POSTER ANALYSIS

1. This poster promoting ‘The Unborn’
somewhat breaks conventions but at the
same time abides by them. This poster
conforms to Roland Barthes 5 narrative
codes, for example there is a woman
looking into the mirror and a boy is shown
to be looking back at her; this enigma code
entices the audience and makes them
want to find out why the boy is there, and
what his relation to the protagonist is. The
overall poster looks very eerie; the tagline
helps the audience to establish a general
idea of the plot. ‘The Unborn’ suggests
that a child will somehow be incorporated
into the film while also indicating what the
narrative of the film may be. The word
‘unborn’ could also indicate death and
attachment, portraying the relationship
between a mother and child before it has
been born.
The colouring of the entire poster look
dark, greys and blues have been used
which make it look gloomy, cold and
chilling. Straight away the audience can
recognise that the film is not going to be
happy due to the harsh tones used. Tzvetan Todorov’s theory does conform to the poster
because there is a sign of disequilibrium which shows there is a disruption/something has
happened. Claude Levi Strauss’s theory can also be linked to this poster because featured
there is light vs dark and male vs female.
Mirrors within a horror film are effective as a mirror enables individuals to see their true
selves, when they see someone else looking back at them it is a terrifying sight.
Representation is very important here as there are a few very important ones including
gender and age. The victim is clearly a female, she is an attractive young woman so will
appeal to a typical horror audience; the ghost child on the other hand is male, they have
been completely separated to avoid confusion from the audience and ensure that the
representation is clear
Mise en scene elements of this poster suggest the genre of this film. The little boy is wearing
an old fashioned outfit, further suggesting that he is a supernatural presence rather than
real. The little boy is a smart use of character placement as the audience will instantly feel a
sense of fear. The concept of looking into a mirror is simple, you see your own reflection
looking back at you, this poster is scary as not only the woman see herself, she sees a little
boy staring back at her too. This could also be indicating a connection between the two
characters, the ghost may be haunting the woman in order to survive relating to the tagline
‘evil will do anything to live’.

2. The bathroom setting makes it recognisable that this is a horror film due to the colours used
and facial expressions from both characters. The little boy's eyes have been darkened
completely whereas the protagonists eyes are very white, this conveys Strauss’s theory to a
further extent with the good vs evil and also as the eyes are meant to be the window to the
soul, it makes sense that we are unable to clearly see the antagonists eyes, as he does not
have a soul. Although the protagonist is wearing clothing that makes her seem fragile and
vulnerable, her actual face is not shown, suggesting that she is hiding a secret and may not
be so innocent. There are scratch marks identifiable on the walls of the bathroom, this could
represent the child trying to escape.
The style of the poster uses a long shot of the girl standing in front of her bathroom mirror,
the lighting is low key this goes with the mood of the poster when the audience look at it. The
title is positioned central at the bottom of the page, the font is medium sized and
unconventionally it is not bold, this does not instantly draw the audience to the title. “The” is
written inside the letter ‘O’ in an even smaller font, this attracts the reader's attention after
they have looked at the main image, they will firstly see the “the” and then read the full title.
“The Unborn” is in white; this is done so that it stands out on the poster especially as the
poster is dark and gloomy. Having the black background, death and evil is being
represented. The sink is rather old fashioned and may depict that the location of the film is
set in an old house, this is conventional for a supernatural horror.
Although most horror movies target teenagers and young adults, this particular movie poster
is aimed towards men due to the protagonists costume, she is primarily just in her
underwear. By having the protagonist not wearing many clothes the audience may see her
as more vulnerable to danger. There is a contrast in age represented on this poster, there is
a little boy and then a young woman featured displaying the age gap. Another contrast is
between gender, although men are stereotypically more powerful than women, this poster
features a little boy and generally this would mean that she is more powerful than him.
The little boy portrays that this film is not for children due to the way he has been
represented on this poster; he looks scary and unsettling, also dressed in old fashioned
clothes indicating that he may have died a long time ago. The tagline “evil will do anything to
live” suggests that evil has no mercy and tells us that the protagonist, the woman in the
poster, will be forced to fight the evil presence. Having the tagline next to the boy in the
mirror tells the audience that he may be the source of evil, also his almost transparent
reflection and his pale face makes the audience think that he is a ghost, not a human as this
is conventional of many horror films. The reflection of the boy and the fact that he is not
there in real life indicates that he is not from this world.