2. These 6 film posters have been successfully designed to promote films within
the Slasher sub-genre. Each of the six film posters features typical film poster
conventions. They each have similar stylistic features, similar layout and similar
content. They are each film posters for a Slasher film so are produced with the
intention of attracting an audience of Slasher fans and making them want to go
out and watch the film. By comparing these posters, I will be likely to identify
shared features and patterns used by all horror film posters and Slasher
posters specifically. Equally, I will be able to recognise what make them
effective and what allows the audience to instantly recognise that a Slasher
horror is being promoted.
Each of these posters follows the conventional layout of a film poster and
features key general conventions. There are expected features of a main image
that dominates and fills the entire frame, combined with a TAGLINE that
anchors the image and gives the audience a hint as to what the narrative
entails and horrific imagery. On each poster, the title of the film is the largest
text in the frame. It is in a central position at the bottom of the frame, sitting
beneath the main image. This is to ensure that the film title is the last thing the
audience sees, so it will more than likely stick in their minds. This is an effective
use of layout, as it will ensure that the audience is hooked in by the main
image and the rest of the poster, before the title is revealed. It is vital that the
audience see the film title last as it is the most important feature on the
poster; if they don’t remember the name this could prevent them from going
to see the film and encouraging others to do so. In all six of the posters, the
text used for the title is in upper case in a bold and simple font that is highly
visible. The text is simple yet effective to allow the audience to focus more on
and be drawn in by the image. All of the posters use a display font and in four
of the posters this is in a serif style. This makes the font simple and easy to
read and effective. Each of the posters, except Nightmare on Elm Street,
features a tagline that helps to anchor or reinforce the image. One of the
reasons that a Nightmare on Elm Street doesn’t is due to the fact that it is a
classic. The poster is filled by Freddie Crougar, who Slasher fans would
instantly recognise; Freddie alone is enough and so the image doesn’t need to
be reinforced. Also, this is a teaser poster as it has a lack of institutional
information on the bottom. Teaser posters tend to have limited text and
feature largely an image and a title. This reinforces the idea of Freddie Crougar
3. being enough to promote the film. On the Friday the 13th and Halloween
posters the slogan is placed at the top of the frame, a fairly common position
for the tagline. The tagline for Friday the 13th is “Welcome to Crystal Lake”.
This gives the audience an insight into the location of the film and the narrative
as it implies that the film will surround a group of characters who go to Crystal
Lake and the audience will guess that, once there, they will be tormented by
the antagonist in the image. Also the use of the word ‘welcome’ is ironic, of
course, as the treatment they encounter once there will be anything but warm
and welcoming. The other three posters feature the tagline underneath the
title. This helps to complete the poster as it would be the very last thing the
audience read and will leave the audience with a lingering sense of what is to
come when they see the film. This choice of layout works better from a
logistical viewpoint too; as the tagline would be covering key parts of the
image if it were to be placed at the top. 5 of the 6 posters feature institutional
information that is positioned at the base of the poster.
We see other repeated patterns through the use of image. In each of the
posters, the image focuses around a main male character, who we can
instantly tell is the antagonist. Each antagonist in the main image is wearing a
mask. This is a well-known convention of the slasher sub-genre as the killer is
nearly always masked to increase the suspense about his true identity and to
horrify his victim, as well as the audience, of course. The Mise-en-scene used
instantly tells us that this poster belongs to the slasher sub-genre. As well as
the mask, the antagonist’s costume features some form of overalls and he is
holding his signature weapon. For example, in the My Bloody Valentine poster,
the antagonist is wear a gas mask and overalls holding a pitch-axe. This is Mise-en-
scene typical of the Slasher sub-genre as in every slasher film the antagonist
uses a weapon that will cause a long and painful death with the most blood
and gore possible. There is a clear pattern in these slasher posters of placing
the weapon in a prominent position to draw the audience’s attention to it and
give them an insight into how the victims will be killed. For example, in the
Texas Chainsaw poster, our eyes are instantly drawn to the chainsaw that
holds a central position in the frame and is presented at a low angle to
maximise its size. The reason for this may be that slasher fans would be drawn
in by the knowledge that if the film is centred on a gruesome weapon such as a
chainsaw, the film will be bloody and gory in the extreme.
4. There is a consistent pattern in the colours schemes used in each of the six
posters with only slight differences between them. Black, red, white and grey
appear to be the dominant colours across each poster, except Halloween
where orange, the signature colour of the Halloween season, dominates. The
combination of black and red signify death and blood. It allows the audience to
instantly recognise the poster as a Slasher poster as the use of red reflects the
large scale of blood and gore that would feature in a Slasher film. Whereas,
with supernatural posters, pale cold colours are used to signal a chilling mood
and to reflect the arrival of a sinister spirit will draw all life, colour and hope
from the characters’ lives. A pattern I have recognised is with the posters that
emphasise the weapon such as My Bloody Valentine, Texas Chainsaw and
Friday the 13th, the poster is mainly dominated by dark colours such as grey
and black with a hint of red. Here, using dark colours allows the audience’s
attention to focus on the weapon, as it shimmers through the darkness.
Further to this, low angle shots are utilised to emphasise the weapon rather
than the antagonist himself. The posters for Halloween and Hatchet, on the
other hand, use the colour scheme to emphasise the background, with orange
and red being the dominating colours. This may be due to the fact that by
emphasising the background, the audience’s focus is on the antagonist. It also
allows the audience to focus on the body shape of the antagonist. The bright
background creates a silhouette around his body and shows the audience how
intimidating he is and to reflect how these human beings are dark through and
through. This is emphasised through the use of a medium long shot to show
the entire antagonist.
All of the posters in the selection are effective in drawing in the audience and
promoting the film. Each of the posters follow the same principle of less is
more by letting the image, the colours and the text do the talking. Key
iconography, meanwhile, is introduced successfully in all posters to attract the
typical fan of slasher horror.
