The poster for the film "Orphan" features a young girl looking directly at the viewer with shadows around her eyes, suggesting two sides - innocent and demonic. The scratched title can refer to either a child writing it or someone using a weapon like a knife, hinting at the horror genre. It draws the viewer in by the girl's unsmiling gaze that creates tension.
The poster for "The Unborn" uses chilling blue and grey colors and cracks/scratches drawing attention to twin children - a white-clad girl and a black-clad demonic boy in the mirror. The positioning of the tagline "Evil will do anything to live" near the boy suggests he is the evil
1. TaslimaBegum
Analysisof twofilmposters
The film poster ā āOrphanā released at 2009
The titles format could be two things, the fact itās not neat and suggests itās done by a child, which
corresponds to image of Esther. Although the title could be someone who drew it with a weapon e.g.
knife which suggests the genre horror.
The poster is taken up by a simple mid-shot image of a girl looking directly at the audience. The way
she is dresses with bows in her hair and her neat clothes suggest sheās a child ā a school girl, also
there seems to be a glow around her suggesting sheās innocent. However there seems to be a dark side
of her, and this could be seen with the darkness and shadows surrounding her eyes and jaws and her
stoic face, the fact she isnāt smiling makes her more serious to be a child. The photo of her shows the
two sides of her, an angelic side and a demonic dark side as we can see with the colours on the poster
contrasting with each other.
The title is scratched on which could be inferred in two ways, one that a child has written this as its
messy and isnāt tidy. However it could also be seen as someone scratched it out with an object, as its
horror it may be a knife etc. This is a typical convention of horror as it refers to weapons they may
use.
The image of the little girl is her looking straight, where audience when viewing this may seem they
are looking directly at her. The direct eye contact works really well in poster as the audience can feel
the emotions of Esther. Also it makes the audience feelon edge as if the character is looking at/into
them specifically which creates tension within them. The artificial lighting placed above Esther is to
Pale white face ā innocent
Dark shadowsneareye,black
eyes ā seemstobe evil
Pigtail hairwithbowsand
Victorianstyleddressing
suggestssheāsaschool
girl ā youngchild
Rhetorical question āgetthe
audience involved
She wearsverydark clothing
makingherverygothicand
dark
Colourscheme isverydark
suitingthe darkhorror
theme
2. TaslimaBegum
Analysisof twofilmposters
show the darkness surrounding her eyes, which give the effect of her looking evil and sinister. The
black within her eyes stand out and connotes evil and death. As we see Esther directly looking at us, it
seems as though sheās angry about something as her expression look very menacing and calculating.
There are two taglines on the poster. The first one seems to be more of a statement saying āThereās
something wrong with Estherā. This intrigues the audience to find out what is wrong with Esther as
we can see 2 sides of her. The other tagine at the bottom in red says āCan you keep a secret?ā they
used a rhetorical question to get the audience involved, the secret links with the other tagline ā the
problem with her is a secret no one knows. The tagline is in deep dark red which fits with Estherās red
choker and this could hint underneath it lies one of her secrets intriguing the audience even further.
Moreover the poster has challenged film conventions by not included in a billing block at the bottom
of the poster. Although they have incorporated a website and a release date at the bottom. The website
enables the audience to keep up with the movie, to be updated on when teaser posters and trailers
come out for audience to find more about the plot. The release date has been added by informing the
audience when the film will be released. These have all been placed at the bottom as it has less of an
importance then the message the poster is trying to send.
The captiontheywrote- āEvil will
do anythingtoliveāthe factthey
put itnear the demonicperson
suggestsitāsabouthim
The coloursusedare chilling
ā a lightgreyand darkblue
3. TaslimaBegum
Analysisof twofilmposters
The film poster ā āThe Unbornā was released in 2009.
The film poster used chilling colours that are used stereotypically to fit the horror conventions. The
colours used for the poster are blue and a light grey and this could be used to represent the earth and
the cracks and scratches may suggest the cracks in the earth letting out the demons and how
everything isnāt how it seems to be. The effects they put on the poster ā the scratches and cracks are to
put more attention on the twins and make them the centre of attention. The lighting on the poster is
very low-key fitting to the horror codes and conventions.
The female in front of the mirror is wearing all white suggesting she is pure and the innocent here
making her the protagonist/victim here. Her lack of clothes shows her vulnerability to the evil,
something typical for the protagonist. The poster features a young lady looking in a mirror in little
clothes, which is targeted towards attracting teenage boys/ young adult men to watch the film. This
links to Mulveyās theory of the āMale Gazeā as the women is half naked and is sexually objectified for
maleās pleasure. The demonic child in the mirror is wearing black āconnoting death and danger, the
opposite of her suggesting that he is the antagonist. . Also the demonic child is made to look like the
antagonist by the way he looks, heās all pale with dark eyes and he doesnāt look like an innocent child
suggesting heās the devil.
The positioning of the tagline is near the boy in the mirror, which suggests that he is the evil that will
do anything to be alive which may suggest he is the evil spirit. His face links to typical horror
convention of the dead, with dark circled eyes and a pale face of a ghost/dead.
Dark tiled walls; a marble table and dirty dusty walls that look as though itās covered around cobwebs
surround the girl. The colour of the walls are green which connotes envy which the boy represents,
that the girl is alive while he is not which links in with the tagline āEvil will do anything to liveā. Also
her location is made up to look like an old fashioned house with a dark cold atmosphere and makes it
more daunting; this is a stereotypical horror convention theyāve applied to the poster.
The title has the ātheā in the āOā in the poster, which foreshadows the film. The film is about the evil
spirit of the girlās twin brother that had died in the womb. Therefore the placement of the ātheā in the
āOā could be representative of the young boy in the womb. It represents the unborn trying to escape
from the womb/death, as he is willing to do anything to live.
Theyusedthe typical conventions
on the title puttingitat the bottom
and thisisdone so the audience can
fixate onthe image more
The lightingisverylow-keyinthe
posterand the coloursusedare
verystereotypical inahorror
posterand usedtogive itan evil
dark theme
The fact the female iswearingall
white suggestsshe ispure and
Lack of clothesshowher
vulnerability
4. TaslimaBegum
Analysisof twofilmposters
A typical convention the poster has applied is the billing block at the bottom as it is a contractual
requirement for film posters. Theyāve used this font to not attract much attention towards the credits
so the audience can look at the daunting poster. Also the website is down there to inform the audience
where they can get updates of the movie, for example when it will be released.