Film Poster Analysis #3

This is the main film poster for the supernatural horror film ‘The Awakening’. It is conventional for a horror film poster to use fog and forests to create a spooky and eerie atmosphere, which is what this poster does. The layout is also conventional. The title of the film is at the bottom of the page placed at the centre. The main actors’ names are at the top and additional information is at the bottom in small font as it’s the least important. All this is very conventional for any film poster, not only horror. 

The conventions of the horror genre that are featured in this poster are obviously the dark grey forest, the big and eerie mansion house behind the woman, the fog, and the fact that everything is cold and gloomy, there is no sun or colour. This all tells the audience that this is a horror film. The sub-genre is supernatural, the poster tells us this by the use of the text under the title which says ‘Sometimes dead does not mean gone’, this gives the audience a clue on what the storyline of the film is. It could do something with ghosts and the past life. The fact that the woman is wearing a long coat and she is holding it tight, keeping it closed, gives us a feeling of coldness, maybe coldness from the weather or even the dead. 

Supernatural horror lovers will be lured into to watch this film as it has an eerie secrecy about it, that makes the audience want to find out what it is that this film has to offer, it displays a woman in the middle of a dark and cold forest, it makes the audience wonder why she is there and what this film is about.

The image is a long shot is of the actress Rebecca Hall, who plays Florence Cathcart in the film. She is wearing a long dark grey coat that is being blown by the wind, so the bottom of it is blowing the coat open. She is holding it tightly closed. On her feet she is wearing a plain black pair of shoes, under the coat she has a white long dress on. Her hair is tied back loosely. She looks cold, but like she came out to find someone or something. The effect that this image gives the audience is a cold atmosphere. Cold, gloomy and dark, almost uncomfortable like something or someone is in the air or around. The trees that make almost a tunnel around Rebecca Hall curl inwards, almost making a circle tunnel that she is entering. This gives the effect of closing in, like the further she goes into the forest, the more the trees will close her in.]

On the ground there is white fog, creating the feeling of emptiness, coldness, eeriness and the sub-genre of supernatural. Her body expression is very stiff, like she has stopped, grabbed onto her coat tightly to keep warm, and is standing still. Her facial expression is cold and stiff, she is leaning her head a little forward like she is trying to keep her neck more inside the coat to keep warm, her eyes looking up. She looks a little uncomfortable. The fog that is surrounding her is getting closer to the mansion rather than the forest; you would think it would be the other way round. But this could mean that whatever it is that is horrific in this film is in the mansion and not in the forest. 

The lighting on this poster is ambient and available lighting as it all looks natural and like there are no artificial lights providing light around. This gives the effect of realism, as the poster is trying to give off the effect of coldness and emptiness and maybe even death, natural lighting helps highlight that effect.

The use of colour is kept simple on this poster; white is used for all the text. This signals the sub-genre of supernatural, this shows that this film is a horror but involves more mystery rather than blood. The colours of the image are mostly grey and dark blue/green, it all creates an atmosphere of mysterious horror, coldness, ghosts and death. No bright colours are used as that would ruin the effect that has been created. 

This whole image creates curiosity about the narrative, the audience is lured by the suspense and eeriness and is made to wonder what the storyline is and to find out they would have to watch the film. 

The text is all kept white, bold and simple. The title is in a big font, the tagline is in the same font and colour as the title but in smaller font. This is where the eye of the reader goes next. The additional information is kept small because it’s the least important. The colours of the text compliment the rest of the poster because the text is white and goes with the image, the fog is white and so is the background, that way it all goes together and is kept simple but effective. 

The tagline gives a clue of the narrative. ‘Sometimes dead does not mean gone’, giving the clue of the dead, which means ghosts. This gives the audience a clue that the film involves ghosts and spirits, supernatural horror film lovers will be encouraged to watch this film as it involves the supernatural. 

There is a symbiotic link kept between the film and the poster, in the film, the colours are all kept gloomy, dark and simple, just like in the poster. This way the film poster is recognizable.

In conclusion I believe this poster is effective as it gives clues to the target audience of what the narrative and sub-genre is. It’s clear that it’s a supernatural horror film, and attracts the right target audience, meaning that the poster successfully promotes the film.