This poster is for the horror film "Drag Me to Hell". It depicts a woman being attacked and dragged down into a fiery hell by a monstrous hand. The poster uses typical horror conventions like showing a female victim in distress. Bright red and orange colors are used to make the fire stand out and convey a sense of evil. Dark tones are also used to create an ominous atmosphere. The poster aims to attract a younger, working-class audience that is interested in horror films through its straightforward typography and imagery implying danger and supernatural forces.
3. Main image -There is one main
image on the poster, it acts as the
poster’s background, the main
image is of a female, and from her
body language you can tell she is a
victim.The female has her mouth
open, her head back and leaned
over, this shows the she getting
attacked, therefore portraying her
as a victim.The image plays on the
stereotypical view on the “damsel in
distress”, this is a familiar
convention used in horror films,
where females are often the victim,
and this shows the genre of the film.
Her facial expressions show pain
and suffering and also a sense of
possessed as an old monster hand is
touching her.These elements all
create a good horror films.
4. Mise –En- Scene-The model wears casual
hair, she is a stereotypical English woman
with blonde hair, all the custom and make
up all suggest she is an average person,
the use of an average person creates
more of an effect on the audience, it
creates a direct link because they can
relate to an average person more as they
can put themselves into the position.
There is a monster like hand grabbing
hold of the female, the hand tells the
audience that the villain in the film is
something supernatural as the hand
suggest the villain in inhuman.The hand
pulls the female down into the fire below,
this connotates hell and evil and implies
the film is horror.The house in the
background appears to be a modern day
house, this creates a direct link between
the character and the audience as the
audience can put themselves in the
characters shoes
5. Colour - A range of colours are used; red,
orange, black and grey are the main colours
shown. Red and orange are used for the
fire, these bright colours make the fire
stand out and allow it to become more
visible, therefore creating more of an
impact on the audience as it connotates evil
and the devil.The bright colours contrast
with the dark dull grey background, the
dark grey background could show how the
character is feeling (lifeless), the dull
colours helps create the atmosphere and
create enigma as the lack of colour on the
poster could connotate the lack of
information about the film.On the poster a
house can be seen, however it is old
fashioned and dull in colour, it is surrounded
in darkness, this could create a link between
the house and the main character as it
could be hers.
6. Genre -This poster illustrates horror,
creature horror is displayed through
the monster hand grabbing hold of
the woman, horror is also shown
through the fire used at the bottom
of the poster to represent hell. Hell
has a direct link to horror films.
Target audience -This poster is
directed towards horror lovers young
adults, the poster demonstrates the
genre of horror through the images
used and the masterhead and
typefaces shown.The actress is a
young address therefore aimed at
the younger generation. On the
poster the tag line says “Christine
Brown had a good job”, my stating
she has a job implied she is from a
working class background, so it is
aimed at the working class/middle
class audience.
7. Typeface- is simple and easy to read,
for a passing by audience this makes it
easier to read the masterhead of the
poster.The edges are pointy; the sharp
jiggered edges could connotate sharp
weapons that are used in horror films.
The typeface is white, this adds to the
simple effect, the simple effect makes it
more appealing as it doesn’t overload
the page.The tag line is kept simple and
easy to read, the typeface for the
tagline is not over done, it doesn’t
overcrowd the page and doesn’t take
attention away from the writing.The
credits are thin and narrow, which is a
common convention, this is done
because it is not the main focus on the
poster.
8. Connotations - A girl screaming in
pain, she is surrounded by fire,
which could link to the title “hell”,
showing that is where she is being
dragged down to, this can be
shown through her body language
as she is hunched back
Lighting- is very bright, in the
background lighting is used for the
house, this is done to indict where the
storyline is based around, this is a
stereotypical thing.The top half of the
poster is very dark and lacks light; the
darkness used at the top represents
the gloomy atmosphere. As you move
own the poster the lighting used
becomes brighter as bright bold fire is
shown. The brightness of the fire could
connotate war and chaos.