The title goes against the conventions of a typical horror film poster as the title is usually placed at the bottom of the frame rather than being more central . However this is typical convention as it uses the colour black which people correlate with dark and bad things, as well as the typography it looks like a text in which would be used through the horror genre as it is bold and harsh.

The image is typically taking the whole of the frame up however this image is used in only one of the third this may be to allow the focus to be on the other main image within the frame, however this image is used to show that she is a main character. Most horror film posters ensure they have used a picture or image of at least the main character or the possession/ villain, in this case they have used both. With the use of using both could help highlight to the audience that these are two characters in which they audience have to look out for or be aware off.

Conventionally we would typically see this on nearly ever horror genre film poster, this is known as the institutional information, it is nearly always placed at the bottom of the frame. As they allow the target audience to absorb the image and the film poster, because most viewers would look at the poster from top to bottom, so allowing this information to be at the bottom will ensure the audience take note of the information alongside the title.

This information is placed at top as it will be the first piece of information that the audience will read and there for is used to incise them to look at the rest of the film poster. The film poster use naming other films and directors, to allow the audience to correlate these other films with this one, if the audience enjoyed the other film they will feel they are more likely to enjoy this one and there for go and watch it.

The tagline is placed under the title, this is effective as the title is one of the main aspect which people look out for so after the audience have seen the title they are likely to see the writing below and therefore read it.

The image is the main aspect in which draws the audience in, therefore the picture has to be appealing and eye catching, if the picture is good the audience are more likely to remember it and therefore want to watch the film. The picture is typical as we see the image of the killer and therefore displaying this on the film poster will allow the audience to create a symbiotic link for when they see this image else where.

Film poster

The title is placed in the typical area at the top of the frame, this is the first thing that the audience look at and allows the company to create a brand identity through this as using the same colours and typography allow people to recognise the title and therefore recognise the brand and are able to make a decision on whether to buy the magazine or not. Fangoria use the same type of writing on every magazine they realise to show this brand identity.

The use of bannered pictures is a horror magazine convention, as other film magazine rarely have other images alongside the main image on the front cover. All of the images in which are displayed are horror related or sexual, this shows that the target audience of this magazine is more male based and therefore these images appel to that target audience and attract more attention to the magazine.

Along the bottom of the page we have to conventional barcode, alongside the main title or piece of information in which closely relate to the main image which is shown on the front cover, this is seen on a lot of magazine front covers, as people correlate the picture with the information they are being displayed. This makes the next time they see the picture or information they are more likely to of remembered it from here and therefore be more appealed to go watch or research about it.

The main image once again takes up the whole frame, and therefore dominates the readers concentration towards this. The image is dull and gloomy and therefore connotes to us that this is a horror magazine. Using an image of the character is going to allow the audience to recognise the film and therefore make it more likely for the audience to buy the magazine or go and watch the film.

Conventionally many film magazine are covered with sell lines and writing of the content within the magazine however with horror magazine there is usually very little writing of the content within the magazine on the front cover, this can be seen as an effective technique as buyer of these magazine may feel that because there is so little on the front cover, that they need to but the magazine to see what is inside.

Film magazine

There are many different features of horror trailer, just like any other type of media production, trailers have popular codes and conventions. One of these is the use of straps through out the trailer, using these straps allows the creators to communicate with the audience about the film without giving too much away such as using ‘based on a true story’ and ‘ from the directors of’. Using these technique intrigues the audience as they recognise the directors and there work and ability and therefore pass judgement on how good this trailer is going to be and therefore want to watch the film due to this. Alongside the use of ‘ based on a true story’ this makes the trailer more real and therefore scares the audience with adrenaline to watch the film.

Alongside this using other features such as the format of the trailer can become highly effective if done in the right way such as the use of an equilibrium, as it fools the audience that everything is okay with the family until the disturbance is placed in this upsets the whole idea of the happiness and lets the fear take over. Having the disturbance come in straight after the happiness makes the fear more affective as the the emotion of the audience had been built up to then be destroyed by this fear and upset.

The fast pace montage also creates the same effect, as it creates the adrenaline of the audience to increase as it work well with the music which heightens the fear of what is going on, on the screen. Due to the montage being so fast pace with scary and graffic images it starts to cuase the audiences hearts to race as they become more scared as the watch the development and the build up within the trailer.

The use of the sting at the end is highly effective within trailers and is commonly used as it is the last piece of footage which the audience see when watching the trailer. The sting is used as the last piece of footage which is going to scare the audience, by doing this the audience are likely to remember the fear they felt when seeing this and therefore more likely to remember to go and watch this movie. Alongside this through this technique by being scared thorugh the sting the audience are likely to expect the film to be just as scary if not scarier than the sting and therefore is another reason in which the audience would want to come and watch the film. The sting usually only last for a few seconds and can be both footage from the film alongside footage filmed especially for the sting.

The effects of music is usually correlated with the footage which is being shown on the screen however a lot of horror trailers use a lot of sound effects such as screaming, slamming of doors, screeching of chairs and floor boards using these within the trailer, correlates perfectly with the footage to make the overall effectives to higher standard. By using the sound affects along with the footage makes the overall experience for the audience more realist and therefore increase the fear as the more realist something is the more real the fear is of it happening to you or someone you know and therefore this causes the audience to panic more than they would if they would just be seeing the footage.

Film Trailer