Film Posters

After researching film posters I have seen that dark colours and figures are ubiquitous in horror. Usually, the dark figure is a male with only part of their face showing which adds mystery and tension while intriguing the audience as they want to know more about the person. This is shown on 'Friday The 13th' and highlights the weapon shown in the males hands to tell the audience that it plays a main part in the film. Having not seen the film myself, the imagery of the forest in the background gives a setting to the film, suggesting that this is where the action takes place. I additionally think this is done is order to scare the audience as forests are usually dark lonely and scary places to be.

The contrasting black and red colours connote danger and fear which make the poster stand out and look more visually appealing to the audience. The red shows that violence and blood may be involved and the black is seen as the unknown therefore injects fear into the audience. This is shown in various horror films such as 'Halloween' and 'A Nightmare On Elm Street'.

'A Nightmare On Elm Street' shows a male stood behind a female, both in the darkness to show the mystery of the characters. The stereotype of males being the stronger sex is shown in this poster as the male is stood behind the woman making her look more vulnerable and unsafe, creating sympathy for this character. This is shown in 'The Tall Man' as the feared character is stood closely behind the female who has a worried and distressed look on her face. 

We will use the ideas of a darks figures in our film as the man who is in the woman's house is seen throughout the film in dark lighting to show his mystery. The use of the girl on the poster will also be good to use on our poster, as the girl in our film is seen as vulnerable and innocent.
Slogans are shown on every example here such as 'he knows where you sleep' 'welcome to crystal lake'.  These two slogans have reference to to the film which makes audiences want to watch it to then know its references. The release dates are also very clear, A Nightmare On Elm Street has the simple '04.30.10' which will stick in the audiences mind due to its simplicity.
From my research into the typical horror film poster, I have gathered information which our group will incorporate into our final group poster which are:

• Contrasting light and dark colours 
• Dark figures to add mystery 
• Big bold simple text to attract audience 
• Powerful slogan to indicate the plot summary 
• Date which is simple and bold 
• Starring actors 
• Distributor