Researching Horror Posters

As part of our production work, we have been asked to produce a horror poster to help sell the movie. This works alongside the trailer that we've been working towards. Researching about horror posters will give me a better idea on how to compose my own horror poster.

In this poster, it is evident that the poster is dominated by the black colour. This suggests an empty space, which leads onto the suggestion of mystery. Also, black connotes darkness, which is heavily relevant to horror. Also, the main focal point of this poster is the shocked look from the woman in the middle. Her facial expression suggests that there is a sense of danger and being alert, which foreshadows that something bad is going to happen. Also, the brightness and enlargement of the eyes implies that she is aware of what may happen. Also, with the black colour surrounding her, it implies isolation, since not much of her face is exposed on the poster. The grunge style effect that is added onto her face suggests distortion and instability. They have also used simple text, which just like logos, is easy to digest for the viewer. The title uses a sans serif font. Using a sans serif font challenges the stereotype of horror movies, since the font is usually meant to suggest high class, organisation, and superiority. However, it is quite the opposite, since they have used red to highlight danger and blood. It can also be argued that this text has been used to suggest that the killer is sophisticated, and the killer may be organised in the sense that they already have premeditated who their victims may possibly be. Also, they have switched the "R" in "Mirror", to suggest that the title is abnormal. This helps emphasise the horror genre, as being abnormal is related to horror events (with events being unexpected). Also, the use of white text not only is useful as it contrasts with the black background (making it easier to read), but it could also be suggestive of binary opposition (in respect to what white connotes e.g.. light vs dark, pure vs dark). They have also included the names of producers and when it's released at the bottom of the poster, which is a generic convention of horror posters.

Colour in this poster have been used well. Again, white and black have been used to effectively contrast, but with the main focal point being in shades of brown to suggest dirt, there is one bright shade of red which stands out from the rest. Essentially, this is like breaking the monotonous colours used, which does heavily suggest danger. Moreover, the isolation with the black background have been used again. Also, simple text has been used, most likely for the same reasons as the posters before. Conventions of horror posters have also been used, with producers being named in the poster, and the title of the poster being on the bottom. The focal point, the female in the middle, has their head lowered and the hair draped over some of their face, which suggests that she's trying to hide their identity. This further implies that maybe she's a secretive and discrete killer, which suggests that the film may involve unexpected attacks, and possible scenes of false sense of security to scare the viewer. With the black background fading into the face, it shows that maybe the main focal point is welcoming the darkness, and she does not seem alarmed. This suggests that she may be the antagonist. Finally, the title "Lovely Molly" is ironic. This is because instead of love, horror films usually promote the complete opposite, such as destruction and death.

I have also annotated these two posters to give myself an idea of how the structure of these posters should be planned out.