1. Film Poster Overview
The eight posters I have chosen below have been designed to effectively promote films
within the horror genre. Through carrying out thorough research of these film posters and by
comparing them all to each other, I have been able to identify any shared features within
them and establish any repeated patterns. When looking at all eight posters together, it is
clear that they all promote the same genre; common conventions include the use of red and
black, featuring the weapon, bold white text and the villain is shown on the majority of
posters to attract and scare the audience.
Throughout every horror film and film poster, there are common conventions in place that
relate to different sub-genres, these are often repeated and create a symbiotic link between
different media pieces. An example of this is that in every conventional horror film there is a
final girl. This character takes a lead throughout the film, is the last and usually only to
survive the killer and faces the most psychological and physical torment at their hands. The
final girl is usually a girl as she is seen as physically weaker than the villain and easier pray.
An example of this is in the film poster ‘I know what you did last summer’ above. The leading
actor is the female character positioned on the left hand side of the page and closest to the
audience. Through the use of mise-en-scene, we are able to tell that she is the final girl due
to the colour of her clothing which is light - this suggests innocence and purity. Also the fact
that she is positioned closest to the camera and closest to the weapon which is ripping
through the poster further suggests that she is the closest to danger. The weapon has
already torn through her friends which suggests to the audience she is the last one and the
‘final girl’.
The colours used throughout these eight film poster have all been similar, reflecting that
there are colour conventions in place. Commonly, in most of the poster above, the title is in
white font indicating that it is the most significant piece of text on the page. The colour red is
also commonly used throughout these posters, symbolising blood and danger - which is
conventional within the slasher sub-genre. Alongside the text, the images are emphasised in
contrast to the black background, significantly drawing attention to the image and so the
poster. The images used on the poster usually feature the villain of the film, showing the
audience what their character looks like and what his role is. From the posters above,
scream is the only exception to this convention. The scream poster features the actor Drew
Barrymore instead of the killer, this was used specifically to target the audience as she was
a well known name in film. This encouraged the audience to watch the film to see her.
Scream aimed to mock conventions in their slasher film and so killer her off almost instantly
in the opening scene, which enticed the audience even more as they could not tell what was
going to happen next, this was a smart marketing technique that was used by the producers
to get people talking about the film, therefore gaining publicity.
The layout of all eight of the film posters are relatively similar. Six of the eight film posters
have the title of the film in the same place, which according to the rule of thirds is where the
eye goes to first, the centre of the page. The layout of the page also revolves around the
image that has been used. It is the largest item on the page and takes up most of it, the
writing is placed on top of it. The main image is usually the protagonist of the film - the villain
of final girl. The image usually features a spotlight on the villain and the background is
2. extremely low key or entirely blacked out, this emphasises the common fear of ‘what hides in
the dark?’ and emphasises the villain as the focal point of the poster. In four of the eight
posters, the weapon also features, this is is one of the most important pieces of horror
iconography in the movie and therefore audiences can determine before the film what the
murder weapon will be. Due to the placement of the weapon on the ‘Halloween’ poster; the
audience can establish how the Michael Myers intends on harming and killing his victims
throughout the film.
The main purpose of the tagline is to create a link between the main image, the title and the
film. Doing this allows the audience to have a better understanding of the film prior to
watching the entire movie and without giving away and of the plot.In the film ‘A nightmare on
elm street’, the tagline is ‘Welcome to your new nightmare’. This tagline relates to the title of
the film by using a common word - ‘Nightmare’. Doing this creates a symbiotic link and
makes the audience fear that the film will be a real life nightmare and so may be scared to
sleep. In the film ‘Halloween’ the tagline is “the night he came home”. This makes the
audience want to watch the film as they want to know who came home, from where and
what he did. This is accompanied by the image of a knife and so draws the audience in and
encourages them to watch the film. The fact that the title is ‘Halloween’ makes audiences
even more frightened due to the fact that everyone including the killer will be in
costumes.Most of the taglines featured leave the audience with unanswered questions
enticing them to watch the movie strictly based on an image, film name and tagline.
A previously mentioned, the colour is another vital way in which the film poster can attract
the target audience. In all eight of these film posters dark colours have been used to
symbolise danger and create an eerie tone for the audience. The use of dark colours such
as black denotes the evil which could be lurking in the darkness and in the film. Red is
almost always featured on the film posters, it is a strong catchy colour which indicated blood
and death and can be related to a male presence, this also indicates that the antagonists will
be male within the horror film. They are seen as dominant over their victims due to common
stereotypes and viewed as more powerful than the other conventional characters. White is
another colour that is also commonly used, it signifies innocence and purity - this is why it is
commonly associated with the final girl. Red is also commonly linked to blood, blood would
help to signify the subgenre of slasher as slasher movies idolise gruesome killings with a lot
of blood and guts, this is a convention.
The placement of the title also follows conventions on all of these eight film posters. They
are located in the centre of the page, beginning on the left. This helps attract the audience
as the eye moves in a ‘z’ line formation, this is because it is important that all the essential
information is taken in by the audience, the release date is generally displayed at the bottom
of the poster in a smaller font enabling audiences to look at the whole poster first before this;
relating to the rule of thirds. Whatever is placed at the bottom of the poster is more likely to
be memorable as it is the last thing which audiences see. Besides the title and tagline,
institutional information is also featured at the very bottom of the page, this is because it is
not necessarily important but still has to be shown.
The style of text used for all eight posters includes bold and sharp lettering. This is
specifically to stand out and to portray what happens within the film. For example the sharp
3. letters portray the the villain throughout the film has a sharp weapon, which he will brutally
kill his victims with.
The institutional information is placed at the bottom of the page to promote themselves and
the film. It features some of the directors and producers and the names of the company who
have created the film. This content has to be displayed on the poster and is usually
positioned at the bottom as it is the least relevant on the page. Due to the rule of thirds and
the z line formation, this information will be seen as one of the last things, hence its position
as it does not want to take the audience's eyes off the rest of the posters.
All eight of the posters show at the top of this page are effective in promoting the slasher
genre and encapsulating their target audiences. This is done through the use of using a
range of different features without revealing too much of the plot, encouraging the target
audience to want to watch the film. The posters above are mostly conventional and features
bold text and relational colours, creating a symbiotic link between media pieces and the
genre.
