The generic convention of horror movie posters.

1. Credits
Movie credits always appear in a small relatively
plain font at the bottom of the poster. This
convention typically provides the audience with
some extra information about the film, this includes;
the cast, the crew, the film institution along with
other people that have been vital in the films
production. Although not many people when looking
at the posters tend to take the time and read this
information it is still a good convention to have on a
poster for advertising. The credits reveal the actors
who are in the film quite clearly and visibly on the
poster, this can mean that a member of the target
audience may see this and recognise one of the
actors names from another movie that they liked
and may make them more intrigued about this film
and want to know more about it and could
encourage them to go see the film.

2. Characters
The characters that are placed on the poster are
often the main ones and are of particular
importance, or at least more so than the others in
the film. This is because they are the ones at the
centre of the narrative. It is usually the antagonist
that appears on the poster, by choosing to place the
antagonist on the poster it creates a sense of fear
and evil which can make the audience feel anxious
or slightly uneasy because the antagonist displays
common themes. The antagonist is most commonly
placed in the centre of the poster or at least in the
bottom third of the poster and take up most of what
the audience sees on the poster. This is so that
attention is drawn to them as audiences tend to read
from top to bottom, left to right.

3. Address
On horror posters, especially ones showing the
antagonist we see a mode of address. This draws
more of the audiences attention to the poster
because no matter where you look on the poster
from whatever angle it will always look like the
antagonist is looking directly at you. As a result the
audience feel as though they are the victim in the
horror film because they cant prevent the antagonist
continuously looking at them. This makes the
audience feel quite intimidated.

4. Release Date
The cinema release date is always shown at the
bottom of the poster, this is usually beneath the
credits. However it appears as a much bigger font
than the credits, to show it is of higher importance
to the audience, but smaller than the title and
tagline . This is so the audience are made aware of
the release date and go see it. Some films have
coming soon instead of an actual dates. By doing this
they begin to build anticipation for the film, this will
get the audience to explore the film more if they are
interested in it and perhaps what the trailer and visit
the webpage for more information about it.

5. Website
The film website link is usually seen at the very
bottom of the poster beneath the credits and the
release date. This is an important convention to have
as if the audience want to find out anymore
information about the film they can go onto the
website and learn more about it.

6. Title
The title typically appears as the largest font on the
page . This is a key convention to be seen on posters
as if the audience doesn’t know what movie they are
meant to be going to see they wont see it. The font
used it the one used for the trailer and website as
well, this links the three products together and tells
the audience they are all related to the same movie.
It doesn’t really matter where the title is placed on
the poster but as long as it has the biggest font
attention will be drawn to it and the audience will
see it.

7. Tagline
On most posters we also see a tagline, the purpose
of a tagline is to be memorable and that one phrase
sticks with the audience and usually implies
narrative its this that the audience relate to the film
hence why it will usually appear on the trailer and
webpage as well to show that they are linked. The
tagline is usually in a larger font but often smaller
than the title to show that it is still of importance to
the audience.

8. Institutional Logo
On most posters, including horror posters we see an
institutional logo, this is often along side of the
credits at the bottom of the poster. The logo is
shown on all three products to show that they are
linked and which company/companies are
responsible for making the film.