The poster analyzes analyzes the film poster for "Sinister" and how it effectively promotes the horror movie. It does so through the use of a creepy title with dripping blood text in a sinister font, an unsettling image of a bloody face on the wall apparently painted by a little girl, and a dull white background that makes the blood and face stand out. These visual elements set an ominous and disturbing tone that aligns with horror movie tropes and intrigues viewers about the supernatural plot of the film being advertised.

1. Supernatural Horror
The sell line here both ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Insidious’ are really
famous horror movies, despite being recent, and the majority of
people at least know of them and know how popular they are, so if
they look at this poster and see that they are by the same people, they
will be intrigued and want to watch it. The text is positioned at the
top of the poster, because that’s where people look at first when
they’re reading. Also the two horror films title is a bigger size and
bolder than the other texts, this is making them really noticeable as it
is trying to promote the new horror film ‘SINISTER’.
One focal point of the poster is the bold masthead. The typography of
‘SINISTER’ is in colour black and capital letters. This makes it stand out to
the audience as it is really obvious and noticeable positioned on the
centre of the poster, as well as this, the dark colour of the title contrast
with the bright background. The font is typically creepy and plays on the
title ‘SINISTER’ – already presenting a supernatural impression. Each
letter has a sharp point at the end, which this connotes that there might
be sharp weapons that are used in the film to kill people such as knives
and chain saws etc. ‘SINISTER’ has a reflection around the letters that has
been faded, this effect makes it look spooky and scary, it connotes to the
audience that there might be ghosts used in the film and there will be
mysterious things going on. In addition the front reflection of ‘SINISTER’
looks like as if blood is dripping down from the letters, this connotes that
there might be a lot of blood, death and killing involved which just
already makes the film look frightening. The letters of ‘SINISTER’ has
been separated, this makes the masthead look very clear to the audience,
and it shows that it is sending out a message to beware of might
approach.
The tagline under the title is also very significant as it creates the context
for the narrative, which also links heavily to the image blow. This
suggests that disequilibrium could occur in the movie because before
anyone saw "him" everything was normal and dandy in life but after
someone had seen "him" everything turned bad and there was nothing
that could be done to get back to the equilibrium before he was
seen. This connotes to the audience that once you see the supernatural
being he will pursue you, which is making the film already more eerie
and spine chilling for the audience. The same typography has been used
for the tagline as in the title of the film to maintain the overall
consistency of the film poster. The placement of the tagline is slightly
unconventional, although its placement under the film title is
conventional. It is smallest item of text on the poster, perhaps this has
been used to reinforce a sense of mystery as the audience search the
poster for an explanation to why the girl is drawing across the walls in
blood.
The main selling point form the film poster is the dominant image. This blooded face
that looks as if it has been splashed and onto the wall, which then following a little girls
hand on the blood makes it equally disturbing and terrifying. This will make the
audience feel uncomfortable, as they can see a blooded face with demonic eyes looking
directly forward, straight at the audience’s eyes, making the poster look very creep and
supernatural feeling, which immediately declares that it is in fact a horror film. The
poster adheres to the rule of thirds because the title crosses three of the thirds drawing
the audiences eyes instantly to the title of the film, and then onto the images of the girl
and the bloody face on the wall. The face on the wall looks like it's been made out of
dripping blood that seems to have come from the girls hand as she drags it across the
wall. Additionally, the colour the blood is obviously red and this connotes danger and
death. This fits in with the film genre as it's a horror and there is usually blood and gore
because they are key genre tropes that you would usually find in a horror movie.
As the audience will be immediately also drawn into this little girl whose hand is
leaving a trail of blood, makes the poster look even daunting as it connotes to the
audience that this child must of painted this demons face on the wall with blood.
Following on, this also connotes that something evilness has possessed the little girl
into doing what’s shown on the poster. One typical of the horror genre is there are no
prominent actors face is shown in the poster. This gives the audience to relate to an
unknown character and emphasise with the little girl feelings and emotions. Despite the
lack of any emphasis on the little girl makes the narrative and storyline focal aspect for
the film. The enigma code on the poster will makes the audience question why the girl is
there and why she's doing what she's doing, the poster looks very creepy in the way that
the bloody face on the wall is looking straight at the audience giving them direct
address. This connotes that during the film a scary face may pop up at any unexpected
time to scare the audience, which is rather common for the horror genre.
Another key feature is the damaged film stripe below the demon face, the damaged film
stripe depicts that how the antagonist secretes have been destroyed by him, as this
connotes that he has been filmed and discovered. This connotes to the audience that
someone is trying to figure out the mystery of the supernatural, which makes the film
frightening as dreadful things are going to be happening throughout this investigation.
At the bottom of
the film poster,
there are films
companies named
that are involved
with the film, to
show they have
been taken part of
producing the film.
This helps the
audience because if
they are a fan of
some o theses
companies other
wok then they may
enjoy the film
being advertised
with a poster.
There is also the
text saying ‘Coming
Soon’ in big text at
the bottom, this is a
typical convention
used in any film
posters. This is
showing that the
film’s release
date hasn't yet
been announced
and that this poster
is simply to
promote the movie,
and get the
potential audience
excited for it for
when it is
supposed to be
released.
The background of the poster is
in itself particularly grim and
dull, which extremely makes
the blood painted image and
the dark masthead stand out to
the audience. This connotes to
the audience that the film id
dark and spooky. The off white
colours on the poster make it
looks eerie, which effectively
fits to a horror genre. The
cracked and dirt on the wall
and floor shows that the area
within the poster is isolated;
making the girl on the poster
seem more innocent and at
risk. The setting of this poster
seems to be white room within
a house, white it can represent
an absence of colour reflecting
the mood of the poster as
soulless. The location of the
poster is unknown but if the
audience have seen the film
trailer of ‘SINISTER’ they would
know the primary location in
which the narrative is set is
within a house where a family
were mysteriously
murdered. This setting
connotes and helps build up the
audience’s expectations of the
narrative as it’s unveiled that
the majority of the film is based
on the disturbances occurring
within the house.