Poster AnalysisThe Last Exorcism

Image

Film title

Date line

Tag line

Distribution logos Website name

Film rating

Director and writers names

Colour scheme- The colours used in this poster are dark, dull and gloomy which represents the film very well. It is kept to a minimum of black and grey. These colours give it its spooky image as this a horror film. It also uses a shadow effect to depict the genre of the film. There is slight bit of red font which works well as red is usually associated with horror and blood. The wall is in a very dull pastel blue colour, this give the image that chill feeling that audiences experience in horror movies. The colour scheme depicts that the film is based in the past

Image- By looking at this image I can straight away tell that this is a horror movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole film. The image is of a girl who is predictably the main character. Her white dress can symbolizes people that are in mental institutions as their uniform is mainly white gowns. Her arms and legs are stretched out on both walls making her posture look abnormal and frightening. Her hair is rough and over her face which can show that she is possessed by something evil. Her face is not clear and looks dark making her appearance creep us out. She is up on the ceiling making the viewer think how is she up there? This picture questions the reader and to me I thought a devil was controlling her movements which I pictured from the tagline. She is the only character on the poster making the viewer remember who she is when watching the film. It also makes the viewer have a fixed view on just the main character as the background is all plain giving a chilling atmosphere.

Tag line- This reads ‘if you believe in God you must believe in the devil’. This is written in black and approximately size 12, the font used is serif making it easier to read. Also this font works well as it is a scary film that is partly about religion and the bible usually writes in a serif font. This font also gives a spooky feel to it. I believe works well as serif font is usually large text and most of the text is medium to large. The tag line stands out as it is on a white/grey background which makes it contrast as the text is in black. It is more appealing to the eye as it is positioned in two lines. The sentence is short and catchy and also gives a frightening atmosphere through the line ‘you must believe in the devil.’ the devil is something associated with fire, hell, evil spirit, possessed and is foreboding so we get a sense of horror through the poster as well. Through the short description we find out that the image is to do something with the devil.

Film title- The title is the largest text on the poster and the word ‘exorcism’ stands out the most as it is larger then the rest of the title. The title has grunge and kind of dirty effect and this creates a haunted feel to it and goes really well with the image and horror genre. The title and the directors and writers name are the only text that have this effect. I thought this effect makes it stand out and also they didn’t use it over the top and kept it to a minimum to give a scary view. The effect can associated with blood patches as well. The poster is very plain with small text so this enables the film title to appeal and hard to miss. The text is in black giving it a bolder look and goes with the colour scheme. The title ‘The Last Exorcism’ gives us a hint on why the girl in the picture is like that as ‘exorcism’ is referred to freeing a evil spirit out so predictably the girl has a evil spirit inside her. I thought having the title in two lines worked well as there would have been a lot of empty space below the image as the main character is at the top.

Website name- This reads ‘thelastexorcism.com’ The website is a short name and works well as the viewers are more likely to remember the website as it is simple and memorable. I believe it is memorable because when seeing a film on a poster it is most likely to remember the film title and all you have to add is .com so viewers can get more details on the film. It is placed below the date line and from looking at the poster the dateline stands out as it is the second largest text on the poster. It is placed below the dateline in the centre so when looking at the date line you straight away look below and see the website name. Again the font is in serif like all the other text making it professional having it all in one font. The text size I believe is around 9 which is an estimate.

Date line- this is placed at the bottom in a large font size which I believe is around 18. it stands out the most other then the film title making it clear to the viewers when it is coming out. There is an exact date to when it is released making sure the viewer knows exactly when they can watch it. When looking at the text the first thing that was read was the film title then the date line. This is because it is larger and looks bolder to the other text (not including the film title) making it appeal to the audience and showing the importance of the dateline. Again this is in serif font and in a black font giving the text a more revealing look.

Directors and writers name- This usually goes in the billing box but this poster does not have a billing box. The names of the director and writer are larger then the text in black it is also in red adding some colour to it and isolating the names to the other text. This effect makes the names stand out as they are in different colour and larger then the black text. Also because it is in another colour and the rest of the poster is in grey/black/white are eyes go to the names of the director and writer after reading the film title. As if it was black and small we would miss it as it wouldn't stand out and appeal to us. This text also uses the grunge effect and works really well as the colour is in red giving a bloody/death atmosphere

Eye flow- This is in a C shape as you look at the girl at the top first and then read the tag line and title and from there carry your way down to the date line.

This is another poster of the same movie. It looks similar to the other poster but the image, the title layout are different, the tagline and dateline.

Image- This image is of the main character and again her hair is rough and her face isn’t clear giving the horror effect. Her pose is again abnormal and looks like she a spirit is either coming out of her or going inside of her. Her body is pointing upwards where the religious cross with Jesus is placed which maybe he is looking over her or taking the spirit out. Her white dress seems to have blood all over it creeping the viewer out and questions them why does she have blood? What’s going on?

Film title- this is similar to the other poster however the layout is different as it is all in one line and for this poster works well as the main image is placed in the middle to bottom so having it in two lines can make it look too crowded.

Tagline- this reads ‘believe in him’ which can be directly addressed to the audience making them think that girl can be them if they don’t believe in God. It is a very short sentence and gives us a fright and we also figure it is to do with religion.

Date line- in this poster the dateline says ‘coming soon’ and doesn’t stand out as much as the other date line on the poster. However it still appeals to the eye as it is still the second largest text and also as it is placed in the centre bottom which makes it more revealing.

Eye flow- the eye flow again I thought was a C shape as I look at the cross then the main image and work towards the film title and dateline.