Poster Analysis 3

1. Poster Analysis

3. INTRODUCTION
The third poster that I will be analysing is the ‘Sorority Row’. This is also a slasher poster and I have chosen to
analyse this because it will help me to understand the different types of techniques that are used in this poster
to make it look unique and effective to the audience. This film features a group of teenage girls and this will be
similar to the trailer that I will be creating. I will also be using teenagers in my trailer as there are a lot of
teenagers who are fans of horror movies. So by including teenagers in my trailer it will make the trailer more
effective and will allow the teenagers to feel relatable to the trailer that they will be watching.
One of the main features I like in this poster is the background. The background used in this poster is an image
of a house on fire. This leads to a lot of suspense. It makes the audience want to watch the trailer to see if there
are any clues given in the trailer about the narrative of the film. In this image all of the protagonists are being
features. It is conventional to see an antagonist feature on the main poster and it is also convention to see only
one person feature in the poster. However, this poster does not follow these conventions. This makes the
poster very unique compare to all the other posters.
The poster is very effective. This is mainly because of the bold colours used for the poster. There are dark
colours used in this poster to make it clear to the audience which genre this poster belongs to. So when I create
my poster it is important for me to take into consideration the different colours I will be using to indicate clearly
to the audience the genre of the poster.

4. POSTER CONVENTIONS
The ‘Sorority Row’ poster fulfils the typical layout and conventions of horror posters. All posters
use the same conventions but manages to make it very unique to each other so it is important
that I also create a poster that looks unique so that it would be more effective to the audience.
The colour scheme is very conventional to a horror poster. Dark colours is posters usually
signifies that it is a horror genre.
It is very common to see the image give the audience a flavour on what the narrative is going to
be about in the film. As the house is on fire we could come up with an idea that something
dangerous is going to happen in each of the girls life. A medium close up shot has been used to
show the facial expressions of each of the girls. We can see that they are wearing attractive
clothes. This could represent their personality. All the girls may turn out to be quite flirty and
may make stupid decisions at important times.
The layout does follow the rules of thirds. We could see that the image is centred in the middle
of the page to make the audience look at the main image first before reading the text included
on the poster. The title is placed in the bottom middle of the page. This is a general convention
of horror posters and it is very common to see the title being placed there. Usually the audience
would look at the main image first and then would read the main title of the film.

5. IMAGE
Main Image
The first part I will be analysing on the poster is the image as the image is more important than all the other features
used in the poster. By looking at the poster we can clearly understand that the film is mostly going to be set in a house. It
is very conventional to see horror movies being set in houses. This is because when you are alone in a house you will feel
quite isolated and usually when you face danger in a house it is usually shown in horror movies as a place where you can
not escape from, as there is not enough space to run away from. As the house is set on fire in the background we can feel
that the characters are in danger just by looking at the image. A violent, fearful and scary environment is presented
through the image. As the characters are lined up in front of the house in the image, it builds up suspense to the audience
and forms a high expectation about the film to all the horror fans as the image looks very interesting.
Lighting
A low – key lighting is used in the poster to create a scary and dangerous effect to the audience. The lighting used, reflects
the narrative and makes us understand that there is something mysterious that is going to happen in the film. The low –
key lighting sets an appropriate mood for the audience by making them feel uncomfortable and disturbed as they clearly
don’t know the narrative and through this, it clearly indicates the genre of the film which is horror.
Focusing on Characters/Mise-en-Scene
Costume
The protagonists featuring in the main image on the poster are wearing is wearing black dresses. The colour black
usually represents evil and a dark personality. So from this it could be likely that the girls are probably going to be doing
bad things to hide the truth from other people. The girls may do something stupid and wrong which may get them into
trouble which may lead to their lives to a risk. The girls are wearing short dresses which could reflect the idea that they
may have a flirty personality. They may make stupid decisions which would make them look dumb.

6. Facial Expressions
The images of all the sisters look very different as if they have lost control of their lives. All the sisters are placed close to
each other which shows us that they are very close to each other hence they are called sisters. All the sisters look lost and
feared. This could give us an idea that they may have done something wrong which could lead to them losing control over
their life. They may have lost authority over their lives because of a mistake that they may have made.
Body Language
The body language of each character is very similar. They all look weak in the positions they are in. This could tell us
something about the narrative. During the film they may lose authority over each other. This shows us that there may be
a character in the film who has a higher authority than all of the sisters.
Colour
The colour scheme used in the poster is very strong and bold. It clearly indicates a very evil atmosphere to the audience
just by looking at the image. The colour black dominates most of the poster which could symbolise the lives of each of the
characters. It could give us an idea that something bad has happened in each of the sisters lives. The colour black could
also give us an idea that there are going to be unpredictable events taking place in the film which will give a huge twist in
the story. By using the colour black in the poster it clearly represent the genre of the film and this is a very important
feature in a poster. High – key lighting is used just to show each of the characters face. This could reflect the idea that all
the characters featuring in the image are positive characters whose personality may change because of the events they
may face in the film. Black usually represents death so this could create a symbiotic link to the audience because all of the
sisters are wearing black. So this could mean that the sisters may die in the film in a gruesome way as this is a slasher film
and is very conventional to see characters being killed violently.
IMAGE

7. Props
There are no props used in this poster. However, it is conventional to see props being used in slasher – posters. It is
also very conventional to see weapons being used in horror posters to reflect the idea that the movie will be quite
gruesome.
Positioning of characters and other objects in the frame
The main image is placed in the middle of the page following the rule of thirds. Usually the main image is placed on
the centre of the poster because that is where the audience will look at first when they look at a poster. The title is
then placed near to the bottom centre of the film poster. The title is placed below the image to make the audience
understand that the image is more important than the film title.
By placing the title near to the bottom middle of the page it would make it easier for the audience to focus on the
main image as the main image would tell a lot about what the film will be like and will give hints and clues on what
the film will include.
Below the poster the date in which the film will be released is located. The release date stands out from all the other
text included in the poster to show the importance of it. All of the elements included in the poster follows the rule of
thirds. By positioning the main image in the middle we can almost feel the emotions of each of the characters and we
could relate our selves with the image as they are a young group of teenagers.
IMAGE

8. TITLE
The title of the movie is ‘Sorority Row’. Sorority Row is a film which resolves around the lives of sisters and shows us
how they cope with the situations they face in their life. The word ‘Sorority’ means a society for female students in
college or university. So from this we could understand that the main characters in the film are going to be females
who are still in education. The title is very unique and different from all the other slasher films.
The font used for the title is similar to ‘Courier New’. Each of the characters in the title are evenly spaced out. This
could give us an idea that the events that occur in the movie may lead to the girls being less closer with each other
which could lead them into separation. The font size would be ‘20’ used for the title. By looking at the poster we
could see that the title is the largest piece of text used in the poster. This could mean that the title is the most
important text in the poster and to indicate this to the audience they have made the font slightly bigger than all the
other fonts.
A white colour font is used for the title of the movie. The colour white usually represents innocence and heaven. This
could reflect the idea that someone innocent may face danger in the movie. It could also symbolise the idea that a
nice character may get killed in the movie which could take them to heaven because they may have done nothing
wrong.
A common layout has been used in where the title has been placed in the poster. It is very conventional to see the
title placed near to the bottom middle of the poster. The title is usually placed below the main image of the poster
to make the audience first look at the image and then look at the title.

9. TAGLINE
The tagline used in the film poster ‘Sorority Row’ is Sisters for Life...and Death’. This tagline also plays with the
audiences mind. It makes us feel that the sisters will face death during the film. It also gives us an idea that the
girls will always be together whatever happens in their life. When you read the tagline in the context of horror
we could understand that something bad and unexpected is going to happen in the film. As the film is a slasher
film this could also make the audience understand that the sisters may face gruesome deaths caused by the
antagonists. A white colour is used for the tagline which could make us think that they will always be together
even death will not be able to separate them.
The tagline is very simple and effective. It is conventional to see two taglines being used in posters. However this
poster only uses one tagline this may be because the poster may want to make the audience focus on one tagline
to make it get across to the audiences mind very quickly. By using one tagline it would create more suspense for
the audience which would make them want to watch the movie even more.
The tagline is placed right above the title. It is quite conventional to see the tagline being placed above the title to
make the audience get a flavour on what the film is going to be about right after they know what the title is.

10. COLOUR/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Colour
When you look at the characters face you could see that there has been high key lighting used. This could symbolise
the idea that someone of the sisters may get a chance to escape from death and from the antagonist. It could give
the audience hope that some of the characters will survive in the film. However, even though high - key lighting is
used it could also give us an idea that they all may die together and may go to heaven.
As the title is written in a white colour font it stands out from the background colour black. This could show us that
evil may take over innocence. So even the good people may turn bad because of the events that may occur in their
lives. As the colour black dominated the poster it would create a dull mood for the audience. It may make the
audience feel uncomfortable as it gives hints through different techniques that death will occur in the movie.
Background
The background gives us an idea that the movie will mostly be located in a house. This could give us an idea that the
sisters may get trapped in the house with the antagonist. As the house is set in fire it could also reflect the idea that
there will be less chance that the characters will survive as the situation may be too dangerous.
Institutional Information
Logos have been placed at the bottom of the poster to show the production company. This is a huge advantage for
the poster because it will make the audience understand which production team has made the movie which will
make the audience get a good impression of the movie if the production team has made other good films.

11. Overall, the poster uses all the conventions that we would expect to see in a horror poster. The poster uses
different techniques to make it look very unique and different styled. It has followed all the conventions in the
poster by doing the following:
The main characters who are going to be featured in the film are used as the main image in the poster. The main
image is placed in the centre of the poster.
There is high – key lighting used to show the little hope that the protagonists may have for a chance of survival
at the back of the house.
Reading the tagline would make the audience be able to relate their lives to the film especially for people who
have sisters.
The title clearly indicates that the movie is going to be about a group of female characters. Therefore, the
audience would expect to see female characters play the protagonists role because it is conventional to see
woman being placed in a lower position then men. It is very conventional to see the man play the antagonist role.
In horror movies it is also very conventional to see the females die and as the tagline uses the word ‘death’ it
could give us an idea that death will play a big role in the film.
The fire used in the background could reflect the lives of the characters. It could show us that the sisters lives
may be at danger and they may face a lot of violence and risks to save their lives. This could make us understand
that the protagonists may be less fortunate because of the events they may face in their lives.
The burning house could be a connotation in the idea that their lives may also be burning away and they may
have no control over it.
CONCLUSION