CODES AND CONVENTIONS

OF MOVIE POSTERS

THE EYE

One of the first conventions that is commonly used in horror movie posters is

the extreme close up of the perpetrators eye. The eye is usually edited to create

an unnatural and spooky look, drawing the audience in due to it being so un-

usual. Cropping the image of the eye to fit the page also adds mystery to the

poster. This leaves the audience wondering who's eye it is and why its so creepy.

The editing enhances the effectiveness of the poster. Looking at the likes of "The

Darkness" movie poster, in which the pupil is dark blood red and there is a

silhouette of a dark male figure with the red bloodshot effect edited into it and

the silhouette image of a male in the pupil. Other posters with an eye as their

main feature often include disturbing features such as tears of blood, hands and

fingers coming out from beneath the eyeball and even fire and flames on the

eyelids and eyeballs.