Deconstructing Film Posters
1. The Purge(2013)
The Purge is described as an American horror thriller. It has been very successful and had an average rating of 6.5/10 by viewers on imdb.
Conventions on the poster
Immediately the audience can see a dark background conveying some mystery and horror possibly a fear of the unknown. This emphasises the front image making it seem more apparent and the audience can associate the image with the darkness.
The close up shot of the person with a mask with a big smile demonstrates that the film is a horror. The smile seems haunting to the audience especially if you look at the position of the eye, slightly above the face mask holes looking angry and scary. The mask is obvious because of the apparent holes which makes the audience wonder who is behind the mask, it becomes gripping with the audience wanting to know who it is.
Dialogue (Superimposition) is in white, meaning it stands out from the dark background, it gives a good colour contrast. It is bright and eye catching.
'One night a year, all crime is legal' the dialogue makes it seems like an interesting story, not always following typical horror story lines.
'Survive the night' June 7th, audience associates this date possibly with the film..
Follows typical conventions with actors names and production companies at the bottom. June 7th is repeated so the audience know this is the day it is coming out, making it memorable.
2. IT the clown (Stephen King)
I chose this specific film because it fits with our genre of having a clown as the main scary offender. It was a very successful films, and choosing to make a clown scary in this way resulted with many people having phobias.
Conventions of the poster
The poster has a very simplistic idea to it. A white background being supposedly 'ripped' by IT the clown. He has a strange shape head and wild bushy red hair making him seem abnormal and scary, especially to children which are mainly his victims. His facial expression is casual with an awkward smile making him seem frightening. In addition the oversized claws make him seem like a different creature making the audience wonder.
Stephen Kings 'IT' well from the title, what do the audience think? Stephen King has cleverly picked a title which makes the audience wonder what is 'IT' or it? in a red serif font in capitals it stands out and is like a play on words. Moreover the title looks like it has been scratched.
Below are the actors/actress faces. This is unusual for a film poster to have them in order like this with two different themes going on. Perhaps the audience wonder are these his victims/ helpers.
Dialogue in black to colour contrast white background. Black also to symbolise darkness of the film?
'The master of horror unleashes everything you were ever afraid of'
As he is a popular director, he is stating the audience can expect a lot of horror from the film.
Actors/actress and production companies at bottom, following typical conventions.
Valentines day poster( Similar to Stephen kings it idea with faces at bottom) however completely different genre.
3. Paranormal Activity
These series of films received a lot of attention as this was one of the first string of films to create a independent/production movie with handheld cameras so it was essentially capturing real life.
Conventions of the film poster
A dark background is symbolising it is typically a horror movie, unconventionally image is stripped in middle of page. Image is also striped to look like a recording with the night vision effect.
Paranormal activity was in red with a 3D effect. I think the director used a good choice for the name. The activity could mean a series of things especially while being captured in a household.
The actors are looking but you cannot see the scary person or thing which means people will be curious to find out what it is, this is good as it captures the audience without seeing the 'demon' or scary thing until the end.
At the top is an opnion which again is unconventional, however it shows that they are trying to make it independently.
Furthermore at the bottom is a quote of 'Paranormal activity not showing in your area?' DEMAND IT! with a button type text. This gives the illusion that the film is real and makes it even more scary as it seems like people are trying to 'spread the message' and don't want the audience to think of it as a film more like real life footage, you have to see this!
Overall a good film poster, which goes against some typical conventions
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