Evaluation of Film posters, teaser, theatrical and quad.

1. Poster Evaluation
The teaser poster contains an image of a damp, dark room with a static TV. In the
foreground - present as the main image - the static TV sitting on a cabinet which
seems to be on a stained cabinet. The TV has a faint reflection of a pair of eyes that
look to be either a reflection or coming from out of the. The background is mainly
black, although there is a slight brown stain on the right side of the wall. The use of
dark colouring sets the tone of the film and establishes the film as a horror - the
stained look hints to some form of neglect or the downfall of someone and this is
often due to some evil taking control; the black that’s predominant in the
background connotes to malevolence and perhaps a lack of hope (light which is
often seen to be hopeful is significantly less than the black and so it could be seen
that the darkness has won, something that is often associated with horror films).
This is the only poster which has focused on just the setting and props; by doing so
I don’t reveal too much about the film, but still portray the necessary conventions
to establish the genre. To specifically target a mass audience, I have also used
certain enigma codes which may lead to greater curiosity amongst those between
15 and 30 years old (while again verifying the genre of the film). The eyes
seemingly ‘in’ the TV is something typically associated with a supernatural horror,
which I would say my film is, and those between the ages of 15 and 30 are more
likely to question why the TV has such a look, or what is the cause of the eyes in
the TV, as their personalities would, in reference to Young and Rubicam’s
psychographics, typically align with them being explorers or reformers and hence
they’d be individuals who seek a product which greatly expands their knowledges
or offers a new perspective, respectively. As well as this, there is the presence of
actors' names; as a unique selling point actor’s names may encourage people to
watch the film as the film’s cast includes high-profile actors. However, the
diversity of my casting shows that the film is inclusive - Miles Caton is African
American, Sandra Oh is Korean and Brec Bassinger is white American - and so
once again ensures that I reach a mass audience, as the diverse casting reflects the
reality of society being multicultural, something people accept more as a
contemporary audience. As a result, I have also ensured that the Netflix brief is
fulfilled - the multicultural representation aligns with the Netflix ethos of
inclusivity. The tag-line of my film, ‘There’s no place like home’ is also present in
the teaser poster and could be seen as appealing. It juxtaposes the dark foreboding
imagery as what we think makes a home (comfort, warmth and family) is clearly
going to be contradicted or challenged in the film. As a result some people may
want to watch the film in order to learn what makes the tag line relate to the film.
contradicting images and therefore establish the film as a haunting - a place like
home can easily turn to the opposite if the wrong people - or things are in it. Once
again, by having this contradiction, I have ensured that the brief is met; it is clear

2. that my poster is for a horror movie as the typical conventions of supernatural
horror (static TV) are present alongside a phrase which could be seen to question
the normality of the picture.
The main poster has an image of the protagonist in a black and reddy/brown
stained background, his mouth covered by his hand as he looks worried/scared.
Although this is not a part of the plot, I decided to use this image because I felt that
it best represented the covert aspects of the film - the malicious entity takes a toll
on Isaiah’s mind leaving him incapable of reasoning rationally (something which is
often done through speech) and by having his mouth covered by the entity hints
that it has damaged his sense of reasoning. The background is mainly black around
the edges of the poster, while the background area close to the model is brown with
slight hints of red blending outwards from the black. The use of black once again
connotes evil, but instead, the black does not appear to be complete and hence it
could be suggested that the evil is growing, reflecting the ominous threat that may
be present in the film. As well as this, the use of brown and red makes the area
around the model seem dirty and unkept - this is useful as while it does not
explicitly show a home setting (as can be suggested with the TV seen in the teaser
poster) the audience can further identify the film as a horror - red suggests turmoil
while the dirty look could link to the inability of someone to keep an area clean,
something which may be due to the mental state of an individual. This
psychological threat is something that appears in the film as Isaiah’s inability to
comprehend dreams from reality will lead to his mind becoming fractured. By not
showing any violent images or gore, I have also made sure to comply with the brief
I was given, as the poster will reach a mass audience since the lack of overt
stereotypes of horror being violent and . When taking the photo for this poster, I
used a medium wide shot of the model (protagonist) at a slightly high angle. This
made sure that the model's costume was present as well as his facial expression.
This was important as the costume of the character was important for conveying
the necessary message of the film - the model wears a blue t-shirt (which is barely
visible) and a leather jacket. The leather jacket is black and since it is worn by the
protagonist it can be assumed that the character is losing hope, similar to the black
background on the teaser trailer, the black clothing could be seen as an evil that is
‘winning’ over light and therefore hope. The slight high angle hints to the
disposition of power as the protagonist has little control over something unknown
to him, and the absent look as the model looks forward rather than up suggests that
the character is either unaware of a threat he cannot see, or is completely incapable
of changing his situation. For the main poster, I have ensured I reached a mass
target audience through a mixture of new focuses as well as recurring aspects that
can be found in the teaser poster: The film’s tagline and actors are once again

3. present, but rather than using setting and props I have featured the protagonist. By
doing so, I have ensured that the potential audience can now physically identify
characters and start to associate themselves with the cast - the protagonist, Isaiah is
an African American in his late teens. This further secures a potential audience
between the ages of 15-30 as the chance of relatability between the audience and
the character is greater - those who are between 15 and 30 years old may like to
watch the film as they may hope to see a reflection of some of their own problems
within the protagonist while those between the ages of 20-30 may feel a greater
attachment to watch the film as they can reflect on their own experiences and
question how they would respond to whatever the protagonist may face. By having
the protagonist a person of colour I make sure there is an equal and fair
representation of different ethnicities - often people of colour can be sidelined,
especially in horror films and appear as evil, bad, or ‘disposable’ characters (the
ones to die). By having a protagonist as African American I ensure that the
potential audience is aware that such stereotypes don’t occur in the film, but also
ensures that my product aligns with the ethos of Netflix, who aim to have adequate
'integration and ethical conduct’ .
For the quad poster, the protagonist is present again, sitting in an armchair in a
room where the wall is stained. Similar to the theatrical poster, the protagonist will
appear worried. While, again, not a scene in my film, I chose to do this for similar
as I did for my main poster; we do not see any immediate threat that is identifiable,
similar to how Isaiah is not aware straight aware that there’s an entity haunting
him, but we know that there is something malicious that may cause harm. For this
poster, I have used a slightly similar colour scheme to the theatrical poster, the
overall background appears dirty due to a variety of brown hues, while black
seems to creep in at the corner of the poster, blending into the brown due to hints
of red and also yellowish tints. This gives the background an aged look but also
reflects the horror aspects that are present in the film; we often associate horror
films with having a ‘hotspot’ of malevolent activity (this is true in Insidious where
the film’s haunting becomes prevalent after one of the characters, the boy who’s
present on the Insidious film poster enters his home attic), and so it can be assumed
that wherever the protagonist is, this must be where the ‘horror begins’. As part of
the brief, it was necessary that the genre of the film, horror, was properly portrayed
and this has been accomplished through the use of the dark colour scheme.
Furthermore, it may be unclear as to where the character actually is as apart from
the armchair, there are no clear objects to state if he’s in his own home or a
building elsewhere. Due to this, I have ensured to entice an audience as they’ll be
able to identify the film’s genre and may be curious as to where the protagonist
actually is. As seen in the theatrical poster, the protagonist is present and this again

4. helps to reach a mass target audience (for the reasons given previously), but also
ensures that there is fluidity and relatability within my products marketing and
distribution. This is because the presence of the same character, in the same
costume, in both the theatrical and quad poster, makes sure that it is clear the same
film is being promoted and validates that the narrative is the same (the film is
about a teen boy of colour since he’s appeared in two posters). As well as this,
since the colour scheme is similar in the theatrical and quad poster, the ability for
people to identify the film as the same in both posters is now greater as no stark
differences can be found that hint that genre has changed.
When making my posters I made several adjustments so that the photos used as my
poster’s main image would fit with the overall poster. For the teaser poster,
adjustments included: the darkening of the image of the TV by lowering the
brightness of the image alongside increasing the exposure of the image. To add the
eyes to the static TV, I adjusted the photo of the model’s eyes by removing the
background and the surrounding facial aspects (nose, head, hair) and then adjusted
the opaqueness of the image as well as changing the image to black and white.
For the main poster, I removed the background surrounding the model and adjusted
the contrast of the image as well as posterizing the image, which helped to add a
shiny look to the leather jacket and also highlighted the lighting around the
model’s hand and face. This was successful for not only blending in the model to
make him seem as though the model is vulnerable to an entity of darkness but also
connotes to the ominous threat the protagonist faces - the red tinted highlights on
the face could see as representing the supernatural evil that is present as red often
symbolises blood, but also evil and hatred (an emotion which is associated with
supernatural entities).
To successfully make my quad poster I removed the background from the photo
I’d taken of my model and added overlays, which included me posterizing the
image on photoshop as well as darkening the image. This ensured the model
blended into the background and .
I also made adjustments to the background I created - I used copyright-free images
of dirty walls for the theatrical and quad poster which, when added to the poster on
photoshop, were then made darker with brown and red hints by increasing the
levels of black and white, posterizing the image (which I’d also done with the
photos I took) and adjusting brightness.
Some adjustments to graphics were also to ensure that the posters were
comprehensible; in the quad poster, the name of the actors, tagline and film title
(The Midnight Fiend) were slightly lost due
As part of marketing and advertising, the use of social media for the poster
campaign is a method which is both effective and efficient in terms of distributing

5. a product - not only is a large population present on social media and therefore
likely to see the film’s campaign, it also allows interaction between individuals as
they may share the film posters through reposts. As well as this, different social
media could be used to reach different age groups; teenagers and young adults
between 19 and 25 are the largest demographic that often use Instagram, while
FaceBook has a demographic largely consisting of 25-34 year olds. Physical copies
of the poster will also appear, as they appear on bus shelters, buses, billboards and
in cinemas. Due to the reach of the posters being both digital and physical, I saved
my posters in three different formats - PSD so that I can edit the posters on
photoshop; JPEG, so that the posters could be printed by the production company
without coming out too pixelated; and PNG format ensured that the posters could
be uploaded and distributed online.
In order to include both genders I have used a cast that has female supporting roles
alongside the protagonist, and the presence of the female actresses' names on all
three posters, Sandra Oh and Brec Bassinger, generates a female audience as they
may feel more inclined to watch the film if the know the narratives they've played
before, and since Sandra Oh and Brec Bassinger are of different ethnicities, a wider
audience is once again reached as females will see that there is a diverse
representation within the film. The protagonist being a male does initially create a
larger male audience as it may be easier to relate to the character, however females
may also watch the film regardless of the male’s lead role. This is because the
theatrical poster and quad poster which feature the protagonist both show him as
looking worried, and in a vulnerable position. This ensures that common
stereotypes of the male being physically strong and able and emotionless are not
followed, instead the strength will come from expressing emotion.
Overall, I would say that my posters have met the brief to an exceptional standard
as it encompasses many aspects of the Netflix ethos of inclusivity, ethical conduct
and original ideas. However, I do feel that, in order to properly represent a mass
audience, I may have benefited from having Sarah, Isaiah’s friend, present in the
main or quad poster so that a female audience could be reached and guaranteed
further.