ANALYSING MOVIE POSTERS

BY SHANNON HARTSHORNE

CONVENTIONS: • - Main image• - Film title• - Tag line• - Credits• - Colour, Font choice• - Website/social media• - Release date (month and year)

Types of posters • TEASER POSTER :- Contains basic information to your appetite. Often

does not indicate much about the plot, may have a picture of main starts and name of the film.

• MAIN THEATRICAL POSTER :- Contains information about the production personnel, stars and distributors.

• CHARACTER POSTER :- Features main character, identifies the genre

• DVD RELEASE POSTER :- Includes reviews

The conjuring Other films producedMain image (stands out)Linked from doll to person Text at bottom is unclearDirty walls – abandoned Cracks on floor

Dark colours suggest horrorTitle stands out

True story – more intriguing

Distributor

Coming soon

Colour stands out

Dark colour suggests horror as she’s in corner of the room All font is big and bold - consistency, clear all one colour

The title is big and bold

Gothic, supernatural, death writing, renaissance

See the white of the dolls eyes

Her bow is red – only bit of colour on poster

Page split into 3rds, text is in the bottom 3rd conventionally the image is in the centre and not much is happening on the top.

Rocking chairs are calming, seen in horrors – associated with older people where as here its juxtaposition

Saw VI VI – machinery

Face

Light background to focus on main image

Bear trap on face

Tag line- suggests he’s still aliveTrapped

Interesting picture choice Title stands out – its like metal with blood stains Roman numerals

Hard to see writing

Gears

Date of release

Pitch – devil, fork – metal writing

Distributors

2 websites for audience to research more

Text for title is uneven, some are bigger than others. The ‘w’ looks like a pitch fork which is typical in a horror

Background dirty?

Roman numerals reflect the intellect of the villain as it suggests the character is intellectual in the film.

Tagline, in centre suggests he could be saying it, font is small suggests he’s whispering. Full stop at the end suggests it’s the end.

Colour of text is black/white so it stands out

Main image; person, stands out

Silence of the lambs

Colour Scheme- the face is pale and not very healthy looking this is conventional because it creates an atmosphere which the audience may feel uneasy.

Main image of face

Insect on her lips suggests she is being silenced furthermore the insect appears top haver a skull on its body which suggests danger.

Credits are at the bottom and don’t stand our unlike the film masthead.Distributors

Production company

Writing is hard to see

Star names are above the masthead and tagline this is important because it’s a main convention of a movie poster also it can help sell the movie.

Tagline has a black background behind which allows the words to stand out from the main image.

The colour of this poster helps it reveal very little of the film.

Mise-en-scene has been used well here as the eyes are red which signifies danger also, the red eyes and the insect are the only actual bit of colour that has been used other than the neutral colours of the skin.