Codes and Conventions - Film Poster

Dark and dull Colour Scheme – Many film posters use a darkened colour scheme to reflect the themes of the film, for example shadows and darkness are linked with fear and terror. While a lack of colour could represent a lifeless feel to the poster, signifying death or decay, again both typical horror themes.

Red / Black Colour Scheme – While several posters use a dark colour scheme to connote fear, others use typical colours to signify the sub-genre of their horror film. An example could be an excessive use of red to signify blood and a ‘slasher’ horror.

Distorted text – Usually on film posters the title text or text in general has themes of horror, such as an eroded text to show decay. Another example could be distortion to represent the aspect of confusion or paranormal themes.

Main Image – A common aspect of film posters is the focus of the main image, this can be used for two main reasons. One of which is the eye-catching nature of the image, a large image which fills most of the poster will attract the attention of the reader – especially if the image is abnormal or unnatural.

Main Image 2 – Another feature of the main image is to reflect the focus and themes of the film, obviously the image connotes the themes of horror but often it signifies the sub-genre of the film to attract a specific audience. Typical aspects of films like a classic zombie apocalypse will include a rising hand from the earth, the rise of the dead.

An Eye-catching Title – Most posters position their titles at the bottom of the page, usually just with a few words on a single line for simplicity and easy reading. This is not always the case, but most do this to catch the readers’ attention and create a memorable title.

Taglines – While the image and the title usually attract the audiences’ attention, the taglines are used to sell it and provide context which hopefully will interest the reader into watching the film. Mostly a short simple sentence or question is used in a creepy style to entice the reader into watching.

Release Date – This piece of information is usually placed at the bottom of the page if the release date isn’t something particularly seasonal, like Halloween or Summer – which are common themes of horror films. If the release date is based at an interesting time, it will be a main focal point of the poster, with a line such as “Coming this Halloween” etc.

Institutional Information –Typically high-budget films will include a section of information providing the reader with news of those who have worked on the film, or previous works. Aspects such as the director, actors or producers could be another main selling point of a film, if their previous films are particularly impressive or have a dedicated fan base. However, mostly Horror films do not use