Media A2 Horror

1. Poster Analysis Two
The poster above is promoting the film ‘The Last Exorcism’, a horror film which comes under
the sub-genre of possession, but also contains many elements of a supernatural horror as
well. When watching our horror film, audiences will see the horrors within an unknown
building which the characters are staying in, and also the drastic nature evil can have, which
is why ‘The Last Exorcism’ has been an inspiration to us as media practitioners. Because of
this, I felt that analysing this poster would be highly relevant.
The content for this poster includes many of the main conventions generally used on
posters of its form. The image is dominating the frame and provides a visual clue for the
audience regarding what the narrative of the filmwill be based around, in this case it is the
victim of the possession, which makes the character both the antagonist as the evil is inside
them and acting through them, and the antagonist as the person’s body has been
unwillingly taken over by the unnatural force. In addition to the visuals, some text based
conventions appear too, such as the film’s title, a tagline (‘If you believe in God you must
believe in the devil’), and institutional information. Not all horror posters advertise the
name of the producers from the movie so obviously, as a lot of them are lesser-known due
to the uniqueness in the direction of each film. This poster is an exception to this convention
and promotes the producers names above the title in a bold colour. It seems likely that this
is because the two producers advertised are fairly well known and could therefore be used
to draw in filmfanatics who recognise their names. The size of the tagline could also be seen

2. as a way of slightly breaking typical conventions as it is noticeably smaller than taglines are
usually presented, and it is also placed directly above the film name whereas they tend to
be placed more in the middle or at the top of the page.
The poster’s mise-en-scene presents a setting that is in some ways nondescript and places
the character as the main focus of the page. Despite the apparent lack of features of the
setting, it is still highly significant. The viewer is presented with a rotting, bleak ceiling
corner, immediately indicating that the events will be occurring inside a perhaps deserted
house, away from civilisation. It is then suggested that this character is the cause of the
corruption of the home, due to the fact the bottom half of the walls which the character is
furthest from appear to be cleaner and more like ordinary walls in a house, whereas the
further up the walls go towards the girl crouched in the corner, the darker and more
miserable looking the walls become. There is an additional strangeness added to the walls,
as not only do they look as though they are rotting, they look bruised, as though the person
inside the room is fighting to take over, reflecting the narrative behind the film being of a
demon inside this character damaging her inside as it attempts to do rule her life. There is a
very cold, dark look to the room which comes from the lack of lighting, and is used to reflect
the lost hope and reassurance you may get from some warmer lighting. There is a further
significance in the part of the wall which the character has pushed itself into. She is in the
top corner of the room rather than against a flat, open space, displaying how the character
is more powerful than those below, and can attack people effortlessly as she is above them,
and also how she seems to have forced herself into the corner like them demon forced its
way into her.
The lighting used within the frame is dark, muted and dismal which is reflective of the dark
situation which is created in the movie, and also to create a strong feeling of terror of what
is in the shadows. The light source in this image is coming from a high angle above the girl
shining down on her, adding to the shadows being thrown from her body and making her
unnatural position seemaccentuated. The lighting is almost completely shadowing her face,
displaying how she has almost lost her identity and her soul due to the evil which has taken
over her. In addition to this, by not being able to see the girls face it would frighten the
audience as they can’t recognise her human features, along with the fact it would add to the
mystery of who this character is. The lower half of the frame is a lot brighter and ordinary
looking, showing how the house was perhaps quite normal until the evil force took over,
and this is a direct contrast with the upper half of the frame which is dark, shadowy and
disturbing, again representing the effect evil is having on the environment, and how the
light of their lives is being snuffed out.
Compositionally speaking, the character dominates the frame more than any other feature.
The audience is presented with a long shot of the girl crouched in the corner, and the
camera is at a slightly low angle to emphasise the fact that she is above the ‘ordinary’
characters in the filmand also how she is above the laws of nature. The camera angle used
here almost places the audience in the position of the observer within the frame and
includes them in the scenario taking place, which is an effective way of grabbing the
audience’s attention. With the girl towering over whoever is below, it is fairly obvious that

3. they are at the mercy of this girl due to the powers she holds. Despite the fact that the girl is
given an elevated status in the frame as she is looking down at the audience, there is still an
element of vulnerability which the character holds, as she looks as though she has been
thrown against the wall and is having to endure something which ordinarily she would not
be doing, which gives a clear indication of the paranormal activities which are occurring and
the fact that she possessed. This is emphasised through the fact that we can’t see her face,
which presents her as a victim.
The costume this character is wearing holds a lot of importance. From what is visible, the
girl appears to be wearing a frilled night dress, which is a highly common costume of
someone in the paranormal/possession sub-genre. It is quite a feminine and youthful choice
of nightwear, which creates an oxymoron between the girl and the situation, as a white
knee length dress conjures the ideas of innocence and purity, whereas the situation is
obviously far from that. Due to her strange posture, the dress has obviously been dragged
upwards to reveal more of her legs, leading to the idea of loss of innocence. This idea is
continued by the fact that only a small part of pure white on the dress is showing, and the
rest is covered by the dark lighting, blending into the bleakness surrounding her. The fact
that this outfit is usually worn to bed links to the idea of the mystery and fear surrounding
noises heard at night. Night time terrors are a common theme in horror films, as in the dark
everything is less visible and mysterious looking. The girl’s hair appears greasy and tangled,
and her hands look as though they are dirty which takes away the idea of her being a
civilised human and more of a disturbing creature.
The title of the film, ‘The Last Exorcism’ relates strongly to the image, fixing the audience’s
understanding that the girl in the image is in fact possessed, and is perhaps so powerful that
the person performing the exorcism dies in the process. The word ‘exorcism’ means to expel
or attempt to expel a supposed evil spirit from a person or place, and in the image we see
the walls rotting along with an unnatural looking girl which makes the audience question
whether it is the house or the girl which is the source of evil, furthering their curiosity about
the movie. The title itself is presented in a large uppercase serif font. By using an uppercase
font it puts emphasis on the words displayed as though they are highly important and
should be remembered, and also that there may be some anger or danger behind them. The
idea that this is going to be the last exorcismhas double meaning, as it could either mean
that evil is being defeated once and for all or that evil overcomes good, so this would make
the audience want to find out the outcome in the film. By using a serif font it goes with the
idea of the situation is of a highly serious nature. It is also presented in a black, smudged
effect as though it is quite an ancient piece of writing which links with the fact that dark
spirits are quite a historical idea.
There is a tagline featured above the filmtitle suggesting that both the tagline and the film
name are both closely linked together. The fact that the font for the tagline is not very big it
consequently means most of the attention is drawn to the title and the main image, and
also makes it seem as though it is a whisper from the back of someone’s mind being
projected onto the page. This tagline would appeal to the audience as many people do have
a religious belief but only really focus on the positive side of religion, so by bringing up the

4. darker side to religion it would make the audience inquisitive into what they don’t know
much about. In addition to this there is a full stop placed at the end of the tagline. Not all
taglines pay attention to normal punctuation rules, so the use of the full stop here is
significant as it suggests that the words expressed here are a fact and final, and that it is a
valid explanation as to why the horrors are happening.