for the film, ‘HaveYouSeenHim.com’ is featured so that you can make the link between the face on the wall and the website mentioned at the bottom of the poster, creating additional excitement for the audience.
- 2. At the top of this poster it doesn’t mention the director’s name but instead to very well known horror films which were directed by the same director. This is effective as it informs the audience that this film is similar to both ‘Saw’ and ‘Insidious’ and is almost saying to the audience that is they enjoyed those films then they will enjoy this film too. Highlighting them in bold shows how significant they are and how aspects of these movies are seen within this movie. The main title for this film is seen to be in dark, bold font and is the largest piece of text on the poster thus drawing the audience’s attention to it right away. The text itself is looks quite sinister and relates back to the actual genre of horror meaning that this poster is identifiable as a being a horror poster. The word ‘conjure’ means spirit/ghost which shows the audience that this is an element that will feature within the actual film – which is almost preparing them. The main image for this poster is an establishing shot with the image of a tree and noose in the foreground and a quite old Victorian-style house in the background. The use of the tree and the noose in the foreground gives the audience an indication as to what the storyline of the trailer may be, making them more intrigued as to how the tree is linked to the overall movie. The house old-looking house in background as well as other objects out of focus suggest they have something to do with the storyline but clearly not a s significant as the tree does. The misty dull skies create a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere and the use of pathetic fallacy connotes negativity and creepiness which directly links to the horror genre. Right at the bottom of the poster is the release date for the film written in white text so that it contrasts and can clearly read by the audience. The date itself is in bold, which is probably done so that the audience recognise this as being key information for them to know. The tagline used on this poster creates an element of realistic fear for the audience. By stating that this film is ‘based on true cases’ it makes the audience question what is real and what is not. This makes this movie seem a lot more creepier to the audience and enhances their fear as it is ‘real’ and therefore more relevant to the audience. The main colours used in the poster are grey, white and black. These colours have many connotations linked to them. The colour grey which is produced through the mist on this poster symbolises forthcoming danger as is a colour between black and white – this could suggest to the audience that disruption is sure to arise within this movie. White symbolises innocence, suggesting that whoever is involved in this movie are actually victims of the spirit haunting them and finally black is often associated with evil and mystery, almost indicating to the audience that the antagonist is going to be unknown. The text used on this poster correlates to the branches seen on the tree on the main image. Both the text and the tree look quite sharp and intimidating and could almost symbolise a knife or something sharp that can cause harm. This is almost foreshadowing how something bad might happen during the actual movie. A sense of mystery is also bought up by the use of the shadow of someone being hung. This is clearly linked to the main image of the tree and the noose but because the body is not directly attached to the noose, it makes the audience wonder how those images are actually associated. The shadow catches the audience’s attention and makes the them question a lot of what the poster is withholding and because of that is persuades them to watch the film and find out.
- 3. Right at the top of the poster, you have reference to the directors and producers who created/directed other successful, well-known horror movies. As they have seen these previous works, it may alter their decision as to whether they go to watch the film or not – however as these movies are considered to be quite credited horror movies, there is a higher chance that they will view this movie in the cinema. The title for the film is under the main image, in bold red font. This colour of the text instantly connotes danger to the audience and links back to the bloody handprints at the side of the poster. Horror titles are often quite short and straight to the point and I think that this poster follows the same format. You usually associate visiting someone to be quite pleasant, so by linking it to horror, it makes the audience a lot more weary when thinking about visiting people. The bloody handprints on the poster show the audience that despite this looking like quite an innocent poster, elements of horror are still evident within it suggesting to the audience that the actual movie may consist of someone quite gruesome. The blood itself looks dried up and has almost stained the once innocent poster – this implies to the audience that someone has already died leaving their handprints behind. Below the title of the film is the release date for the actual film. It follows the same font as the title, therefore holding the same connotations of danger and blood. It doesn’t have the actual day as to when this movie is set come out but by just putting the month, it allows the audience to build up their excitement for when this movie is set to come out. September is a good time to release a movie as it is coming to the end of summer and teenagers/adults may want to watch it before returning back to school/work. The list of ‘Grandma’s rules’ can be considered to be tagline as it features on other film posters for this movie. The first two rules outlined in this tagline are seen to be quite pleasant and the lead the audience to believe that what could happen might be quite nice. The third rule outlined on this tagline however, can be seen as quite unusual and would instantly make the audience speculate as to what happens to those people who do leave their room after 9:30pm, this therefore leads the audience to feel more inclined to find out thus making them watch the actual movie. This is an effective way to draw in an audience as it creates suspense and makes them question their own behaviour. Just below the image of the house is the name of the writer/director of the film. This links back to the top of the poster whereby the audience are made aware of someone who has successfully created other well- known movies, to which the audience can relate those original works to this movie which therefore persuade them to watch this movie. The overall typography for the tagline is done in a knitted-style font. You usually make links with knitting to grandparents, so by using this font on the poster it almost links aspects of grandparents to horror. This is effective as it would make the audience feel sceptical when considering visiting their own grandparents and actually makes older people seem a lot more scarier than they are typically portrayed. The colours used in this poster look quite washed out and faded and as if something has spilt on the poster which has smudged it. With that being said, it adds to the whole feeling of the horror genre in general and allows the audience to instantly recognise this as a horror poster. The main colours used on this poster include blacks and reds and these two colours both have negative connotations, often being linked to death, danger and blood. The images of the house and the flowers on the poster add to the horror as things that you usually associated with being quite pleasant are now being associated with horror and unpleasantness.