The poster uses various techniques to convey that the film is a psychological horror based on a bestselling novel. It prominently features the large orange title "Silence of the Lambs" against a black background, drawing attention. The character's faded face and red eyes imply an evil persona. A skull-faced moth on her mouth suggests she has been silenced by something dangerous. Well-known actor names are displayed to attract fans and imply a high production quality. Credits are moved to the bottom so as not to cover the character. Overall the poster creates intrigue around the story and signals to viewers that this is a terrifying horror film.

1. Research of existing Horror
Posters
Alexandra Walsh

2. The text “From the best seller” is used in order to draw
in an already made fan base from the book. It does
this by making individuals aware that this film is
baised around the book. This technique is done with
the hope that the popularity of the book will increase
the amount of people who go and see the film at the
cinema. The word “terrifying” insinuates that the film
will include significant moments of horror which are
seen with in the film. This word is used with the hope
that it will draw in horror fans. The rule of thirds is
used to set out this text. It is placed underneath the
title of the film therefore automatically individuals will
go on to read this text next as people read from top to
bottom. There has been a black block placed behind
this text to make the text stand out and to ensure that
it is clear. It also highlights the importance of this text
and makes it apparent to the reader that this text is
relevant and makes a strong point. As this font is
white like all of the other fonts, apart from one piece of
text it can be highlighted that it isn't the most important
chunk of text on the page.

3. The title of the film “silence of the lambs” is placed
in-between two pieces of small white text. As the title
is much larger and orange it stands out significantly
more than these two other pieces of text. This gives
the instant impression that this piece of text is the
most important on the page. As it is the title of the
film, it is. This is a generic of all film posters not just
specifically the horror genre. As the posters aim is
for the people who read it to want to go and watch
the film to get the name of the film across to the
individuals and for it to stick is vital, and this is why
they have made this piece of text stand out
significantly. As the text has been placed on a black
background the colour of the text (orange) makes
the text pop out of the page. As well as this, as the
rest of the poster is rather dark and faded it allows
the orange text to pop off the page. This title creates
and enigma as it leaves the audience questioning
what the title means as it is so vague and unrelated
to everything else on the page.

4. The genre of this film is psychological horror. This
genre has been highlighted in a number of ways
throughout this poster. One way in which this has
been done is through the editing of the image has
been edited. The majority of the face of this character
has been faded out, it is conventional of horror movie
posters to fade out their images, to create a dark and
gloomy atmosphere around the film. It implies that the
film itself has dark intentions. However the eyes of the
character have not been faded. As the eyes are red
they stand out significantly from the dark faded
background. As the character has been given deep
red eyes it insinuates that this character is evil,
implying that they could be the protagonist. This is
implied as red is colour which represents things like
blood and the devil. As well as implying who the
character is the red also highlights the horror genre
the poster is representing.

5. An image of a moth placed on the mount of the
character highlights the she herself has been
silenced, potentially implying that she represents the
title “the silence of the lambs”. This moth creates an
enigma and leaves the people viewing the poster
questioning its importance and what it does or
doesn’t signify. It is clear that the moth does hold
significance as it clearly stands out from the page as
bright colours against the faded and dark
background makes it stick out significantly. If you
look closely you can see that the face of a skull has
been placed on the face of the moth. This implies
that the moth represent death, highlighting that what
has silenced her is evil and dangerous. The moth
looks as if it has now taken over the mouth of the
character implying that the character no longer has
any control and power.

6. It is generic of horror posters to point display the
names of well known actors which feature In the
film. This creates a larger fan base as fans of those
actors are likely to go and see the film. It also
highlights that the film would have had a high budget
to be able to afford these characters, which can
imply to people that the film will be high quality with
realistic visual effects, this increases the amount of
people who are likely to go and watch the film as
people want to spend money on a film and know that
what they are paying for is good quality. This text is
placed above all of the other text, therefore by the
rule of thirds people are likely to read this first,
highlighting how strongly reliant the creators of the
film are on people wanting to see the film because of
the well respected actors which play a part in it. The
screen credits are placed at the bottom of the page
which isn't conventional, typically they are placed at
the top of the page so it is the first thing which is
seen. However if they were to do this for this poster
the white text wouldn’t stand out and it would be
covering the characters face. This is placed to give
credit to people who helped the making of this film
and is done to respect those who have.