FILM POSTER ANALYSIS

The Conjuring Poster

The poster for the film 'The Conjuring' is extremely dark, using minimal colour. The shadows created by the dark light give an eerie atmosphere which is complimented by the face of the doll which has frequently been used in other horror films. I believe the logic behind this inclusion is that audiences have been desensitised to generic stereotypical villains whose identities are concealed and are typically presented wielding weapons. Instead, they have taken an item that the majority of audiences would have had in some form in their childhood, that would be considered as a companion or friend. This makes the idea of them being evil even more impactful as it is unexpected. The simplicity of the poster is also striking to the audience as it plays with shadows instead of created over digitalised special effects. Lastly, the text of the poster is very well suited to the simplicity of the poster, the bold white striking title stands out in order to make an impression on the audience and have them wanting more. This is also emphasised by the text "Coming Soon" which compliments the doll on the poster's cynical appearance as to say the doll is coming for you. The reason for choosing 'The Conjuring' poster is firstly because of how it manages to manipulate something the audience would originally consider as 'safe'. The use of the doll is very sinister which makes the audience uneasy and enticed to the poster. This a concept we hope to interpret when we are designing our poster in order to grip audiences as much as possible. 

The Woman In Black Poster

The poster for the film 'The Woman in Black' conveys the genre of the film as horror in many ways. Firstly, the lighting of the poster is very dark which makes the poster look very scary and intensifies a sense of mystery. The fact that a dark shadow is used on the character's face gives the impression there is a deeper story behind them and increases the viewer's anxiety to want to discover more. Additionally, the mystical effect used in the poster not only adds a terrifying effect for the audience to look at, but also relates to the sub genre of ghosts. The colours of the poster are mostly greys and blacks. The use of dark colours in contrast to the text written in white makes it stand out and appears as opposites, as you would normally expect such words to be written in dark colours to intensify their dark meaning. However, because they are written in such a bold colour, it raises the impression that it is cleverly done in order to convey the fact the "woman in black" is very powerful, bold and something to look out for. Furthermore, the background of the poster is the typical location as horrors often use dark, eerie settings in order to really grasp fear from the audience. Additionally, the fact the background is located in some sort of forest makes the film seem a lot more realistic, resulting in the film having more impact. Overall 'The Woman In Black' poster is extremely effective and one of the best aspects of it is the use of colour which strikes the eye. This is something we hope to do in our poster to intensify its overall affect. 

Insidious Poster

The poster for the film 'Insidious' is again dark to relate to the typical conventions of film posters for horror genres. It does include some light to give a sense of location to the audience of a suburban neighbourhood. The fact that a young boy is presented to be the main character, and possibly evil, supports the horror convention of evil characters being unsuspected and unexpected. The proportion of the character against the background makes him seem larger than the house, presenting the curse inside of him taking control and overpowering him. The character is the main focus of the poster also shown by his size and central position, telling the audience that this is the character that will be featured heavily and that the film centres around. Special effects have been used in the boy's eyes to represent a sense of evil inside of the boy, as opposed to the boy appearing as an evil spirit himself. The child does not appear as a typical horror villain - villains are usually presented as older, their identity hidden from view, and wielding some kind of weapon. The dark clouded sky is also used in the background to represent danger or the idea of something bad coming. This surrounds the house which adds to the idea that the evilness takes hold of this building alone. As a whole, the insidious poster is cleverly done as the simplicity of it makes it that much more thrilling. As a group we will take this into account when designing our poster as it is evident a simple idea is very effective.

Overall the posters have contributed greatly to how we will design our poster. From each poster we have picked up the use of colours and text is important, a simple design can be very engaging and using ideas and concepts audiences normally find 'safe' captivates them even more.