Film Poster Overview

These six posters have all been designed to successfully promote horror movies which belong to the psychological sub-genre. By looking at the posters back to back, it is possible to see that they share common features and repeated patterns. All of the posters share many common horror and general film poster conventions; they follow the typical layout conventions of a film poster, include a main image which dominates the frame and a colour scheme that reflects the mood and genre/sub-genre of the film. Other typical conventions, such as a title, tag-line and institutional information, also feature across the selection.

Firstly, the title of the film is placed in a similar position throughout all of the posters – bottom/lower middle, which is a key position as it is the last place the audience’s eyes will glance upon when looking at the poster and is a really effective technique; the audience will have looked at and been seduced by every other element of the poster and will be presented with the title afterwards, when they are keen to find out what it is. Equally, the film title being the last thing they see will promote the film successfully, as it will be more likely to linger in their mind if it is the final thing they glance at. If they remember the name, they will be more likely to want to go and see it. In addition to this, there are other similarities in relation to the titles presented on these posters. Not only is the film title one of the larger pieces of text on the page for each poster, but, the fonts of the film titles are all very similar - four out of the five posters feature a script style font. The one poster which doesn’t feature a script font (Hide and Seek) presents a display font which looks slightly tarnished and therefore it could be said to have the raw look that some script fonts have. The fact that the majority of the titles on the posters are in a script font is reflective of the sub-genre; since it is psychological it is much more personal, as it tends to focus more on the main character’s mind and psychological state and so it presents a much more personal experience than your average slasher or possession horror film. A script font is a very personal font, therefore it compliments each film perfectly. The style of the script font used within each poster is also very similar; Gothika, The Uninvited and Orphan all feature a typeface which looks almost child-like or ghostly, and the titles are all written on a surface or scratched on. There is something very unpolished and imperfect about them which adds to the eerie feel of all three posters.

Colour schemes which are featured across the selection of film posters are also extremely similar. The posters tend to feature mainly red, black, white and blue signalling genre and creating the right mood for the audience. In the Gothika poster, the colour scheme is very cold and the protagonist Miranda looks almost blue as she is illuminated against the night and rain. Even in the Saw poster the hand looks much whiter than a hand usually would be and the whiteness signals that the life has drained out of it, whilst making the audience experience a chill. Orphan has a clear contrast between white and black as Esther’s eyes and top lip are almost black, yet they contrast against her very pale skin, representing the binary opposites of innocence and evil and therefore signalling the horror genre.

The posters are also similar in the fact that each main image not only dominates the frame, but it links to each film’s narrative in a clever yet subtle way. For example, in the image for the Orphan poster, we see a child who has dark, shadowed eyes and a vintage type dress – this is reflective of the twist in the film (she is mentally disturbed and is actually an old woman). In the poster for The Uninvited we see an unknown figure peering into some type of door/window – in the film we see the protagonist/antagonist Anna look at her father and his new girlfriend in an intimate embrace through a door which looks very similar to the one on the poster. However, as said before, the link to the film’s narrative is subtle and really the image will only make full sense when the audience has finished watching the film. Therefore these posters present something of an intellectual element as, once the audience has seen the movie they will then be given the chance to reflect on the image and make more sense of it. St the same time, the ambiguity of the image will create intrigue for audience members who haven’t seen it, as they will want to discover what the movie is about and why that image has been used to promote it and therefore it is more likely that they will go and see it.

The posters tend to also be somewhat different when it comes to the main image; Hide and Seek, Saw and The Uninvited all leave an element of mystery when the audience look at the main image as, we can’t quite make out who is there. Orphan, on the other hand, has a medium close-up of the main character, whilst Gothika has a medium shot of the main character. Both are clearly visible and reveal more than the other posters within the selection, whilst at the same time maintaining a sense of intrigue. In the image used on the poster for Orphan we can tell she will be the evil antagonist due to not only her shadowy, angry face and soulless eyes, but also the use of the brown material wrapped around her neck, which might almost remind the audience of a noose and of that fact that she deserves to be punished for her cruel crimes. This concept will make the audience feel uncomfortable and unnerved as, after all, she is a child and it is unnatural for children to be anything other than innocent and for children to commit evil acts. The audience will also instantly question her use of costume as it looks extremely old fashioned and not many people wear a tight piece of material around their neck like Esther does. In the same way, the Gothika poster presents the character of Miranda in a way that allows us to make assumptions about her as a character. Her tormented facial expression, unkempt hair and glaring eyes indicate a troubled soul and deep psychological issues. Like in the Orphan poster, other elements are used to unnerve the audience and create intrigue. Miranda’s arm with ‘NOT ALONE’ etched onto it is interesting. This use of make up on her arm makes the audience feel uncomfortable as it looks sinister and like it would have been extremely painful to do this. The fact it says ‘not alone’ will add even more intrigue for the audience – why ‘not alone’? Who is there with her if she’s ‘not alone’?. This will further encourage the audience to go and see the movie. Her costume is also key – we see her in a plain white vest, yet it is stained which is reflective of the fact that she has transformed from a smart, pretty and ‘normal’ psychologist to being a dishevelled woman who questions her own sanity. With the Gothika and Orphan poster in mind, it becomes clear that mise-en-scene elements such as make up and costume are important in posters to create meaning and suspense.

Despite the differences between the images within the posters, all of them feature some form of a human; Hide and Seek shows us somebody stood near the door (although we can barely see them) whilst Saw features a human hand. This again reinforces the idea of psychological horror being much more personal as opposed to other sub-genres and reflects the fact that in psychological horrors, the ‘monster’ looks human and is human.

Four of the five posters also include institutional information which is located at the bottom of each poster (Orphan is the exception) which follows the layout conventions of general movie posters. As well as this, four out of the five posters have a tagline which anchors the main image and/or reveals more about the narrative. On the Hide and Seek poster, the tagline is what is used to draw the audience in; it is written in a display font of a large size and is a blood red colour which makes it seem sinister. It also links in with the title of the movie as ‘come out come out whatever you are’ is a variation of the common phrase heard when playing a game of hide and seek, reminding the audience of childhood innocence and creating an even more eerie feel, as they wonder what ‘whatever’ is. It’s also the biggest piece of text on the page, which is key; without it the image of the door with the light coming from it would not be anywhere near as scary as it is once it has been anchored by this tagline. The audience will guess that ‘whatever’ lurks behind the door.

Although at first glance all of the posters appear extremely different, once you look closely it is noticeable that psychological horror film posters do share common patterns and features and present their own conventions to be followed.