Defaced Poster - Draft 1

Defaced - Animatic

Horror Film Poster Analysis

The first example here is Nightmare on Elm Street, which is a classic horror film that was remade in 2010. The font colouring and the use of "nightmare" suggest a horror genre but doesn't describe why in too much detail. The use of the word "sleep" supports the idea that this horror's fear factor is related to sleeping and nightmares, which are common with everyone in reality, projecting fear for the audience.

The image isn't completely clear, although despite the darkness obscuring him, it is understandable that the villain/monster featuring in the film is the figure displayed at the back, and is referred to in the tag-line as "he".

The girl in the foreground is represented as a victim, and makes the audience believe that she is in danger as she is unaware of the threat behind her.

There are no credits on the poster as it creates ambiguity and intrigue for who is featured but also because its a classic horror film that had a lot of recognition on its original release and therefore can afford to leave details out.

The second example is more conventional as it features a singular face as the image, which is common with most horror posters, but its is hard to distinguish if the person featured is the antagonist or the protagonist or a victim. There also is not much evidence, except the screaming image, to suggest a horror genre, but this is solved with the use of crediting the director from the horror/gore classic "The Hills Have Eyes", which immediately supports and suggests the theme of this film.

The font again is red and rather similar to the first example, but is much simpler by using one word, "Mirrors". This begs the question how the mirrors obviously used in this film, are portrayed as a horrific element, and again like earlier, mirrors are common in everyday lives and therefore creates more intrigue and fear as to why they are threatening.

It features the main actress' name, the film's creator's name and a billing block, suggesting that it is a new, original type of horror film compared to the first example, but still features some recognisable figures, adding to the USP.

                                          

The final example is of a successful horror film called "Drag Me to Hell" which immediately because of its vulgarity, suggests a horror genre. It again features a person who like the second example, is clearly suffering, except this image displays what it causing that. It may not be clear what or who the arms belong to but the use of the word "hell" combined with the fire effects at the bottom, suggest some forms of demons, giving more of a clear insight than the former examples.

Like the first example, this poster uses mise-en-scene of houses, suggesting the film takes place in suburban America, a conventional location. The tag-line meanwhile is much more detailed than the first example. It gives a brief description of presumably the main character featured on the poster, and although it starts positively, it ends by referring to "hell", implying that even the most happiest and successful of people can be made to suffer. This creates sympathy for her as the audience have somewhat of an understanding of her.

Finally it conventionally uses a billing block with no precise date, but does state "coming soon".

Some elements in common with all three posters are the fact that they all state the title near the bottom, they all have some form of release time but most importantly, they all feature a female as the apparent victim, creating a stereotype of vulnerability.