The main image on the poster is of a young girl looking into
a mirror; it is significant that the victim is a female, due to women being
commonly viewed as the weaker victims in horror films. The fact that she is
wearing minimal, clothing would suggest that she is vulnerable. The clothing is
also white, which has connotations of purity and innocence. The image is shot
in a bathroom, another conventional aspect of a horror film. The dark lighting,
setting and the costume of the young girl all suggests that it is night time- a
typical time of day for sinister activity to occur.
The young boy is making direct eye contact with the
audience, immediately making you feel on edge, due to him looking so creepy. It
also, for me in particular, plays upon the fear of walking into your own
bathroom at night with the worry of looking into the mirror in fear of seeing a
figure. This makes it something that the
audience can relate to, which intensifies the fear factor of the poster. He has
a very pale white face, suggesting he is ghostly and dangerous. The fact that
he is a young child adds to the conventionality of the film; young children are
commonly used in horror films as they are easily portrayed as eerie.
The poster has a blue theme which represents the coldness of
the room and unpleasant atmosphere. It contracts nicely with the reoccurring
white theme, representing the woman’s innocence, the young boy’s eeriness and
the coldness of the bathroom. The outside of the poster is a darker colour, which
is a conventional aspect of horror posters; it creates an uneasy feeling of
‘What else is out there?’ for the audience. There is also a great deal of
shadowing over the girl, giving the impression that she isn’t the only one in
the room. This again just reinforces the fear of the unknown into the audience.
The text in the left hand corner “Evil will do anything to
live” is ironic as it contrasts the idea of death and horror with the word
‘live’. This phrase gives the audience
an insight into the films storyline, suggesting that something evil will try to
take the life of something innocent. The phrase is also placed next to the
boy’s head, indicating that he is the ‘Evil’ that is being referred to. There
are white scratch marks around the wall, near the text, which act as genre
signifiers. It is common to see scratch marks up a bathroom wall in horror
film, usually being left by some sort of ghostly creature.
The movie title ‘The Unborn’ has a bright white outer glow.
The white light has connotations of heaven and passing life, suggesting that
some sort of death may be involved in the film.
The main character has a glow around the front of her too, indicating
that she may be the one who dies.
Both film posters carry the colour scheme of black and
white, which is a conventional aspect of horror posters. The black backgrounds
resemble the darkness and fear of the movie, and reinforce the fear of the
unknown into the audience. The colour black has conventions of death, which acts
as a genre signifier, allowing the audience to recognise that the genre is
horror. Both posters also have bright white central lighting; the second poster
has the same smoky/misty effect that we saw in the first poster I previously
analysed. It is a conventional aspect of horror posters and could symbolise the
presence of ghosts and demons. The third poster contains a bold bright light
coming from a window which creates suspicion, suggesting that something isn’t
quite right. Again, this white lighting can link to the presence of
spirits/ghostly figures. It also presents an opportunity to feature a shadowing
figure, which acts as a narrative enigma, as we are not sure why he is there.
The main image on the second poster is a medium close up of
a woman. Having the shot as a medium close up allows us to see emotion, helping
us to understand a bit more about her intentions/ the genre of the film. The
woman has a very pale complexion, immediately signifying that she is demonic;
she also has faint ghostly figures emerging from her body, again suggesting
that she has been taken over by something evil. The figures that are emerging
from her body have wide mouths, as though they are screaming, which almost
allows the audience to hear the screams, suggesting to them that it isn’t going
to be a pleasant film. The woman has deep bags under her eyes and various dark
marks on her skin which makes her look scarier, fitting into the horror genre.
Her clothes look old and worn in slightly, which is conventional look for possessed
character’s in horror films. She is making direct eye contact with the
audience, which pulls them in and sparks an interest; it also produces an
element of fear, especially as her eyes are white and lifeless, suggesting she
is an evil character. The difference of height in her shoulders suggest that
she is stiff and uncomfortable, which resembles the conventional body state of
someone in a horror film that has been possessed; this, to a certain extent,
makes the audience feel uncomfortable, as it suggests that she is a character
to fear. There are a number of
The third poster has a scenic main image of a house and a
dark mysterious figure; the darkness that surrounds the street immediately
makes the audience think that there is going to be some kind of crime/ strange
happenings. The image is particularly scary as the audience is able to relate
to it to a certain extent: most people will live in a house and therefore would
be familiar with this sort of setting. We the begin to link ideas together such
as “what if this was my house?”, which makes the audience feel vulnerable and
allows the horror concept to be much scarier. The bright light in this image
again is a slight narrative enigma as we are unsure of why it is there. The
fact that all of the other windows are lit normally, however, one window beams
out onto the street, suggests that something sinister is happening in the room.
The light beam is directed at the figure, which reinforces the idea that he is
dangerous. The white light that can be seen on all 3 posters, again has
connotations of heaven/ ghosts, suggesting that perhaps a death is going to be
involved in the storyline. This poster contains genre signifiers such as: white
mist and shadowing, similar to the other two posters.
The main title on all posters are simple and located at the
bottom of the page, allowing them to not stand out too much. This is
conventional of a horror poster as it allows the main image, which a what draws
the audience in and contains most of the genre signifier, to stand out. Poster
2 has a white title, which has connotations of the afterlife, whilst poster 3
is in purple, which may be linked to horror as it is conventionally associated
with witches and gruesome things. The title ‘The exorcist’ is one of the
biggest indicators of genre, as most people know what an exorcism is; from this,
the audience are able to know that this is going to be a horror film. ‘The
Atticus Institute’ on the other hand, doesn’t give too much away about the
genre, and therefore has a short description of the film “The only case of
demonic possession recognised by the U.S government”. This small description
allows the audience to understand much more about the film as the words
‘demonic possession’ link clearly to the horror genre. The noun “government”
also makes the film sound more official and certified, enabling people to
actually believe that it is a true story, which again makes it that extra bit
scarier. The text of this description is in a very formal font, again making it
look that bit more certified. On poster 2, it features a small piece of text
which lets the audience know that it was from the makers of the conjuring: this
will entice a larger amount of people into watching the film, as the conjuring
is an established horror film, that proved to be popular. Poster 3 also has
text that draws the audience in such as: “The scariest movie of all time” and
“A version you’ve never seen”. This is simply anchor text and contains buzz
words that persuade the audience into watching the film. The phrase ‘A version
you’ve never seen’ is underlined, which just reinforces the message of “Go and
watch our film”. It is common to have
short phrases that particularly aim at enticing the audience, seeing as the
main goal is to produce as much money as possible at the box office.
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