4. TYPICAL CONVENTIONS I HAVE FOUND WHILE
RESEARCHING HORROR MOVIE POSTERS
Posters often have a black, white and red colour scheme.
Small titles which usually feature on the bottom of the poster.
Release date/coming soon label.
Low lighting to disguise an important character.
Use of one large image to get the audience’s attention. This could be
a leading actor from the film, who is usually already well-known, or it
could be some kind of logo or symbol while features in the film when
the audience actually see the film.
If this image is not a large image, it can be a long shot of a location
which additionally adds suspense to the film.
Captions and taglines, often using a quotation from the film.
Anchorage of an image by the film.
Credits including leading actors, production company, company logos
etc.
5.
6. From looking at these existing forms of film poster, ranging from action
to horror, I now have an idea on what I need to put on my film poster
to have it follow certain conventions and look like a professional film
poster.
I have thought about which conventions I want to follow and which
ones I want to challenge. Instead of using an image of one of my main
actors, I am going to use an image of the asylum I have taken, that
way I add suspense to the film by having the audience know that this
location has significance to what they would be watching.
By doing this I have the opportunity to use the main actor image of my
magazine cover, therefore following the conventions of a film
magazine cover.
