Film Poster Overview

 

 

 

 

I have looked at eight film posters that advertise films from the Supernatural sub-genre of horror; matching the sub-genre of the horror trailer I am planning to produce. By performing this investigation and further analysis on three of the posters I will hold knowledge on the typical conventions that feature on Supernatural, horror film posters. This will provide me with a platform of information that will support and aid, myself and my peer; when creating our own film poster.

The typical conventions of film posters feature in each one of these eight I have chosen. The general conventions being a title that is the most important text within the frame reflected by its font and size, an image that dominates the page and is the main focus for the eye of the audience providing them with a hint of the narrative, a slogan that relates to the main image and as wanted by the target audience; effective horrific imagery. 

Furthermore, there are other patterns that also feature within these eight posters. Each poster seems to use a young female as the character within their main image. Each female is portrayed as being in danger, therefore making them seem vulnerable, defenseless and weak.  They each seem scared as if they have experienced some sort of tourture of mental pain. In the ‘The Unborn’ poster, for example, only half of Casey’s (the female character) face is visible; to illustrate that she is terrorfied by the figure of her unborn twin brother. Her hands are down by her side reinforcing the fact that she is weak as she does not seem ready to defend herself and fight back. In the poster for ‘Sinister’ the young girl in the main image is facing away from the audience therefore making her seem hurt; in pain and not willing to interact with others. It is evident that the young girl created the horrific figure on the wall, so we can tell that the female protagonist is mentally unwell.   

Each female which is presented in Supernatural horror films play the role of one which will fight against whichever demon, presence or curse is presented as a threat to them. Another thing that can be noted is that, in many cases, the female protagonist is young and attractive. She does not, however, appear to be a ‘bimbo’. This makes sense, as the ‘bimbo’ stereotype does not have the intelligence, bravery or resourcefulness to fight off the dangerous threat. The female however, can still be labelled as attractive, as throughout the film she shows off her universal beauty.

In four of the eight posters we see demonic/possessed/scary children. In half of the eight posters I have studied, demonic/possessed children feature.  This reinforces the idea that such characters are common in supernatural horrors and that children often appear as conduits of evil. This could contasts significantly with the stereotype of children as innocent, joyous, sweet and adorable; evil children are a freak of nature and are timelessly terrifying. In each of the posters the children show no emotional yet a devil like stare. The young girl in the ‘Sinister’ poster can not face the audience, adding to the overall idea that evil lurks within her mind making her refrain from interacting with humans that are sane however her innocence is not totally lost.

The images used in the posters are designed to evoke emotions of fear. The horrific imagery used emphasises that the unknown is uncontrolable during the dark lonesome night. The main images successfully represent and reflect the Supernatural sub-genre of horror.

The image featured in the poster for ‘The Possession’ is  disturbing, with a decomposed hand having emerged from the mouth of the female to claw at her face. In the eight posters; masks, wielding knives, chainsaws and no bloodied victims do not feature as they are all imagery signalling some of the other genres within horror; which are Slasher, Gothic and Psychological. Instead, we see decaying hands and demon-like claws, ghostly figures, images of the fires of hell and tormented souls and the suggestion is that the threat in these films is supernatural (created within the mentally ill mind of a human).

There is a consistent pattern with regards to colour too. Dull, dark and blunt colours have been used such as pale blue and grey. Those being common as they help to create a sinister and unwelcoming mood. In individual posters for The Unborn, The Possession, The Last Exorcism and Sinister, the female is represented as being drawn and taken into a world that is cold, dark and hard to escape from. Their entire existence is now revolving around the battle that they must fight; it defines and characterises them.

In each poster, the title of the film is placed in a conspicuous position and, as expected, it is the largest text on the page. In six of the eight posters, the title is positioned at the bottom of the poster, beneath the image; therefore becoming a typical layout convention (the idea is that the audience will be presented with the title, once they have been drawn in and ‘seduced’ by the image).

Most of the posters introduce institutional information that is postitioned at the base of the poster and seven of the eight feature a tagline that helps to anchor  or reinforce the meaning of the image or to reveal more about the narrative. The tagline on The Unborn poster reveals that ‘Evil will do anything to live’ which compliments the faded out image of the young boy peering back at the female in the mirror as she stands there in complete terror. Other text on the posters that is used to attract the target audience of previous Supernatural horror films are quotes such as ‘Based on a True Story’ or ‘From the makers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious’.

The idea that a film has been inspired by a real supernatural occurrence makes the film much scarier for audiences, as they feel that the same thing could really happen to them. This is a reason why the Supernatural genre within in horror is the most popular; within the statistics of the films being produced and the audience going to view them.

It can be agreed that the text presented to the audience is simple, readible and, often, sans serif font. All the posters in the selection are effective. They also have simplicity in common, with minimal text and the image, stark, bold and dominant, doing most of the talking and illustrating an element of the narrative.