Poster analysis Textual Analysis Horror

Poster analysis Textual Analysis Horror

• 1.
  Target audience The targetaudience are those who are aged from 15 above aimed at both genders who enjoy thrills/horror films. This is evident through this picture of a child sitting alone exposed in the darkness with the picture itself being in black and white, this is further evident through the strapline of the film which has been circled in red. Layout/composition All text is placed at the bottom of the poster, this makes the image itself the most important part of the poster. The setting, the ambience and the baby. This image can signify that the baby isn’t an actual ‘baby’, the fact that it is left in the dark shows that it is under demonic possession, it’s looking towards the dark because that’s where it hides from humans who explore the area. House style? The house style of the poster is that the title is presented in the same way in every other Insidious 2 poster. Another similarity is the text above that appear on other posters stating ‘It will take what you love most’, circled in red. The posters have the ability to relay the genre to the audience through it’s house style. At the bottom of the screen contain information in relation to social media, a website and also production and distribution companies.
• 2.
  Colour The main coloursused in this film is black, white and red. The colour black connotes isolation and vulnerability, as people find it difficult to see in the dark without light, people can be less aware of their surroundings by vision The colour white connotes innocence or goodness. White is usually seen as a more positive colour in comparison to black. However, it may be used here for aesthetics and therefore doesn’t mean anything in relation to connotations The colour red connotes blood, danger or death. In a horror movie such as this one. It is a commonly used colour in the title. The presence of the colour is used to relay to the audience the genre of the poster/film as red is a commonly used colour in horror films Representation The use of dark colours and a black and white shot of the baby could represent the genre to the audience. Black and Red are commonly used colours in a horror film as they both hold negative connotations such as isolation, death and blood. Camera shot/angle There is a long shot of a baby placed in the middle of the screen with a light source shining on the back of the baby. The light source is made for the audience to believe it comes from the people who are with a torch and just find the baby there. The idea that the baby is placed in the centre with a spotlight reflects its importance in the film, it could also be possibly be conveying to the audience the genre. Typeface/font There are at least 2 fonts in this poster. The first one is the tagline above the title, the font in thin and is quite small in size. This could show how unimportant it may seem to be now but could become much more important later. The second is the title of the film, it is in sans serif and has a bigger size, which could demonstrate its importance. This makes this font look more dominant in comparison to the other text on screen The last font are the ones below the title, this includes the credits, website and social media promotion. It is used promote the film franchise as well as viewing who made the film, this can be of interest to audiences if they see a particular director they like. It is there for mainly aesthetics They’re quite small and compact which could show how unimportant it may be in the view of the audience but it is still there.
• 3.
  Target audience This horrorfilm based on a true story and is targeted at audiences of both genders and who are aged around 15 and above. Looking at this poster, the target audience is likely to be a much older audience, this is because this story was likely to be a news story in the past, the movie adaptation will be of interest to the older audience as they can see how the film makers interpreted it Layout/composition Text is placed at both the top and the bottom of the poster. This is to make way for the shot which is seen to be the part that can capture the attention of the audience. The size of the text is smaller in proportion to the size of the image because it is displaying the importance of one another, the fact that the text is smaller shows that the image is much more important in comparison to everything else. House style? The house style in the Conjuring 2 poster is the use of the ‘True Story’ phrase circled in red. This can enhance the sense of realism of the movie believing that the things they saw there are actually real. The phrase ‘From the director of ‘The Conjuring’ and ‘Insidious’’ circled in blue. This can promote the film as it can tell the audience how good it can potentially be, it can be able to generate hype through the popularity or success of another film made by a renown person. A common item seen in posters is the Holy Cross, a symbol of Christianity. The cross signifies protection from evil beings and demons which could be the purpose of the shot.
• 4.
  Colour The main colourused is white on the title, and the image towards the window. The colour white usually connotes innocence and purity which seems to conflict with rest of the poster. This could be describing the person by the window with the cross facing them. The colour could signify that she is close to her death and that she is seeing heaven which ties in closely with the colour white. Typeface/font There are at least 2 fonts are used in this poster. The first is the text at the top and the text below the title. The text uses sans serif and is small in size, this could possibly display limited importance in comparison to the camera shot. The second is the title, it is placed in the bottom centre of the poster and is big in size. This could suggest the importance of the text in comparison to the shot as well as everything else. It’s important but it doesn’t dominate more than the shot above. The title and the image go well together as the title is coloured using a white gradient as the ‘C’ of Conjuring is more white and it gradually fades along the text. Circled in red. The last is the credits below, the text is average sized but is really compact. This is to show information such as the website, production and distribution companies etc.
• 5.
  Representation The representation behindthis poster is that there is an element of religion being used in this trailer, this is evident by the cross, circled in blue. The theme of religion is common in horrors because as characters in horror films are victims of demonic/evil possession, protagonist characters will call upon the angels/good spirits to control the demons. Horror religious film uses multiple types of binary opposition as well as protagonists and antagonists, it also includes heaven and hell, angels and demons, God and Satan and much more Camera shot/angle This shot displays a long shot of a person who is standing by the window with their arms spread apart in the centre of the image, then we see a hand holding a cross , who is positioned more closely towards the camera facing the same person who is by the window This has been used to possibly display to the audience the type of genre. The cross is commonly seen as a symbol of protection from evil which could construct as a stereotype of horror. It’s important to signify the genre because it can generate hype for a particular type of audience a poster that doesn’t reveal a genre could result in little to no attention being gained.
• 6.
  Colour The main coloursused in the poster are black, white and red. Black can signify isolation and vulnerability, the colour red can signify death, and danger. The colour white has been used for numerous things in this poster. It has been used in the search engine and as the film title. The colour may be there just for aesthetics and may not mean anything in terms of connotations. In contrast to black, it enforces the connotations such as vulnerability and is sticking to horror genre expectations of the common use of the colour black Target audience This poster is targeted at those who are teenage and above aimed at both genders. This is because the use of a search page shows that this film is likely to be digital based, which is something that ties in closely to teenagers. Teenagers commonly use technology and are technologically adept to digital devices from a young age due to the rapidly expanding technology in the world Layout/composition At the centre of the poster we see a picture of a female where the top half of their face can’t be clearly seen. I can tell that this is a female character because of their lips are a bit dark which means lipstick as well as the facial structure. Just below this is a search for a character, following the title, strapline and production information along the bottom. This is almost like an upside down ‘T’ layout as the audience would see this poster from the top to the bottom then from left to right. House style? The house style of this poster is that I notice is the use of a search engine to search for ‘Laura Bar’ with suggestions referring to ‘Laura Barns’. The same face of the female character appears in the promotions, this house style can relay to the audience that it is more about the digital world.
• 7.
  Typeface/font There are atleast 3 different fonts in this poster, one of these fonts has been used twice but in a different style. The first is the input in the search bar. This font could possibly add to the realism that there is an actual search for this person on the internet like they’re using Google. Using a different font, could make it look unreal and could take away what they’re trying to relay to the audience. Right now it’s is showing that this could be about the digital world. The second is the title. The title uses a simple bold sans serif font. This does challenge genre expectations of other horrors, this is because the font would usually be something more unusual, this could be enforcing the idea of the digital world without giving too much of the horror element away. The third is the strapline, this is the same font, a basic sans serif. However, this text is in red and involves the use of the word ‘Revenge’ and ‘Online’. The fact that the word ‘Revenge’ is in red which can connote things like death, can relay to the audience the horror element, which can go with the picture of the screaming person. Representation The representation behind this poster is that it is a Digital based horror film. This is unique because Horror films usually have the setting of the 70s or earlier and has taken place in one area. Like a house. This film could be using this element towards the characters on this film especially this character in the front Camera shot/angle This is a close up of a character of this film. This is clearly a studio set up photo to make it look like it’s a video of them from their electronic device. This is evident with the blurs covering her face which could act as if there is some kind of signal interference. Their face could suggest that she is being attacked by something that is unknown which could explain the interference of the picture/video..
• 8.
  Colour The main coloursused are Black, White and Red. Black is a commonly used colour in horrors that connote isolation and blindness as you can see clearly in the dark. Target audience This horror film is targeted at both genders who are teenagers and above Camera shot/angle This is a close up shot of half a doll’s face which is on the right hand side completely shrouded by darkness. This is clearly a studio set up shot show it can relay to the audience what this entire film is based around on. Layout/composition This poster has been layered out in an inverted C format. The doll is placed on the right hand side of the photo with the title and other information at the bottom. House style? One similarity is that the same doll appears in every edition. This same doll also appears with a dark background. This poster was probably the only type of poster used for this film.
• 9.
  Colour The main coloursused are Black, White and Red. Black is a commonly used colour in horrors that connote isolation and blindness as you can see clearly in the dark. Red is another commonly used colour which can connote death, blood, hell and anything demonic. White is also used in horrors but this may be because so it’s a colour that can be only for the case of aesthetics so it can be seen well against black. Representation The representation behind this picture is that this doll is likely to have a huge involvement in this film, this could be the case during the approach to the dilemma, the dilemma itself as well as the climatic parts of the film. The fact that the darkness is shrouded around this doll could connote that this doll is evil and it causing the misfortunate events that take place in the film. Typeface/font In this poster there are at least 2 different fonts in this trailer. The first is the title as well as the strapline and the date of release. The font used is a serif font that it is in upper case letters. This font was likely to be used to maintain the house style of this poster. This font is a more masculine font because each letter of the font has blocky strong serif. For example the ‘A’ of Annabelle is bold on the right hand side and has a strong serif at the bottom. The second is the font used for the conjuring title, this font used is similar to the poster to maintain house style and to allow the audience to easily identify the film. This is likely to attract the attention of the audience as it is also big in font size in comparison to everything else except the title of the film which is among the most dominant part of this poster as well as the camera shot.
• 10.
  Colour The main coloursused are Black, White and Red. Black is a commonly used colour in horrors that connote isolation and blindness as you can see clearly in the dark. Red is another commonly used colour which can connote death, blood, hell and anything demonic. White is also used in horrors but this may be because so it’s a colour that can be only for the case of aesthetics so it can be seen well against black. Representation The representation behind this picture is that this doll is likely to have a huge involvement in this film, this could be the case during the approach to the dilemma, the dilemma itself as well as the climatic parts of the film. The fact that the darkness is shrouded around this doll could connote that this doll is evil and it causing the misfortunate events that take place in the film. Typeface/font In this poster there are at least 2 different fonts in this trailer. The first is the title as well as the strapline and the date of release. The font used is a serif font that it is in upper case letters. This font was likely to be used to maintain the house style of this poster. This font is a more masculine font because each letter of the font has blocky strong serif. For example the ‘A’ of Annabelle is bold on the right hand side and has a strong serif at the bottom. The second is the font used for the conjuring title, this font used is similar to the poster to maintain house style and to allow the audience to easily identify the film. This is likely to attract the attention of the audience as it is also big in font size in comparison to everything else except the title of the film which is among the most dominant part of this poster as well as the camera shot.