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1. Genre, Iconography and Ideology
I am going to look at two film posters of the horror genre in
order to analyze them in detail. I will be focusing on how
the production companies promote the films by looking at
the elements provided in the film posters. I am doing this
with the aim of finding the best practice of marketing to an
audience through the use of genre marketing, visual codes
and themes presented within them.

2. We see a figure with a
black hooded top and a
dark mask. The mask
within the poster tells us
that a lack of identity has
been given to us, as we
don’t know who or what it
may be.
There is very minimal text on the
poster; a title, a headline slogan and
information on the actors/actresses.
The idea of having minimal visual
codes is purposely done in order to
make us want to watch the film and
they are teasing us.
In terms of the visual codes, I
noticed that the main colour is
black. Black is a stereotypical colour
to portray evil or death, and this
poster clearly is following the horror
movie poster commonality. The
darkness portrays the fear of
unknown as we do not know what
to see. The themes are mainly
about death and lack of escape.
Dark cloudy setting
compliments the figure on the
cover. This may give us a hint of
when we expect the film to be
full of drama. (at night when it
is dark and cloudy).
The films tagline is ‘if you hear
them coming. You’re already
dead’. This tagline contains the
word dead, which reveals and
the violence and genre. In
addition, it raises a few
questions that need to be
answered. Who are they? And
why are we already dead? Why
can we not escape them?
Big and bold text all in capital
letters. The production company
want us to see the written codes,
although there is so little. This is
because the few words in the
poster speak a lot.
The word static means lacking in
movement, action, or change,
especially in an undesirable or
uninteresting way. This definition
can relate to us when we are
scared. We lack movement, and
have no hope. Therefore static can
be the idea of us not being able to
escape within the film.
Low-key lighting suggests the grim reaper, this may
also connote the supernatural. The mask and hollow
eyes show a lack of identity abnormality.
There is a tiny bit of the production
company information in very small
text. The production company do
this because they do not want us to
focus on who made the film, they
want us to notice the dark colours
and the mysterious killer.
STATIC 3D (2012)

3. I would expect to see more written codes in this poster, in order to get more information about the
story. Although the production company knowingly reveal so little textual codes to make us
wonder and ask questions, and eventually want us to find out by watching it.
The poster creates a sense of mystery and enigma in a
range of ways and many questions need answering:
• The lack of information provided by the production
company makes us want to know more about the
film.
• The identity of the figure is very subtle. This makes us
want to ask who is behind the mask? Male or
Female? Why are they trying to kill us?
• The tagline also makes us wonder who is coming for
us, why can we not escape and how are we already
dead?
• The location is not shown as we see a dark cloudy
background. Where is the setting of the film?
• The title Static means lack of movement, so what
makes us lack in movement?
The film producers are trying to create excitement and thrill by giving us very written
codes. They want us to not read, and just watch. The props, background, bold text and
tagline all complement each other to give away the genre; being Horror. The dark colours
infer death, and the figure has a lack of identity wearing a mask, which is a commonality of
horror movie characters.

4. YOUR’E NEXT (2013)
We see a figure with an animal mask. The
mask tells us similarly with the first
poster, a lack of identify. We are not sure
who may be behind the mask, as it
appear to be abnormal.
Big and bold text all in capital
letters. The production company
made sure we notice the big
letters as this is one of the main
focuses of the poster.
Blood on the figures face. This
clearly shows us that the film may
be gory, and we expect to see
blood through the visual codes.
Very little written codes, and the
production company. The reason
to this is the production company
want us to read the few words,
which are powerful enough as they
speak for themselves.
The background of the film is dull,
and dark. This creates a sense of evil
and darkness. The figures colours
matches the backgrounds which can
link to when we see it (in the dull
dark lighting)
The written tagline on this
poster is placed above the title
of the film. “Did you remember
to lock your door?”. This is a very
powerful question, as it wants us
to ask questions, and we get an
idea of the films settings. The
doors can imply that it is set in
some sort of house or
apartment.
The title YOURE NEXT is in
capital letters, and the font is
almost scratched onto the
poster. The written codes are
trying to suggest a sense of
animalistic behaviour, through
the figure and also the text on
the poster being carved on like
an animal would.
The main colour of the poster is again
some sort of grey/black. This can
suggest the theme of the film being
dark, deathly, as well as the grim
reaper being portrayed through the
figure. Death is the only thing that we
see when blood, dark colours and a
evil animal mask is shown.

5. •
The poster also creates a sense of mystery and enigma in
a number of ways and the viewers have questions that
need answering:
• Firstly, the lack of written codes. Similarly with the
first poster, hardly any text is used, and this is teasing
us as we want to know more about the visual codes.
• The background looks abstract and abnormal. Where
is it? In addition, who is behind the mask, and why
that specific mask? The blood on the mask makes us
wonder how it got there, and who’s blood is it?
• The words You’re Next make us ask why are we next?
And how are they sure we are next?
• I also want to know where the film is set, because all
we see is a hooded masked figure, blended into a
background.
In terms of this film poster, I would expect to see more of the background. We do not get to see
fully what the figure is behind, and showing us this will enable us to understand the location of the
film. In addition, more written codes by the production company could help us with the films story.
The film producers are trying to create excitement and thrill by giving us very written
codes. Like the first poster, it is common that in horror movie posters, little information is
given to us. The figure also seems to create a sense of animalism and abnormality, which is
out of the norm. And this with the dark fuzzy background and carved text all emphasizes
that this film is a horror one.