Poster analysis for The Strangers

 

This poster is advertising the film The Strangers which is a horror/ thriller about a married couple whose romantic getaway becomes invaded by masked strangers. The poster uses many different conventions that make it appealing to audience members however there are some elements that don't follow the normal horror conventions. The poster is adevertising the film in many ways as it shows the characters in the film, a location and an event that may occur.

• Genre indicators
• Target audience
• Unique selling point
• Conventions
• Layout
• Font type/size
• Enigma's

Genre indicators for The strangers is that the setting for the poster looks like a normal front room with the women looking straight, the lighting is natural in the middle of the poster to show the setting, however the lighting is dark and eeary in the doorway where the masked person is standing indicating that he is looking at the woman and maybe getting ready to make a move and kill her. This shows the audience that it is a horror from the use of the dark lighting making the audience anticipate something evil and the mask on the character shows mystery as you wonder why he is wearing the mask for example why doesn't he want anyone to see his face?.

 

The target audience for this film is a 15 this is shown in the poster through the use of the normal setting and the random stranger with a mask in the doorway. You can tell that it is not an 18 due to the cotent on the poster it does not show any blood or hint that any deaths in the film will be gruesome.

 

USP: The unique selling point on the poster is the font choice for the title as it makes the audience aware that the film may contain scary aspects. Another unique selling point is the man as the audience want to know who he is, why he is wearing a mask, what he is doing in the house and if there are anymore of them. A unique selling point for me is whether it is based on true events this makes me want to watch the film as it adds more tension and builds an eeary atmosphere.

 

Conventions: Most horror posters go for the classic red font on a black background, the red symbolising blood and the black symbolising death. However this poster does not use this convention which makes it unique as the audience are not just seeing the same two colours all the time. Although this could be a negative aspect as the audience assume red and black colours with horror so by not using these colours they may be unaware that the film is a horror. On horror posters the title is usually at the bottom which is exactly what this poster has done following the normal convention if the title was at the top of the poster it would not attract the audience into watching the film as it doesn't fit the conventions. The poster would normally contain the release date which is crucial for audience members as they want to know when the movie is being released however this poster does not have this information therefore the audience are unaware of when they can go see the film and might forget about watching it.

 

Layout/ font size: The layout of the poster is important as each individual aspect is being used to attract and gain the attention of the audience if something doesn't look right on the poster it may make the audience think twice before wanting to see it. The classic layout is to have the tagline at the top of the poster in a little font but big enough to read this stands out to the audience when they are looking at the poster. There is normally a gap between the tagline and the title this is where the main picture is placed to show the audience any main characters and the setting for a particular scene this picture is a main focus on this poster as it should make people look at it and want to know more this is why it should reveal some information about the film but leave enigma's for them to watch it and find out. The title of the film should be placed near the bottom in a big font with it's own colour choice that stands out from the rest of the poster this highlights the film as it normally reveals a hint as to what the film is about for example 'The Strangers' this gives the audience an indication that people may appear and they are litterally strangers no one knows who they are or what they want. Any special actors that appear in the film are usually above the title in a small font but enough to give them notice on the poster so that audience members see them and go 'oh there in it i have to go see this'. When a film has been inspired by true events they place this caption below the title where they know it will catch people's eye therefore intriguing them to watch the film. If a poster had a release date it would be right at the bottom of the poster for people to read however this one doesn't so it is leaving out important information for the audience.   

 

Enigma's: This poster leaves loads of enigma's for the audience just form the two characters they want to know who the strange character is in the back in low lighting, what does he want with this female character, why is he wearing a mask. They also want to know more about the woman such as why is this man trying to get her, is she alone in the house with this person. The setting leaves some enigma's as well because it is just a normal house is this where the main action happens in this room or is this just where you see the characters and then the story happens somewhere else maybe in the house or outside. The poster for me reveals hardly any information other than the two characters that you can't really tell much about other than the man in the mask is stalking her.