Film Poster Analysis - Sinister

The film poster I will be analysing is the advertisement for the recently released Supernatural horror film ’Sinister’. I choose to analyse this poster because the image shown; is an outstanding example of horrific imagery. I feel that this image illustrates the type of action that can be performed by the tortured; mentally ill. In addition to this, the poster is striking and very unique due the large dull background acting as an empty space on the poster. The size of the text is also unusual. The film poster for Sinister is chilling and evokes an eerie atmosphere amongst the target audience as they look at it in wonder.

The image on this film poster depicts a young, thin, blonde, vulnerable, female. The image implies that the girl has left a large unnerving marking on the wall; using her small pale hands and the blood of a living creature. The image is very simple shown by the lack of variety of colours used. However the placement of objects within the frame, are very effective. The figure created on the dull wall seems to be the face of a mortal killer who the female protagonist is terrified of. This face appears everywhere, and it cannot be escaped, the female has been portrayed to have lost her mind, health and overall wellbeing.

Furthermore as mentioned above the main focus of the image is shown to be the female and the image she has made on the wall. The creators of the poster made the size of the image of the girl small, so that she becomes the main focus, within the location and her dark enclosed surroundings. An extreme long shot has been used to reinforce the fact that the female in the image is alone in an open, uncomfortable empty old room. In addition to this, the environment is shown to be unnatural, unhygienic and torturous. It is clear that this setting fulfils horror conventions; it evokes feelings of fear and hurt through the use of colour, costume and the angle of shot used.

It is evident that minimal extra lighting has been used. To achieve the image it seems that ambient lighting coming from the ceiling has been used in addition to natural lighting given off the colour of the cracked grey wall. The lighting used is the same as what would be used in an average dull room/basement in a house. Therefore the lighting shown in the image looks rather realistic, portraying to the audience that Supernatural actions by living creatures can occur at any moment, in any place.

Moreover, the costume of the female in the poster matches the genre of film and her destructive mental state. She appears to be dressed in white, ribbed, knitted pyjamas; consisting of a long sleeved top and trousers. The pyjamas are slightly dirty with grime and blood on them. Furthermore the female’s hair is long and blonde. Her hair along with the pyjama’s reinforcing to the audience that she is young and in danger. However this poster seems to oppose the ‘bimbo’ stereotype; that young blonde females are weak and defenceless. The young girl is shown to be embarking on a trip of revenge. This gives the initial thought that she is strong and fearless. The female protagonists face is not visible to the audience. This is very effective as it allows the audience to decide what emotion the girl is feeling from her clothing and body language rather than a facial expression.

The young girl’s body language and pose, shows that is slowing walking away from the marking she has just created on the wall. She is taking a step therefore her body is slanted making her look small, innocent and also not fazed as she is not shown to be in a panic. Her head appears to be down; she is facing the floor implying that she is aware of what she has done. Relating to this feeling and action shot the text on the poster claims ‘Once you see him, nothing can save you’. This embarks emotions of fear making the audience think that the girl is in danger and that she has been mentally destroyed by ‘him’.

The only object within the frame other than the female protagonist is the destroyed tap mechanism. It seems to have been aimlessly placed onto the floor beneath the figure on the wall. The tape has been played and then broken with the film strip ripped out of it. This could possibly be signifying that the young girl has torturous memories, playing in her head that she can’t ignore.  She, the young innocent girl has now taken this issue upon herself and has reacted to the destructive mental thoughts that she is experiencing.

The film title ‘Sinister’, is placed in the second third of the page when split into three rows. The titles position on the page follows typical film poster conventions. Film titles are usually situated where the human eye is known to hover; around the centre of the page.  The font used is a serif font and the letters are all block capitals, this makes the font stand out. Each letter has a ghostly drop shadow used as iconography for dripping blood; connoting danger and violence This text effect also makes the title appear more horrific.

The tagline is situated beneath the title; and says ‘Once you see him, nothing can save you’. This phrase relates to the creature in the film named ‘Bagul ‘that lives in images and has been seen in old video footage (showing the past family that used to live in the house; celebrating occasions) by the father of family. This figure the girl has created matches the figure that appears in these images ‘Bagul’.

The text that is situated at the top of the page says ‘From the producers of ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Insidious’. This is used with the aim to attract the previous target audience of the two named films; providing them with a new horror, something to feed their film pleasure.

Furthermore, unconventionally this film poster does not reveal the release date of the film (which was October 5^th 2012) it only states ‘coming soon’ in block capitals; this would even more so encourage the target audience to research the film further.  Overall this film poster uses the simple image very effectively. It shows a large part of the room where the young girl is situated exaggerating her dark and dull surroundings. Lastly the image shows the young girl in white pyjamas (conjuring up ideas of terrifying events happening at night or of a character confined to bed rest) smearing blood along a decaying grey wall; the blood has dripped to form a sinister, dark and dangerous face.