Analysis of horror film poster

The lighting and colour choice within this film poster is very lowkey and dark, the main colour being black as the focal image is a shadow. This automatically links up with the horror genre as black has connotations of darkness, evil and mystery - themes which are heavily associated with the horror genre. Likewise, the colour red is also used for the title, this also being associated with the horror genre as red has connotations of blood, death and danger, these also being themes of the horror genre. However, the darkness juxtoposes with the light colour of white within the text stating the names of all the actors and actresses. The reason for including white text can be seen from two different pragmatics. From one perspective, this can be seen as a pragmatic decision of the producer to use white for text as it acts as a false sense of security, as white has connotations of innocence and protection, thus, can form as an act of safety, this playing with the readers emotion and increasing the tension. On the other hand, the use for white can be seen as being used simply because it contrasts with the black and would make the text stand out.

The poster has typical conventions of film posters such as evidently the title of the film, the age certificate, the lists of actors and the date of the first screening. On the top of the film poster, it states :"From the director of the hills have eyes.". The reference to another film would help the audience develop a better understanding of the kind of film they would be watching, especially if they were a fan of the film mentioned. To add on to that, referencing to another film which is popular would help get the film more attention as the audience would want to watch a film that is similar to the popular/likeable one, hence why that text was in large, bold text as the producer wanted the text to stand out.

In half of the title of the film "Mirrors", it is written in the opposite direction, so it resembles the title mirroring each other. This is simply a very effective technique artistically and draws the audience in as it unusual and different to typical ways of writing titles.

The main image is that draws the instant attention of the audience appears to a woman's blurred screaming face with her gasping mouth merging into the black outer image/colour. This draws attention and is effective as her facial expression (including the widened eyes and open gasped mouth), this represented her as being very frightened and vulnerable, linking up to the horror genre and also possibly giving away her identify as within horror films the vulnerable, weak character is usually the antagonist or victim. The fact that she is a female also links to the horror genre as females are usually the victim within this genre and represented as weak and vulnerable.