2. This film poster contains The way the characters are
many connotations. The positioned tell us the guy at the
background of this poster is front is the main character and
black with small white font maybe even the hero. The fact
for the actors/actresses at thy are all wearing a costumes
the top of the poster. The suggest they want their identity
use of black and white hidden and unknown. There
contract is to make the appears to have 3 characters
actors names stand out. behind the main characters, 2
males and 1 female. The man in
The title takes up the
the upper left is wearing a mask
length of the poster
which has strong similarity to the
and is in bright yellow.
Batman costumes. This gives a
Even thought the
feeling of recognition to the
characters are layered
audience and interest Batman
on top of the title, the
fans. The upper right hand
title still stand outs
corner gives off the feeling of
because of the bright
danger, the black mask and the
colour.
colour red enhances this
connotation. It makes the
The tag line at the bottom is a audience question whether he is
small font but in capital letters the antagonist. The girl in the
saying ‘shut up. Kick-ass.’ This purple looks the youngest and
connotes rebellion due to the the colour purple connotes that
use of a rude saying ‘shut up’. she is a female. She looks as if
This tells us that the characters she is the only one in her teens
in the film don’t follow the and this would appeal to a
laws/rules and rebel against younger audience which are a
The audience is able to make their own
society. similar age as her.
judgements on this characters due to their
costumes.
3. The use of a shatter mirror The phrase ‘rest in pieces’ is
effect showing half of a live placed at the top of the
person face against the poster, the phrase itself is a play
other half as a skull on words ‘rest in peace’, this
connotes that the binary connotes there will be death
oppositions between life involved but the character who
and death. The bullet hole dies will not die
in the shattered mirror gracefully/peacefully.
connotes that the series of
events that will take place
all unravel from one specific The woman’s face takes up 1/3
incident. of the poster creating focus on
subject matter. The connotes
that this characters has great
The main colours on the poster importance throughout the
are black, white and different film and is likely to be the main
shaded of blue. The black character. The eyes of the
connotes darkness and creates woman have been blacked out
a sense of non-appearance by shadows, this connotes
from live or evil. The black and soulless and death. the eyes
white contrast with the black appear to be really dark
background creating focus on contrasting with the white
the blue and white. This skin. This connotes that
connotes the idea of escape. darkness will overcome good.
The open mouth is made to
appear to be screaming at you
as it is the centre of the image.
This connotes fear and the
screaming is like a direct
message to the viewers.
4. The moon in the corner is bright and is the only single
The trees in the The main light is on the
light source giving a sense of darkness and mystery.
background gives a sense characters faces which
This also ties in with the name of the film and suggest
of mystery and darkness. draws your attention to their
that the moon may have some relevance to the film.
The trees become less face expressions. The female
clear as hey get further character expression gives
back which can connote the impression that she is
another world beyond confused and vulnerable.
yours. This also gives the The shows the audience that
audience a sense of perhaps she is the reason
uncertainty due to the behind the two males
fog/mist. The background hatred. She is also looking
is a sepia tone which straight ahead rather than at
makes the main characters the other two which could
stand out and makes them mean that she is impartial
the main focus. however her hand is placed
on Jacob’s arm which shows
The antagonist has a iconic look that she feel safe and secure
on his face and his face is turned around him and emphasises
towards the other person which her weakness.
shows there is conflict between
the two male characters. The The thick mist at the
two males have their fists bottom of the poster
clenched which emphasises the creates unnerving and
tension and anger they both supernatural
have. emotions and
exaggerated the
Edward’s dark clothing has
theme of it being
connotations of him being evil and
mysterious.
sinister compared to the other two The title of the film is in yellow/gold colours and
characters giving a connotations that stands out from the rest of the poster. The font is
Edward is the ‘bad guy’. simple but effective and has an old rustic feel to it.
5. The dark clouds in the background suggest that evil is looming with the
The main character is the main focus
antagonist moves through the city. Pathetic fallacy is used as the weather
point in the poster. His face is partly in
mimics the characters emotions. Also the actors names are paced at the top of
shadow which connotes that he has
the poster, giving the audience information on who is starring in it. this allows
much darker intentions than first
the audience to make up their mind whether they want to see it. The production
impressions. Also his facial expression
company would not place the actors names unless they are big Hollywood stars.
is extremely sinister. There are scars on
his face and the clown face paint is
The tall buildings and skyscrapers very intimidating. The scars on his face
immediately put a location to the is partially hidden in shadow which
audience's mind which is America. suggest he doesn’t want people to see
American audience will be able to them. The clothes he is wearing are
relate more to this as it looks like it is not of a normal fashion which
their country that is being destroyed. connotes that he isn't normal either.
There is a lot of things flying in the Many people will recognise him as the
background suggesting that the main infamous ‘Joker’ from the batman
character is responsible for this chaos. series and will be able to link this new
Also a machine gun in the adaptation with the cartoon version.
antagonist's left hand also connotes
that he is evil and he has caused The bat behind the text at first looks
disorder in the city. sinister as it is placed upon a shining
The antagonist posture is tense light. This would normally suggest
and the clenched fist suggest that evil overwhelming good. However
he is an angry person who does the bat is the symbol of Batman the
not reason peacefully. The paint hero. This white colour of the font
on his face is a way to hide his also symbolises good. This connotes
identity and remain anonymous. that ‘The Dark Knight’ is good.
The audience will quickly jump Although the words ‘dark’ suggest
into conclusion that he is the evil, ‘knight’ suggests goodness.
villain portrayed within the film.
6. This poster has elements of The setting in the background is an suburban
supernatural which establishes the home which one again scares the audience
target audience. The poster coveys more because it reminds of how average the
horror and pain which can be expected victim is. This means that the audience can
in the film. It is clear that the main relate to this character and feel more
focus of the poster is the victim in the empathy for her. What this does is that it
film. The film has followed creates a bond between the film and
stereotypical horror conventions of audience. The house is surrounded by
having a female victims as they are darkness which suggest that it is the victims
seem as weaker than men and house as darkness signifies evil and the
defenceless again the villain. Her facial unknown lurking. The minimal lighting in the
expression shows pain and the hands house joint with the dark and gloomy
are torturing her which also gives a atmosphere, connotes something bad may
sense that she is processed. These happen.
The hands on the victim tells the
element attract the target audience of audience that the villain in this
a horror film such as ‘The Exorcist’. film is something out of the
The mise en scene connotes she is an ordinary. The hands appear
average person, this makes the film The credit block is at the bottom and mummified and inhuman which
more scary because the audience can is the last thing the audience looks suggest that the villain is
imagine themselves in this position. at. The credit block acknowledges supernatural. They are grabbing
the cast and crew involved in the the female victim and pulling her
The tagline reads ‘Christine Brown has a good
down into the fire. The fire
job, a great boyfriend, and a bright future. But in productions so the audience can see
connotes hell and the devil. The
three days, she’s going to hell.’ This is a hook for whether a reputable actor/director
element combined with the
the target audience because it already supplies are involved in the film. This is a
hands reinforces the title as it
them with lots of questions such as ‘Why is she teaser poster as it says ‘coming soon’
rather than stating a release date. appeared they are dragging her
going to hell?’. This informs the audience and
This indicates that the audience will to hell. The fire are in orange and
makes the audience more involved as they are
have to be proactive to find out red tones which contrast to the
beginning to find out more about her just by
reading the poster. The title font is simple as it more information about the film and other dark colours and therefore
the fire becomes a main focus of
tries not to steal attention from the main image look out for official trailers and
posters. the poster.
but still stands out against the fire.
7. The target audience would look at this The camera shot appears to be a long
film poster and firstly observe the shot which establish that this couple is in
couple sitting up in bed, this signal the their bedroom at night time. The fact
location that they are in their bedroom that the lighting is dark establishes the
and that the supernatural horror film time and that something has
has conventionally been set in their woken/scared them. The disruption is
home. The characters are pointing at evident as we follow the direction of the
the shadow on the door, this shows that woman's finger. On the left, you see a
a ghostly presence is in the room black disfigured shadow on the door. The
indicating that this is a horror movie long shot is used so that the audience
involving supernatural/inhuman nature. gather knowledge of the setting and
The audience will then look at the top genre.
of the poster where they would read a
film critic quote describing Paranormal The whole image is in blue tones and so
Activity as ‘scary’ and that ‘nightmares the main colours consist of dark and
are guaranteed’ these words confirms light shades of blue. The door and bed
that this film is scary. At the bottom of sheets are lighter than the rest because
the page the tagline and title I s they want the audience to look at these
revealed. Glimpsing briefly at the parts first. The audience will have a
poster, the audience would learn the better understanding of what is going
genre of the film by the conventions. on in the poster. The darker areas are
the bed, floor, shadow and outside the
Other uses of colour include the red, white and blue font over the black bedroom presents a most sinister view
background. It is conventional of horror movie posters to use the colour black of the domesticated homely setting
as the background because it complements the theme of mortality, the hour whilst expressing the gloomy obscurity
of darkness, evil spirits and demons, torture and menacing pain. The shade of of the narrative. Other colours used
red used within the font symbolises blood, humanity and life. The uses of blue are red, white and blue font over the
contrasts with the red, which distinguishes between the living and the dead, black background. It is conventional of
further suggesting the genre and narrative. The colour white has also been horrors movies posters to use black
utilized within the text to reflect the idea of a ghostly presence, reflecting the because it complements
idea of a spirit being caught in limbo, stuck in the middle between life and
death.
