The document analyzes the conventions used in horror film posters through examples of posters for The Woman in Black and Sweeney Todd. Key conventions discussed include using dark colors and mysterious fonts to set a scary tone, including frightening background images, featuring prominent actors to attract audiences, and using short taglines and titles to hint at the films' frightening plots without revealing too much. Overall, the document examines how horror movie posters employ visual and textual elements to subtly promote the films' scary themes and storylines.

1. The conventions of a horror film
poster
By Sade Williams

2. The Woman in Black

3. The use of Daniel Radcliffe’s name in
large bold and in this colour, makes the
audience more attracted to the film
The whole image
which is also used as a
backgrounds purpose
is to give the audience
a small taster of what
the film is about. In
this case you can tell
that the story line is
going to be very
frightening because
you can see the
woman in black
standing behind Daniel
staring directly at the
audience.
The colour scheme used
is very dark and dull
colours, consisting of
blacks, greys and ghostly
whites. The use of these
colours add a
supernatural as well as a
ghostly effect because it
is making the audience
confront their fears.
because he is a well known actor.
The title has been put in a
bold white colour on top of
the image of Daniel to make
the words stand out.
Also the type of font used Is
very mysterious and ghost like
to portray that this is not a
comedy/happy film.
The tag line is very short and
snappy with only three words
‘fear her curse’. The words
automatically make the
audience feel on edge as they
can infer that the quote is a
warning about scary events
that occur in the film. The font
used here is very simple so
that it does not significantly
distract the audiences
attention from the scary
background.

4. Again, on this magazine
cover there is the figure of
the woman in black
standing in the background
staring directly at the
audience to frighten them.
The background colours
used are very dark and
gloomy to signify that
this in fact in a horror
film.
The clothes Daniel is
wearing is used to
portray the century
that the film is set in
and also to signify the
link between what he
is wearing in both the
poster and this cover.
The use of white and
bold font has been
used again to make the
masthead stand out
and to link both the
magazine cover and
poster together.

5. Sweeney Todd

6. The reference to
big ben through
the window shows
that this film is set
in London, and that
the location must
be in an attic.
The main colours
used in this poster
are black, red and
white. These colours
are very gothic style
which makes the
audience understand
that this is a horror
film. These colours in
particular represent
death, danger, blood,
revenge and threat.
The main figure in the
poster is Johnny Depp as
the main character. The
image of him is used as a
persuasive technique as
he is a very popular male
actor. He is wear all black
and white to show that
his character is evil.
The poster being
mainly in black and
white could be
representing the time
period that the film is
set in. e.g not the
modern day.
Also the fact that the
poster deliberately
leaves the barbers
chair red, signifies
that the chair is
where the murder
takes place.
The tag line is very short and snappy and signifies that Sweeney
Todd’s character is not from the good side as they refer to him as
the ‘demon’ barber.
The title ‘Sweeney Todd’ is
represented in a big font
but is not the main focus of
the poster. The splash of the
colour red sweeping
through the title is used to
portray visual images of
blood and danger.

7. This magazine cover
shows Johnny Depp to
be wearing the same old
fashioned clothes that
are worn in the poster
worn again here.
However in this image,
there is blood on the
sleeves of his shirt. This
confirms the audiences
suspicion that this is a
horror film and that the
character of Sweeney
Todd is very dangerous.
The quote ‘Johnny
Bloody Johnny’ refers
to how this film is
linked with blood and
death and how
Johnny Depp’s
character inflicts this.