This poster is advertising the 2013 horror/thriller film "The Purge". It depicts the main antagonist wearing a masked, conveying that the film is a slasher genre. The dark colors and masked figure are meant to appear terrifying and draw attention. Additional context about the film's plot and certification is provided through the tagline "One night a year. All crime is legal", as well as mentioning that it was produced by the same studio as popular horror films Paranormal Activity and Sinister. The target audience is seen as teenagers, as it is rated 15 rather than 18 for violence. Actors like Ethan Hawke are also featured to attract viewers. Overall the poster uses mystery and suggestion of danger to intr

1. The Purge
Horror, Thriller | 31 May 2013 (UK)
In the future, a wealthy family is held hostage for
harbouring the target of a murderous syndicate during
the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is
legalized.
The main image on this poster is presumably the main
antagonist from the movie. He is wearing a mask over his
face, which connotes that this movie is a “slasher” horror
genre as stereotypically, the main antagonist wears a
mask to cover his face. This might be seen as scary
because some audience might find just the idea of masks
scary but it also its a mystery of what's underneath. The
mask makes the character look evil and could suggest that
the character may be psychotic, which also links to the
stereotype of any antagonist in a horror film.
The colours used in this poster are very dark, there is a
black/dark purple/ background, also the mask shadows
the real features of the actor. The dark colours used
represent danger and evil, the only brighter colours on
this poster is the light shining on the mask, this is used to
make the mask stand out more and for it to be the centre
of attention on this poster. The black out backgrounf
makes the poster look even more terrifying because it
brings out the main image on the poster, which is the
masked figure.

2. The only symbol used in this poster is the mask but the audience doesn't have any
foreknowledge to decode them, the film was not based on a book so no on would have
any information about the plot that they could use. You could say that knowing what a
mask connotes is foreknowledge for a person to use but that doesn’t give any
information about the plot of the film, just what the character is like as a person.
I think that the messages are mainly visual but do come across through the writing on
the poster. This poster is filled with an image of a man in a mask, you cant see who the
man is you can only see what others will see in person. The use of a tagline, the sell line
at the top and the bottom give the audience more of an insight into the plot of the film
and the creators. The sell line at the top says that the producer who made The Purge also
produced Paranormal Activity and Sinister. Both films are very well known and have
become a great success, this tells the reader that the film wont be standard, it will be a
blockbuster film and one that they need to watch.
The Purge has a certificate of 15
by the BBFC as the film does have
childish themes but doesn’t
contain a lot of violence and
brutal scenes that would have
made it an 18. I think the target
audience for this film are
teenagers as the movie isn't that
terrifying to be classified as 18.
There are famous actors in this
film which will help to attract
more viewers, if someone likes a
specific actor in this film then they
are more likely to watch it.
The main actors in this film are:
Ethan Hawke … James Sandin
Lena Headey … Mary Sandin
Max Burkholder … Charlie Sandin
Adelaide Kane … Zoey Sandin
Rhys Wakefield … Polite Leader
Attention s gained through the
mystery of the man behind the
mask. The actors names are not a
big feature of this poster and you
cant tell who the actor is, this
makes the audience intrigues to
watch the film so they can see who
the character is.
The tagline used on this poster is “One
night a year. All crime is legal” then it
has the title of the film then returns to
“Survive the night June 7th”. The use of
the tagline is to give away an idea
about the plot of the film, one of the
official taglines of the film is “Survive
the night” but they used the date June
7th because that was the release date
of the film.
I don’t think that this poster would be
offensive to anyone because it doesn’t
really show much, just a man in a
mask. There is not gore in the poster.