Halloween is a highly influential and successful slasher film from 1978. The film is set around the traditional American holiday of Halloween and features Michael Myers, referred to as "HE", a mysterious killer. The movie poster utilizes several horror film conventions including a dark color scheme, images of knives and a cracked pumpkin, and positioning of the title in bold orange text to convey the dark and disturbing themes of the film and draw in audiences.

1. Halloween is one of the most influential and successful slasher films ever made. The narrative is based around the
traditionla American holiday, Halloween.
Black background to
convey the dark
themes that will be
included in these
movies.
The hand and the knife ripple
through the pumpkin. This is a
common convention of a
horror poster as it’s a slasher
film, and a knife is a common
weapon within this sub-genre
of horror. Also a pumpkin is
an iconic symbol that
resembles monster and
paranormal activity. Also this
is relevant to the title,
‘HALLOWEEN.’
The title Halloween is in big bold capitals,
which is a common convention of a horror
title. Also it is piped with an orange colour
scheme. This fits in with the colour of the
pumpkin.
A caption to help
promote the films
potential fear factor.
The fact that ‘HE’ is
in italics clearly
indicates that this
character is a known
and fear figure within
the narratives
community.
Principle Cast and Crew- Common formal aspect of a movie
poster. Its presents tells the audience the different movie stars
that take part in the movie. This aims to attract the existing
audience of each actor on top of their target audience. This is
seen as an advertisement strategy.

2. It is reminiscent of the use of
shapes in German
expressionism and the way
they convey a crooked
psychological landscape. The
shapes are jagged and
cracked, reflecting the broken
mind set of the killer.
This poster follows and abstract colour
scheme to the common formal
conventions of a horror film at this time
of cinema. Hitchcock uses yellow and
pink colours, which are not very
healthy colours for a human to look
like. Again this replicates the unhealthy
mind-sets of the characters.
Connotations!
The title has a big crack going through it.
This is to convey the type of broken
psychological mindset of the killer within
this film.
Common formal convention for
well known actors to star of the
film’s poster to attract the actors
existing audience on top of their
target audience.
Captions to tell the
audience who the director
is and the actors that are
staring. This is to attract
the existing audience that
already follow these
cinematic stars.
Black background to
convey the dark themes
that will be included in
these movies.
A caption to try and make
their horror stand out from
the rest.
The captions of all the people that took part in the film are organised down
the side of the poster. This is not a common formal aspect of a horror film
as there usually organised in small font at the bottom. This replicates the
irregular layout of the movie itself.

3. Black background
to convey the dark
themes that will be
included in these
movies.
End card- Common formal aspect of a movie poster. Its
presents tells the audience the different movie stars that
take part in the movie. This aims to attract the existing
audience of each actor on top of their target audience.
This is seen as an advertisement strategy.
Isolated area with what
looks like a ghost house.
This is very conventional for
a horror film, as an isolated
location is very common in
such films. Also an
abandoned looking house
evokes fear to the audience
as they do not know what's
inside.
Red writing conveys that blood
will be spilt in this film,
reinforcing the fact that this is a
horror film poster, immediately
allowing the audience to relate
to the genre.
A tag line is a recurring
convention of a film poster,
which aims to give the
audience a tempting clue as to
what events are going to take
place in the film.

4. Like much of your work…these could be more detailed…
As well as the conventions, you should identify the elements
that convey a sense of narrative and genre