Analysis of The Last House on The Left
In the foreground of the poster is a girl running, presumably away from a creepy looking man behind her. Both poeple are slightly blurred as if running. Behind the two people is a large dark old house, with no lights on except for at the top where there is a slither of a window and some light is shining through there. To the left of this house is a cloud, but it is in the shape of a skull. Below this cloud is the main text of the poster. "The Last House on the Left". It is in white font. The letters have pointed endings and the words as a light coming from them - the only lighting on the poster. The image is at night time.
Conotation
The girl running away from a man with an old hosue in the background is stereotypical of horror films. The girl is usually the focus of horror films, the target of the threating thing or person. The man behind her looks ghost like or some form of supernatural being. The unknowing of what the person or thing of threat can increase the level of suspense and inquizity of the potential viewer. The old hosue style with pointed roofs, thin windows and no lights is related to horror films in suburbia. The skull shaped cloud symbolises threat and possib lity of death in the area around it, in this case the house. The pointed endings of the fonts, could represent the shape of knives, indicating that the film could include knife violence. The poster's lighting being at night time emphasises the idea of not knowing what is going on because the characters in the film will not be able to see the threat clearly, therefore increasing the level of fear.
Analysis of The Shining
Denotation
The top of the poster is a black block background with white text; "The tide of terror that swept America IS HERE". Below this is a still shot from the film. It has a mans face, in an angry, eyes wide open, mouth slightly open baring his teeth. His face is pushing through two pieces of wood, presumably a door and its frame. Through the wood of the door we can see that an axe has already been forced in. behinbd the axe is the image of a woman looking at the axe and screaming, she is holding a large knife in her hand. below the image is a white colour block background, with simple large black font saying "The Shining", below this are some of the main credits of the film.
Conotation
The text at the top of the poster shows that the film has already been a successful horror film in America, something that may encourage British viewers to want to see the film. The still shot from the film shows the viewer just how scary the film is going to be, with the woman clearly terrified, and trying to defend herself with the knife she is holding, also the man looking furious and dangerous with high levels of threat coming from the axe through the door. With the picture being the main focus of the poster it will draw attention to itself, and the audience immediately will know it is a horror film. The title of the film in bold black font beneath the picture is also easy for passers by to notice and take note of, therefore making it stick in their minds and make them think about seeing it. The poster is all in bright lights, something which you would not expect from a horror film poster, which are usually dark or at nighttime. the brightness does make the image clearer to see, and the message of high threat clear to the audience. Analysis of Halloween
The poster has a block black background, with all text in white which stands out from the balck. The text at the top of the poster in thick white capitals says the name of the film, "Halloween", and in the bottom left of the poster, with a line for each word in thin white capitals are the words "The Night He Came Home!". The image in the centre of the poster is of a male hand clenching around the handle of a long blacded knife. the image satggeres backwards but turns into the shape of a pumpkin with eyes and a nose cut out, similar to those children make as Halloween decorations.
Conotation
The black background symobolises nighttime, or unknowing what is going on because you can not see in the dark. The white text saying The Night He Came Home, has the word He in italics, as if the viewer is supposed to know hwo he is and saying his name or speaking of him has become a taboo. The knife being held shows that this is likely to be the main weapon to be used in the horror film. The image which merges into being a pumpkin shows that what happens in the film happens on Halloween night and what can seem innocent can be hoorible. The simplicity of the poster does not give much away about the characters or story of the film, just that a horror occurs on Halloween night.
Codes and Conventions of horror film posters
- The image is of a main character, weapon or location from the film
- The text is in bold font, black on white background or white onto a black background
- The lighting is dark, similar to the lighting through the feature film which is usually dark
