Analysis of Orphan poster

1. Orphan Film Poster Analysis
Noshin Jahan

2. Plot
• Horror, mystery, thriller
• 7 August 2009
• Rated 15
• A family devastated by a miscarriage decide to adopt
a child from an orphanage. They are drawn to a child
called Esther. The mother, Kate feels something
wrong with Esther and thinks she may have a
psychological problem. Esther goes on to tearing-
apart a happy family to get to the father-whom she is
attracted to. At the end of the film, Kate finds out
Esther has a rare disorder that causes dwarfism and
makes her appear younger than usual, she is actually
a 33 year old woman. Kate eventually manages to kill
Esther.

3. Background: Predominantly dark grey(connotes
her dark identity and background, it also
connotes decay as she is slowly ageing), however
there is a light around her that that gives the
audience the illusion that she is a little innocent
girl.
Iconography: Esther is wearing a choker, which is
usually associated with older women or in
historical context: worn by prostitutes (this gives
the audience the allusion that she wants to be a
grown up woman, as kids don’t wear chokers ).
The choker is an ox-blood red, this may suggest
Esther’s inevitable death it is also associated with
blood and evil, which connotes she wants to
cause mayhem.
Iconography: Esther is wearing pig tails with
ribbon hair ties. This suggests she is child,
however the use of black ribbons suggest she is
much older than to what meets the eye. In
context-A black ribbon is worn as a symbol of
mourning and remembrance-this gives the
audience a hidden message of her past.

4. Iconography: Esther is wearing a traditional old
school girl dress. The colour of the dress is blue.
The audience can automatically infer that this
dress does not belong to the modern time-
period, the dress hints that perhaps she belongs
to a different time period or she isn’t who she
says she is.
Subject: Esther’s eyes are darkened-almost black.
The colour black connotes evil and darkness. This
gives the audience the impression that her
ultimate aim is to cause evil and mayhem.
Subject: The shadows on her faces hit odd
angles. For example, there is a shadow falling
on her eyes, this creates are darkness
surrounding her eyes, this gives Esther a
deformed look.

5. Tagline: In capital letters, this directly hinting to
the audience that she will cause evil and the
audience can automatically infer that she is the
antagonist. The tagline is informative and does
not give the plot away.
Title: Is in a childish font, as if a child had written.
The tile consist of mixed lowercase and
uppercase letters, this is irony because in
actuality she is a grown up woman.
Subject: Esther dominates the whole poster-
this connotes she is the main character.
Moreover, her gaze is directed towards the
camera, which is directly facing the audience
this connotes she is different to other children,
she looks dangerous and ruthless.

6. Overall, this is a highly successful horror poster.
The poster is intriguing, the bizarre shadows and
lighting is essential for creating a horror
atmosphere.