Worksheet Analysis of Film Poster
Film Poster | |
Name & genre of film | Name- The Haunting Genre- Horror |
Key image (camera shot/angle – purpose); expressions, posture/body language. How do they reinforce the genre? | The camera shot of the main image is an extreme long shot of the house and the angle it is at eye level. The purpose of this is so the audience see the entire house and the landscape around it. Also it allows the audience to see the lights that look two eyes, this is so the audience can look straight into them and feel like someone is looking at them back. This reinforces the genre because houses don’t have eyes yet this one gives the illusion that it has and that it’s watching you. |
Lighting & how it influences the meaning of the text & genre. | The lighting of the image is low key and gloomy this creates a terrifying atmosphere for the audience and this reinforces the typical conventions of a horror film. |
Costumes/dress codes; icons/props, make-up – how do the challenge or reinforce the generic conventions. | On this film poster there are no costumes because the image is of the house. |
Background, colour ( connotations) & layout & how they influence meaning. | The background of the image is part of the main image which is dark gloomy clouds surrounding the castle this connotes that the house is in the middle of the woods, this is usually where horror films are set so this reinforces the genre. |
Copy (text) – Size, font style, colour & content (title/tagline/credits/ratings etc) | The title of the film is the biggest text on the screen, it is white and in a ghostly font. This suggests that the film is to do with the supernatural. The colour white connotes that innocence but in this sense it connotes ghosts. The tagline is above the title and smaller because it is not the most important text on the page, this is a grey which connotes the gloominess and the darkness of the house. The release date is a similar size to the tagline, but the colour is red. This connotes blood and violence. On the very top of the poster it gives tells you who the director is and previous movies he has done, this is also in red and connotes that the director has put violence and the supernatural in the film. |
Target audience | The target audience is from the ages 12- 18, with an interest in horror films and the supernatural. It is aimed at all races because on the poster there is no character’s so therefore aimed at all. |
Representation of Characters – Age, race gender, Culture, sexuality etc. Do they challenge or reinforce the genre conventions. | There are no characters on the image because it just shows the spooky house this is so that the audience get to meet the characters when watching the film. |
Institutional- Product details (credits, cast, director/producer/studios/certification/web address etc). | The director was Jan de Bont, the studios were DreamWorks, the certificate was 12 and the web address was www.dreamworks.com/Haunting. |
Enigma/Narrative image (How does the poster create a ‘story’ & entice its intended audience to go see the film?) What questions does the poster ‘ask’ of the audience? | The narrative the poster creates is that the house is haunted and evil because the tagline say ‘some houses are born bad’, we also get this impression from the two light pools in the middle of the poster that look like eyes staring at you. The use of red suggests that people will visit the house and some will die violent deaths. The poster entices its audience by not putting the characters on the poster so that you have to watch the film to find out who they are. Another way it entices is the audience is by not giving too much away for example it doesn’t show you what is haunting them just the impression its supernatural. This will make the audience want to see it more to unravel the secrets. |
