This document provides research and analysis on existing horror/survival game promotional posters. It finds that the posters all have quite dark, devilish views and emphasize survival aspects of their games. Key aspects that will be included in the author's own work are the survival theme, and use of darkness to create dread and mystery. An audience profile is also presented, finding the target demographic to be male gamers aged 16+ or 20-40, who would be appealed to by elements of mystery, survival, violence, darkness and dread.

1. Research
Andrew Downes

2. Existing Product
The piece is set in a fictionalized Salem so I have
creating my own map.
The angle is set so we have the police cars set up in
a blocking way and we are overlooking a murder
with us seeing this through a ghost.
The effect of suspicion and darkness are mainly
given of by this piece however it also has a sense of
dread to it.
The post-production would be the glare of the
sirens police lights and the bullet holes also you
might count the underlining glare underlining the
word murdered.
The light is used effectively by making us
concentrate on the dead body and nowhere else.
The composition is good because it is mainly dark
which gives of the feeling of secrecy difficulty death
and others.
The costumes needed to copy roughly are police
costumes and for the MC a shirt some chinos a
fedora and a set of gun holsters.
The props would be the dead body the
fedora and the gun holsters.
The colours are dark such as blacks greys
and dark browns and blues.
The font is quite normal just put into bold.
It would appeal to my audience because it
is a survival mystery game and this poster
shows that.

3. Existing Product
This piece is set in a fictional place called the safe haven.
The angle of this piece is set so we see someone being
tortured or trying to escape with the T’s and the I’s pointing
at his eyes almost like a weapon.
The effect that is given off of this piece is fear among other
things but mainly fear and pain.
The post-production might have been the gradient in the
background with the running grey lines from the top of the
piece.
The lighting is mainly dark creating a sense of fear and dread.
The mise en scene is telling the story of this guys torture
pretty well.
There are no costumes involved in this piece with his face
only showing.
The props would be the rusted barbed wire stretched along
his face.
As I said the colours are all dark except for the white in the
middle which creates a sense of dread.
The font on it’s own looks dangerous and weapon like it
almost looks as if it could be used to bludgeon someone.
This would appeal to my
audience because it has a lot of
violence an has quite a lot of
survival in the game.

4. Existing Product
This piece is set in Hell yet another fictional place.
The angle is set so we see the ghost rider aiming at us with his
chain and in the background there is his burning motorcycle
and on each side there are buildings.
Effects of this is fear tension action packed and slightly
adventurous.
The post production would have been the flames on the
wheels and the head of ghost rider.
There is limited use of the lighting with the orange of the
flame vibrating to the background and then behind that it is
mainly dark colours creating a sense of mystery.
The mise en scene looks like it is the vengeance of ghost rider.
The costume would be a leather coat with leather gloves and
leather trousers and he has some black gauntlets on and also
maybe the ghost rider mask.
The props would be the Harley Motorbike in the background
and the chain the ghost rider is holding.
Some of the colours are light and vibrant such as the orange of
the flames and then there is only really different shades of red
gradually getting darker towards the back of the piece.
The font is great because it
hadn’t been used to much
before and it has worked out
really well here.
This will appeal to my audience
because it is a hack and slash
survival game so there is a lot
of action in it.

5. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched
products have?
– They all seem to be quite negative and have quite a
devilish view to them.
– They are dark and affirm that they use survival in their
games.
• What aspects of the research will you include
within your on work?
• The survival aspect hopefully and the darkness
which creates dread and mystery.

6. Audience

7. Audience Profile
Category Demographic Content to appeal to this audience
Age Range
16+
Or 20-40
• Mystery survival violence
Gender
male • Darkness the mystery and dread
Psychographic
Gamer • Any games are fun to these guys if it has a
good story line.
Social Status
Gamer
student
• The survival part mainly.
• Some violence