GENERIC CONVENTIONS OF

HORROR MOVIE POSTERS

HORROR MOVIE – POSTER ANALYSIS.INCLUDING: THE CONJURING (2013), THE

WOMEN IN BLACK (2012), THE SIXTH SENSE (1999) AND INSIDIOUS(2010).

POSTER ANALYSISTHE CONJURING (2013)Credits for the film always appear at the bottom of the film poster, this is because it gives away more information about the film, including cast members and production companies. Without these small pieces of text, the film would loose viewers for the film because some of the audience base their film genre on different film stars. Some of the audience would only see a certain film if it had one of their favourite film stars involved.

All film titles on poster are created using a massive text size and a standout text font, this technique is used to let the audience know the title of the film and get their target audience interested in the film. By using this technique, the film poster will stand out to many different audiences around the streets.

Finally, all release dates on a film poster are always found at the bottom of the page, with the website involved, this gives audiences the chance to find out more information about the film before it is released to cinemas across the globe. This technique is used by all four other posters.

POSTER ANALYSISTHE WOMEN IN BLACK (2012)Following a similar pattern from The Conjuring poster, the names of the cast appear at the bottom of the poster. However, to attract more of a audience, the main characters name appears at the top of the page. By using this technique this will invite more people to view the poster because it contains a well known name. By having a well known name like Daniel Radcliffe, more people are going to be interested in the film because of this technique.

When comparing this poster to The Conjuring poster, I notice that similar colours are used in the film poster, this technique follows many different other horror movie trailers because these colours are what we associate with horror movie posters. These colours suggest to the audience that this horror movie will follow a similar pattern to other horror movies, this is just based on the colours used.

Another feature that is often used by many different horror movie posters is that the posters themselves contain the main character somewhere on the poster. As you can see this poster has been designed to make Daniel Radcliffe character stand out, this technique has also on Insidious poster because they also want to invite the audience in by looking straight at you.

POSTER ANALYSISTHE SIXTH SENSE (1999)

Looking at this poster and comparing it to the other two posters that have been analysed, I notice that similar colours are used in this poster when comparing it to The Conjuring and The Women In Black poster. The use of dark colours with a small vibrant colour suggests that a similar pattern to the other different horror movies that have been produced. This bright colour technique is used so it stands out to many different people walking past the poster. This technique catches peoples eye.

However, as I compare the poster to many different modern style horror movie posters, I notice that there is no use of small production and cast text at the bottom of the page. This lets the poster down massively because it means there is no information to be given away, there is also no website to be visited for the fans of the film. There is also not release to get the fans of the film excited.

As we compare each of these horror movie posters, I notice that the position of film title is at the top of the page. This technique has been used to attract audiences eye first, because we as people read up and down and left to right, this means that audiences who look at the horror movie poster will see the title first.

POSTER ANALYSISINSIDIOUS (2010)

Again comparing this poster to the other posters that I have analysed, I notice that the colours used on this poster are very similar to the other colours used on the other posters. The use of these dark colours suggests that this horror movie will follow a similar pattern to other horror movies that have been produced before. This horror movie poster follows the same pattern from the Conjuring and The Women In Black poster because production text and dates is written towards the bottom of the screen. This gives audiences more of an idea of who is involved in the film.

Comparing this poster to the other film posters that have been produced, I notice that a similar technique has been used when comparing it to the Women In Black poster. The main character has been placed in the centre of the page, he has also been made to be the main attraction of this poster. This technique catches peoples attention as they walk past the poster.

Finally, I notice that the title of the film has been placed around a similar position to many other horror movie trailers. The text has used different colours, this is so it stands out to different audiences