RESEARCH 31 - POSTER ANALYSIS COMPARISON

POSTER FILM ANALYSIS

2007 -- 1973

Types of posters: Video/DVD release poster

Genre: A supernatural horror film (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY) a psychological horror (THE EXORCIST)

KEY SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS: The film is called ‘Paranormal Activity’ and this is clear because of the way it has been written in bold red to go against the grey scale tone of the background in order for the audience to see it. The image on the poster is of the main characters in their home, which can add a more realistic feel to the film. We can also see a shadow on the door and see that she is pointing at it, which implies that the film is clearly about something which she is afraid of, and by showing the shadow it wants the audience to watch the film because we want to know what it is.

Whereas in the Exorcist, it also shows the name of the film in big capital letters but we cannot see any effects on it like the other film, this implies how back then we didn’t have the editing skills to make thing look 3D or add a shadow effect etc. it was just the plain font. The overall look of the poster has an animated feel to the film almost as though it is the front of a comic, this suggests how back then that was popular and that by making it look like a comic was something that was appealing to the audience, but now it is all about the use of technology and how it can look more scary.

NARRATIVE: The image on the poster of ‘Paranormal Activity’ clearly indicates that the film is set on their everyday lives. Also by her being curled up inside her boyfriend’s arm when she is pointing at the shadow indicates that there is a relationship in the film, and that perhaps it could be happening to both of them but because she is at the front it implies that she is the one seeing the shadow and that it is affecting her more than him.  

However, in the Exorcist poster, we see a man looking up to a room where a shining light is beaming down. This could imply that there is obviously something happening in the room, and it already tells the audience that the exorcist is a man, which is something very typical as back then in horror films it was usually the men that would get the role to save the character, whereas now we have a lot more women who can help the victim. Although, in this poster we don’t get as much information about the story like we do from Paranormal Activity because it does show much of the character, or who is being exorcised, although this could be a positive thing as it could lead to more suspense to watch the film.

COLOURS: The colours used in the ‘Paranormal Activity’ poster are very grey and dull, which is something that is typical when looking at a horror poster, as the dull colours represents and unhappy mood and horror films are always negative. However, we can see that they have lightened up the colour more to the side of the boyfriend compared to the side of the shadow which implies that they are trying to show that the darkness is coming for them, and that shadow is clearly an evil presence.

The colours used in the ‘Exorcist’ poster aren’t much different to the use of colours in the 2007 film poster, they both used dark and dull colours to imply that this is a horror movie, and that there is something coming from the darkness, which is a convention of horror. However, rather than a grey tone, there is more of a yellow tone to the film, I think that this adds to the ageing of the film, and because of the yellow tone it adds to the lighter tone of the poster and highlights the areas that needed to be show, such as the beam of light coming at the man.

LAYOUT: The layout of the film (Paranormal Activity) is very simple; it has a landscape image of the couple in their room and then has simple black background around it. This is effective because it allows us the focus on the image and any other text on top such as the name or the quote on top. Although, we have modernised a lot in technology, so perhaps they could have got a  better shot of the couple or the shadow creeping up on them, to make it look a lot more scarier rather than simple.

I think that the layout of the ‘Exorcist’ poster is very similar to the ‘Paranormal Activity’ one as again there is a landscape picture with the title on the top and any other information on the bottom, also with black backgrounds. This implies how even though technology has improved and there are many forms software’s to change the angles and sizes of the pictures; they still keep it simple, especially with the ‘Paranormal Activity poster, where the layout is exactly the same.

WRITTEN TEXT: On the film poster included the title of the film and a few quotes about how intense the film is to make the audience want to watch is even more to find out why it’s so scary. For example the words ‘Don’t see it alone’ or ‘what happens when you sleep?’ These both imply that clearly the film must have an effect on the audience if they don’t want us to watch alone but because of this more of the audience are intrigued to watch it, and by using a question it makes the audience think about what does happen whilst they sleep and that by watching this film you can see what it happens to others, which adds another scary element to the film. Also at the top of the film it gives quotes from other watchers about how the film is the scariest thing ever, and that it is nightmare guaranteed. By including these short  reviews it gives the audience evidence about how good the film whereas before they couldn’t because reviews weren’t seen as important, now we have people reviewing everything on twitter, newspapers etc. which give the audience a sense of what the film is about and a radar of how scary and spooky the film is.

On the film poster of the ‘Exorcist’ they also included the title, but didn’t include any catch phrases or short reviews to add onto the poster. This implies that of course the use of including the title on a film is still important as it identifies the film. But how back then you didn’t need these taglines or reviews on the film poster to make you want to watch the film, you just had to come up with a good name and image. And even the job title of an Exorcists is already scary, so back then it was seen as an effective title, and clearly the audience needed little persuading. This could also be because back then many people weren’t as open to horror as they are now and only little things use to scare them, so for a film to be coming out about the devil could have brought out a huge controversy. But because now there are so many films that are supernatural such as Sinister or One Missed Call, film companies have to try a lot harder to compete, and get the audience to come and watch their film instead of others to make a profit.