Film Poster Analysis

Eda Ozdemir

Title- the title has been written in the biggest, boldest font From the makers of is a clever selling line as it catches Main Image- the main image dominates the the audiences attention by highlighting other well page, being the largest feature on the page on the poster and is also written in capitals which helps it to stand out. It is in white to stand out from the darkness of the known films made by the same people. This is a massive and being central in the layout. It is a help when promoting a new film as people will often medium shot of a young boy, from a directly boys shirt in the background and matches the colour of the trust producers of previous films they have seen and rest of the text on the poster and the white scratches on the parallel angle looking straight towards the enjoyed watching, and expect this film to be of the boys eyes. The typography denotes a slightly faded and camera, which in this case is the eye line same standard. This links to Tom Ryalls genre theory, distressed effect which makes it old. This is the largest text match is the audience. So this incomes that it provides a framework of structuring tools which on the poster so it automatically hooks the audiences direct address being used which draws the in turn act as a form of supervision over the work of attention to read it as it is the most crucial part of the poster audience, however the eyes have been production film makers and the work of reading by the scratched out which automatically shows The cold colours create a scary mise en scene audience. that something bad has happened to him. which are normally associated with horror The use of child actors have become films. A shadow of a demon/monster is in the extremely popular since the release of The background on the large window of the Exorcist (1973). Having the picture of the house which creates the sense of the child in the foreground of the poster unknown which makes the audience want to intensifies the importance behind the find out what the shadow is. The blue/grey character. Typically children are seen as a colour scheme seen in this film poster has sign of purity and innocence, which is clearly become a widely used convention in Western opposed in this poster scaring the audience countries in recent horror. The tone of the who view it. The eyes being scratched out colours suggest death, coldness, and immediately forces the audience to ask mystery. This entries the read and urges why? and increases their chances of going them to find out more, by them watching the to watch the film, to answer these rhetorical film.quotes from other sources increase the The questions. audiences expectations of the film, and The strapline Its not the house thats convince them to go and see it when its haunted intrigues the audience and makes released as it becomes evidence that it is them want to know more about the film. worth paying for. It describes what the film This has the same typography as the title was like from other audiences which shows however is sin slightly smaller font and in that the film has lived up to the Credits used in film posters The background of the poster is a blue to contrast with the title. It puts a twist expectations of a horror film. The most on the plot of the film before the audience are a vital aspect of any genre foggy view of a large house (most important words such as scary and sheer has even watched it. The strapline is film poster as they give probably haunted). The shot is a low terror have been put into a bigger font to important as it questions the audience and recognition to the companies angle slight birds eye view, which is make them stand out, catching the makes them want to see the film. Usually and main names involved in typically a shot that is mainly used in audienceslogos have been added to show Company attention. straplines of posters of any genre is a creating the film. They are horror genre. In the window is the what licensing and production companies rhetorical question, in other words a nearly always in the same silhouette of a demon, which gives a are involved. question with no answer, this may be used font, located at the bottom preview as to what the film could be to it doesn'tt give to much away to the of the poster. The credits are about, this then furthers the interest of The rating immediately shows the reader audience. the legal lines that give credit the audience. The flowers in the garden The website allows the audience to look that it is a good film as it has been given 5 stars which will attract the audience as they to the producers, distributor, financier, cast and crew. would want to watch a good quality film. are dark and dead, which adds to the overall feel of the poster. further into the film, which will then further persuade them into watching it.

Splice is a 2009 science fiction horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. The story concerns experiments in genetic engineering being done by a young scientist couple who attempt to introduce human DNA into their work of splicing animal genes. The placing of the tagline at the top of the poster in a white and pale blue colour contrasting with the black background will catch the readers eye. The tagline reads She's not human Not entirely. creates the fear of the supernatural. It also acts as a sign of warning people as it informs them of how scary the film will be. This helps create a sense of excitement amongst people wanting to see the film. Although a release date has not been stated, the poster also does not mention a rough time of when it will be released. For example most posters that haven't confirmed the arriving date yet usually includes coming soon in a white bold font medium size on the bottom half centre of the poster. The coming soon adds excitement for people wanting to watch the film, and makes them aware of roughly when the film will arrive. Title- the title of the film is placed beneath the main image. The spooky typography used relates to genre of horror and supernatural. The white/ grey colour contrasts with the background black colour, which is again a common convention used in film posters, so that it is the main focal point and that it is the first thing that catches the readers eye. The title evokes the reader to be alarmed as it conveys the genre of supernatural and horror efficiently. The setting is unknown, so it makes the audience wonder what this supernatural creature is laying on. The colour scheme of the setting is tinted with blues, whites and black. It looks as thought the surface the creature is laying on is glowing. The colours used all relate to the genre of the film, as they are typical colours associated with horror and supernatural. This allows people to recognise the film as a horror. The large use of dark areas as well as the blue indicates isolation and darkness, which we again associate with a horror genre.

This poster is similar to the previous two posters, as it does not include a release date. This could be due to the type of film poster, presuming this is a teaser poster, and teaser posters either normally have coming soon as the release date or no release date at all. A teaser poster is also a poster that was released several months before any news on the film. However, it may just be that the film company did not feel it was important or relevant in this case to include the release date. This poster is dissimilar to The Notebook poster because the main image in The Notebook appears to be a clip from the actual movie itself, however the main image in this poster and Insidious was layered and created in I suppose Adobe Photoshop. The layout of the poster is very conventional of any film poster, with main image dominating the poster and all other text remaining centred at the top and bottom of the page. The excessive use of darkness and black that has been used in the poster represents the horror side to this sci-fi film, as the theme of the fear of the unknown. The darkness represents isolation and vulnerability, and helps bring focus to the main focal point of the poster being the creature, which is also enhanced by the key lighting on the creature. The use of this inhuman creature also represents the horror genre as we associate non-human beings/ monsters with horror. We dont exactly know what it is, which in this case causes enigma, leaving the viewer to question its origin and whether it is dangerous. This fear of the unknown enforces fear in the viewer, relating to Ryalls theory which indicates the horror genre intends to make the viewer feel scared. AS for narrative, this film poster uses Barthes theory of narrative codes. This incudes the hermeneutic code, in which the image of this poster does not give much away and causes the viewer to question it; What is this creature? Is it dangerous? But however we know from the tagline that it is a female, well half a female. So it then makes the audience think what creature the other side of it is. The poster also includes the symbolic codes of Barthes theory, including binary opposites, which in this case is the use of the human and non-human.

The website address has been included on this poster encouraging people to go onto the website to find information about the film. It is located on the bottom centre of the poster in small font. The production company is using cross media convergence to advertise and promote the film. This also links to the uses and gratifications theory.

The main colours used in the film poster, enforced through the main image are white and blue. In the mise-en-scene, there is a setting of the outdoors, shown by the bright blue sky and small amount of green grass showing through, connoting that they are outdoors perhaps in a rural area, like a field. There are large amounts of the blue sky shown in the image. And the characters clothes are also blue and white, matching this colour scheme. The use of light blue represents trust and loyalty, two key components of a loving relationship, which links with these two main characters and the romance genre of the film. The use of bright white connotes light, purity and innocence, representing the purity of their love. These colours are quite tranquil, connoting a calm lifestyle which the couple share. A large amount of white is used in the centre of the poster, in the form of light which brings focus on the two characters lips which are near touching. This has been brought to focus to show that they are about to kiss, further representing the romance genre. This colour scheme differs completely to that of the horror genre as romance films tend to use this pure colour scheme consisting of only light colours, whereas horror films tend to use very dark, striking colour schemes in their posters which connote evil and darkness. The strapline Behind every great love is a great story intrigues the audience and makes them want to know about their love story. The strapline is important as it gets their mind working, asking questions that can only be answered by watching the film.

The credits are in a small, centred text and are featured conventionally at the bottom of the poster along with the company logos involved in the making of the film included beneath. All of this text has been included in black contrasting with the main image so that it stands out clearly to the audience, but also connoting that there may be a darker, perhaps sadder side to this story.

The main image of this film poster dominates the page and is main focal point, much like the other various genres of film posters I analysed, as it is a common convention of a film poster of any genre. The image is a close-up of two characters embracing romantically. Through the mise-enscene, their expressions show passion and lust, emotions associated with love, romance and the romance genre. This is also shown through their body language, in which their arms are wrapped round each other, mid-embrace, connoting closeness and love. The image also includes rain pouring down hard over the couple, as we see through the characters clothing and hair being wet. This is a clich romantic theme, people kissing in the pouring rain, which is immediately associated with the romance genre. The heavy rain adds to the intensity of the scene, making it a very strong image which connotes passion. Immediately, the viewer recognises this as a film of the romance genre. We see this through the style and structure of the film poster, as genre theorist Daniel Chandler states that genre tends to be based on the idea that genres represent particular conventions of that genre, such as specific iconography and structure/styles.by iconography, Daniel Chandlers means we expect to see certain things and objects within the miseen-scene in a particular genre. In this case, in romance we expect to see a romantic relationship, which this poster clearly represents through the large image of two characters embracing. We also see an engagement ring on her finger, clearly in view, which further gives us the denotation that these two characters are involved. Company logos have been added to show what licensing and production companies are involved. It is a very important convention in a movie poster.

The title of the film has been written in a simplistic, sans serif bold typography. The simplicity of the titles typography is to ensure focus is not taken away from the powerful main image. Conventionally, in the romance genre, film posters use a tall serif font to appear formal and elegant and relate to romance. This poster subverts this romance genre convention. This film poster has not used this convention, and even unconventionally included their title in a rather small size. This is because they intend to attract their target audience through their main image, and do not want a bold title to draw attention away from it.