Short film poster analysis

1. Kieran Morris
Poster Analysis:
Beating Hearts:
Film Reviews and Accolades: A 4½ star symbol is
placed at the top of the film poster to attract the
audience to possibly watch the film. Initially, the
public will see the characters and the film’s title
before naturally looking at the top of the poster for
further information. This star rating is likely to
influence the potential target audience to find out
more information about the film. The review ‘one of
the most startling…’ is also used to attract the
audience to watch the film, particularly if they are
looking for something to scare them. This is most
likely to be a young audience (early 20’s) who are
the age group which are most likely to experiment
with watching a variety of different film genres and
hope to push the boundaries. The use of the
superlative ‘most’ implies to the audience that this
film provides a high amount of thrill and spookiness
for the audience, enticing them to watch the short
film.
Colour Scheme and Background: The
promotional poster uses a harsh red and black
colour scheme, suggesting a dark and twisted
narrative for the audience. This is due to these
colours together connoting sadness, evil and
sometimes even death. This links to the films
genre of drama/horror which represents evil and
unhappiness. This is further suggested through
the use of a dark, cloudy background. The use of
the dark clouds suggests that a ‘storm may be
brewing’, hinting to the target audience at a
possible dark and evil plot twist and a sad story.
This juxtaposes from sunshine, which often
connotes happiness and a bright future for
characters.
Character Positioning: At the bottom of the film
poster, a girl sits looking at a woman who is
presumed to be asleep due to the use of bedding in
the shot. Due to the girl sitting on top of the woman,
it could be implied by the audience that the little girl
holds power and status over the woman, who is
portrayed as weak due to her positioning on a bed.
This is likely to intrigue the audience due to the
poster demonstrating an abnormal relationship
whereby the girl holds a position of authority. This
may put into question the parents control of their
daughter; thus the girl could be seen as a strong yet
strangely authoritative character.
Film Title and Writer: The short films title
‘Beating Hearts’ may provide the audience with
contradicting thoughts as to what the films genre
is due to the juxtaposing connotations of ‘hearts’.
These connotations can include the themes of
love and passion, or alternatively death and evil.
These contrasting themes may confuse the
public when they initially hear the name of the
film. Despite this, the use of the verb ‘beating’
implies that the hearts are functioning and are
‘beating’ possibly like a drum. This may therefore
suggests that the film is a horror movie due to
the nature of harsh beating sounds of a drum
being similar to a beating heart. The writers
name ‘Matthew Garrett’ isn’t well-known in the
public eye; however by featuring his name on the
poster, the writer may potentially become
successful after the film is distributed.