Saw Movie Poster Analysis

Fonts: The font used on the title of the film is distorted and rough which is shown through the unsmooth sides of the letters, the varying size of the letters and the uneven lines and dots that surround them; this is conventional in nature to a psychological thriller. Due to its abnormality, this sans serif font would stand out to the target audience who would be intrigued. It also looks deliberately unprofessional which allows it to blend in with the scene of the poster and creates a more immersive atmosphere. The film’s slogan directly contrasts the title font as it is written in a bold and neat serif font, which alienates the title even more and helps the audience to remember it; the inconsistency in fonts is probably unconventional for a poster but this helps reflect the controversial nature of the film. The font of the credits is traditional and similar to most credit fonts which make it conventional as a film poster. The bold font on the logo for Lionsgate Films allows it to stand out from the rest of the small print and possibly encourage the audience to view the film due to it being a major film company, this relates to the form of a poster which aims to reveal all key information about a film’s release unlike a magazine cover.

Colour: There is very little use of colour on the poster but this helps to add to the bare and intimidating feel of it and makes it seem less like a traditional movie poster so it grabs the attention of its audience. The plain white background however, contrasts the dark grey colours used on the severed leg which gives the graphic nature of the poster an in-your-face effect. The use of black and red to represent the mud and blood on the leg is precisely placed and defined which adds to the realism of the shot and helps to horrify its audience which is conventional for the psychological thriller genre. The colour of the title font also stands out against the plain white background which shows how the colour is used to bring across the key information more to its audience. The colour of the title font also matches that of the blood which makes the poster seem more synchronised.

Image: There is one image on the poster, which adds to the effect that the audience are immersed in a scene from the film. This is usual for a poster, which very rarely depicts multiple images. The violence depicted in the image is unconventional even for a horror genre poster, which would enable it to stand out and be more memorable than other posters. The graphic nature of the severed leg would unsettle and horrify a large amount of the audience in a conventional way for a psychological thriller however. The image would also address the target audience who would be intrigued by the extreme nature of it and therefore be encouraged to see the film. Because the image feels like part of a scene from the movie it tempts the audience even more to watch the film and find out what set off this event and also what it leads to which is an effect that all successful posters should have. The sense of suspense is increased further by the saw which is made to look menacing through the emphasis of the jagged edges and the rust on it; this also reveals more about the severed leg and ties in with the title of the film which should also cause the audience to remember the poster.

Layout: The poster follows the traditional route of the eye formula which is conventional of many successful posters. This begins with the eye line following the saw across the top of the poster before moving down towards the image of the severed leg. It would then move to the film title and finally to the credits at the bottom of the screen; they are placed conventionally at the bottom of the poster as they are the least eye grabbing and least essential factor in promoting the movie to the audience. The film title however, is placed less conventionally in a relatively small font near the bottom of the page. Usually the film title would be larger and placed in a more eye catching position so that it would be more memorable for the audience. However this positioning does put more emphasis on the image and immerses the audience more in the film. The empty space between the saw and the leg could also be seen as unconventional and the absence of cluttered text etc. would make the poster stand out more. The saw being placed at the top of the poster connotes it as menacing and deadly.