This document analyzes two movie posters - Buried and Drag Me To Hell. For the Buried poster, it notes that the logo uses yellow tones to represent the limited light from a lighter, while patches of brown represent the mud the character is buried in. It leaves the audience unsure if the character will survive. For the Drag Me To Hell poster, the title stands out against a dark background with fire at the bottom to represent hell. It shows a female character being pulled down in the center to engage the audience about why she is being dragged to hell. Both posters provide just enough information to intrigue audiences without revealing too much of the plot.

1. Poster Analysis

2. Buried
Sell lines help emphasise how amazing the film is to encourage
people to see the film when released. The film logo is very
effective as again it the yellow tones relate to the limited
amount of light there is from the lighter that the actor is
holding. However, it also has patches of brown in which
reminds us of the mud that he is buried underneath.
This poster attracts the audience as it makes us unaware of
whether he will survive or not as we believe it must be
impossible to get out of that situation. It also plays on the
audiences vulnerability as many people are claustrophobic, so
these people can see this film without having to live this
situation personally. The colour palette for this poster follows
the conventions of keeping colours basic but also eye catching.
This poster consists of black, browns and oranges. This relates
to the content of the film as the orange and yellow used for
the title resembles the candle light colour. It also includes the
image of the character literally buried alive so the audience is
aware that someone could die, but leaves us asking questions
as we are unaware of the outcome. The main character (Ryan
Reynolds plays the character Paul Conroy) helps to promote
the film. Directors and other information also helps to
promote the film if the audience has seen and enjoyed any of
his previous work as well.

3. Drag Me To Hell
The title stands out against the dark background making it
easier for the audience to be aware of its name. It is also an
unusual title as we are not familiar with someone wanting to
go to hell as it reads ‘DRAG ME TO HELL.’ This is accompanied
with fire (which is iconic of death, burning and hell) which is
shown at the bottom of the poster. We associate hell as being
down below, which follows this stereotype of being placed at
the bottom.
Using a female character also follows the stereotype of being
weak, so could be rescued by a male character in the film.
However, this is unrevealed. The image chosen fulfils the
convention of posters as the female character is positioned in
the centre, with a medium shot of her. She appears to look like
an average girl, and supports that having unknown people in
horror films feel more realistic. This is also emphasised by the
small description of her life in white.
This description also raises questions and keeps the audience
engaged as we don’t know why the girl is going to hell. What
has she done? We also get to see part of what we assume a
hellish creature would be like as we see the hands pulling her
down. The poster also includes credits, and web site to show
where the audience can get more information about the
movie, and the use of ‘COMING SOON’ is vital so we are aware
of when it is released.