Findings from my previous analysis of five movie posters.

The obvious code and convention that all the movie posters had was the use of the main image being the main aspect within the poster. In each it took up all of the poster which revealed how important they are in making the audience interested in the film. Also, the main image allowed the storyline to come through without too much being told, which then made the audience want to know more about the story.

For example, in ‘The Woman in black’ movie poster, the main image allowed the audience to understand who the main actor was and where most of the film would be situated. In ‘Tangled’ again the main characters were introduced to the audience while also silently revealing that most of the film will take place in a forest. In the ‘Insidious’ movie poster the main character took up most of the space in the poster and the house behind him indicated to the audience the negativity that was within the house. The ‘Saw 3D’ movie poster allowed the genre to truly be established through the main image as the eyeball looks so realistic and therefore, because it is not attached to a body, the viewer is made to feel very uncomfortable. The teaser movie poster of ‘Spiderman’ was particularly effective in that it allowed the audience to grasp what the movie was about without the title being mentioned.

Colour is an essential aspect in all movie posters as it allows the audience to understand the genre of the movie through its colour scheme. It also makes the poster look much more realistic as if it was a horror film with pretty pastel colours, the movie poster would be very misleading.

‘Tangled’ used its colour brilliantly in its movie poster. The use of the bright colours such as the females pink dress, the use of the green in the grass to make it look healthy and the goldenness of the females hair made the genre come through as a fantasy and therefore, the target audience for that animation became easily attracted to the poster.

The use of the dull, dark colours used in ‘The Woman In Black’ also allowed the genre of the film to shine through. The colours used in this media product make the darkness in the film come forward and therefore, this will attract those who like to watch horror films.

The titles in each of the movie posters is placed at the bottom third of the posters. This is so that the main image is still allowed to be the main aspect in the film as it ultimately could make the viewers want to see the film. However, each of the titles are in a larger font than other pieces of text used in the poster so that the audience are made aware of it and it will catch their eyes.

At the top third of each movie poster, the tagline allows the public to get more excited. For example, in ‘The Woman In Black’ movie poster the text states: ‘Daniel Radcliffe’. This allows this actor to become the unique selling point in the movie and therefore, his fans are more likely to go and see the movie, thus, building up the views for the movie. In the ‘Saw 3D’ movie poster the tagline says: ‘In Eye-Popping 3D’. As society has become more technological, the audience will be more excited that the film is released in 3D as it will make the film look more life-like and realistic, thus, persuading the audience to go and see the film.

Although sometimes the release date is not given, if it is, it is placed at the very bottom of the poster so that is does not distract the audience from other aspects of the media product. It is also placed in a very small font and usually does not give a specific date so that it keeps the audience focused on the movie so that they can find out later what date in the month it will be released. The small font means that the audience may miss this piece of information and therefore, again heightens their curiosity of when the film is out.

The use of colour used in horror movie posters are of great importance in being able to portray the mood of the film. In the posters for ‘The Woman In Black’ and ‘Insidious’ the use of the black instantly reveals the horror genre as the mood and atmosphere is successfully established through the shades used. In ‘Saw 3D’ the dominance of the white connotes death and so the viewer is still made to feel uncomfortable when looking at the poster as they know that death is present.

1.The use of the faded colours in ‘The Woman In Black’ and in ‘Insidious’ means that the viewers are made to feel at edge as they are not bright colours and therefore, the viewer knows that these movies are not of a fantasy genre. 2.The use of the red in the title for the ‘Saw 3D’ movie poster means that the audience are made to believe that this is blood and so they realise that blood will be present in the film.

The use of the font also allows the genre of these horror films to be established. Each of the fonts in the titles are scratchy, cracked or else look like they have been painted on with blood. This means that the horror can even be obvious through the design of the title.

The main image has got to make the viewers feel uneasy and that is why this is so important in achieving when presenting a horror movie through a poster. There is something in all three of the horror movie posters main images which makes the viewers uneasy. For example, in ‘Insidious’ the boy’s eyes are scribbled out. This shocks the audience and makes them feel at edge. In ‘The Woman In Black’ the males facial expression and the house make us believe that this is a typical horror story. Yet we want to know what happens to this character and what happens within the house. In the ‘Saw 3D’ movie poster the use of the eyeball shocks the public and because it looks like it is staring right at us, the audience can’t help but feel uncomfortable. Each of these movie posters main images make the public question certain things. Therefore, the previous points have expressed how important the main image is in persuading the public to come and see the film.

The tagline ’ s encourage the public to come and see the movie. For the ‘ Saw 3 D ’ poster, the tagline ‘ In Eye - Popping 3 D ’ means that it can relate to the actual main image as well as revealing how the movie will be presented to the audience. The movie poster for ‘ The Woman In Black ’ is particularly effect in that it mentions the main actors name, who just so happens to be a successful actor, thus, revealing that the movie is using him as its unique - selling - point. This ultimately reveals how important the tagline is in horror movies as it can excite, shock and build the atmosphere within the movie by just a few words.

In my next shot I have put up a montage of horror movie posters so that I have a better understanding of these posters. It will allow me to notice all the different codes and conventions that are used and therefore, this ensures that my movie poster is as realistic and professional as I can possibly make it. It is clear to see that in all of the movie posters the colour scheme is of great importance. Black and white are the two main colours that are used and so I will ensure that these two colours will be used in my movie poster so that it resembles to a real movie poster. Also, in my next shot there is no writing on either the left or right third in any of the movie posters presented. The main image takes up most of the movie poster and so I must ensure that not only is the image effective and unique but that it is also of the best quality so that it looks very professional. The main image also reveals the horror within the movies and the images are quite shocking so that the audience are made to look at them. Every one of them has a billing block so that they look professional. This therefore, indicates that I too should use a billing block.

In my analysis of movie posters I decided to analyse one teaser movie poster so that it would give me a much broader idea of what codes and conventions they use. The main difference that I had noticed from a regular movie poster to a teaser movie poster was that there was a lot less information given on the teaser posters. In the next slide I have created another montage, this time consisting of teaser movie posters. Each of the posters main feature is the main image as it takes up all of the space on the poster. It gives the audience a clue as to what the movie is of by having an effective main image. For example, the use of the skull confirms to the audience that the movie is Pirates Of The Caribbean.