1. The Black Dahlia Film Poster
Analysis
Katie Charman

2. The Poster:

3. The Image
The main image of the poster is of a
woman lying down. From the drop
of blood on her lips and the white
light coming from underneath her,
you get the idea that she is dead.
The white flower coming from the
left hand side of the poster could
symbolise she is in a coffin.
The colour red stands out in the
titles and from her lips, this suggests
that the film is about a murder
which fits in with the film-noir crime
genre.
Most of the posters background is a
block black colour. This again
represents the idea of murder and
no emotion as there isn’t much
colour.

4. The Text
The text on the film poster is all the same
font and the names at the top are
identical in size and colour. With most of
the actors mentioned on the poster, they
are well known for their surnames and
this is why the surname has been made a
bigger font size so that the audience can
associate the film with them.
The film title ‘The Black Dahlia’ is again in
the same serif font. The letter ‘K’
especially tails off at the end which could
represent blood dripping too. As the main
female character was an aspiring actress,
the font choice may have been chosen to
fit in with the idea of fame and glamour.

5. The Narrative
As the colouring of the poster is mostly
black and white, the film-noir genre is
quite evident.
The way the character has her eyes
open and is looking up at something
gives the sense that she is an innocent
character which again fits in with the
femme fatal character that is usually a
main focus in the film-noir genre.
As the film poster uses a dark
background and has the black
colouring, the film hints at having a
sinister or dark note to it such as a
murder.
The drop of blood falling from her lip
signifies that a murder may have
happened too and as it is falling
downwards it could be signified as
though she herself lost control and was
falling apart.

6. Colour
The colour black is very prominent within
the poster as it takes up most of the
background, this could signify the death
that surround the film. It also could
signify negativity and the sad nature of
how the female character died.
The colour of the woman’s face is quite
pale and light in contrast to the rest of
the poster which could represent her
innocence in the way that she died. As
the pale colouring then transgresses into
the bottom light of the poster it could
again signify her death.
Red is also a prominent colour within the
poster and as it is spread out in thin lines
it could represent the blood as it is a
murder film. It may also represent
passion and lust due to the showbiz
storyline.

7. The Camera Distance
The picture of the female character is a close up profile shot of her face. Her features
are prominent as there is an outline, however as they appear to be a smooth line,
this adds a certain softness to her character, highlighting again that she is innocent.
By using a close up it allows emotion to be shown, in this image especially, the
character appears to have quite a blank expression looking upwards which links back
to the storyline of her being an aspiring actress.

8. The Anchorage
As the film poster doesn’t give a lot away about
the films storyline , the use of the anchorage
“Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder
in Californian history” allows the audience to see
that the film will be in the crime genre and based
around a murder.
The way it is placed directly underneath the films
title once again helps explain what the title means.
The writing is in the same serif font which links it
with the rest of the poster and creates a ‘look’ for
the film. As the writing is all in capitals and the
same height, it adds a serious note and could
perhaps have links to a crime document.

9. Lighting
Within film-noir films, Chiaroscuro
lighting is usually used in order to
create the well-know silhouette
effect.
For ‘The Black Dahlia’, the one light
source is coming from the bottom of
the poster and is extremely light.
Usually when light is shown, people
look into it as a way out, however as
the light is shown to be behind her
in the poster, it could represent that
there is no way out for her.
The use of the chiaroscuro lighting
also creates the silhouette effect
around her face which makes her
features stand out, this is typical of
a film-noir film and so fits into the
genre.

10. The Layout
The layout of the poster is layered so that
each image of piece of text falls on top of
each other.
As the image, title and production text is
all at the bottom of the poster, it could be
trying to make the audiences focus be on
the females face.
The black block of background could
relate to the storyline, as in the film it is
based on a group of detectives trying to
work out how a woman was murdered.
The black could represent the unknown
and how they don’t know how she died.
The fact the female is looking into the
darkness could also represent that there
is something she knows and that we as an
audience will perhaps find out in the film.

11. The Written Text
At the bottom of the poster comes the block of written text which tells the audience the
production companies, who the film is aimed at and other important names in production.
For the Black Dahlia the most clear writing is “The new thriller from the director of the
Untouchables and Scarface” this shows that there may be a link between these films and others
that have been made before which once again highlights the idea that this film explores a crime
storyline.
As the films certificate is ‘Rated R’ this translates to the audience having to be aged 17+, this
immediately highlights the fact that this film will be discussing and incorporating adult themes
which is typical of a film-noir genre.