Poster codes and conventions by 08.delame on emaze

Psychological/Paranormal thriller

Poster codes and conventions

Colours

There are lots of dark colours used in psychological thriller posters. They are mainly using a dark colour pallet with greys and blacks or browns to blacks.

Brighter colours like white and red are often used to create interest in the poster and make certain features like the name of the film stand out.

Low-key lighting is often used on the main subjects to create shadow and therefore mystery. The low-key light also helps to create an unsettling atmosphere; building tension.

Layout

Most of the posters I have seen in this genre have one main image and the title and credits underneath. This makes the title stand out compared to the picture which is helped by the title usually being in a different colour.

The image is usually of the main characters in the film.

The image has a variety of placements mainly the centre of the poster or the right third.

Some of the posters also have reviews. on the Black Swan poster these are to either side of her face.

There are taglines on many of the posters which again hints more to what the film is about and the story line. These are short and mysterious and therefore memorable. In Shutter Island and A tale of two sisters they are over the main characters.

Stars names are often featured to help draw in the audience. These can be both directors and actors names. These can usually be located by their picture on the poster which if they are the main character means that they are positioned above the title.

The release date and rating are on the poster usually. If there is no release date then 'Coming Soon' is written on instead. All of this is usually displayed under the credits or at the bottom of the page.

Imagery

The preferred reading of a psychological movie poster would be one of unsettled and unnerved due to the imagery of the protagonist. The imagery is usually designed to show their mental issues.

Another reading might be that the audience believes that the character depicted is in serious danger. This is defined thorough the facial expressions and colours which portray whether the character is good or bad.

From what I have seen there is often very little content within a psychological thriller poster as the genre often revolves around enigma. The psychological aspect within a thriller is the focal point so close-ups of the main character are used and they usually have a stripe of colour over their face. (when the character is an adult.)

If there are children involved there is often a long full body shot of the child on it's own. This is presented as creepy as you nearly always see children with friends or family so if the child is alone something is wrong.

As well as these other posters a theme in this genre seems to be to have a grainy poster. This means taking a photograph but making it more grainy so it doesn't look as realistic anymore and in the case of the Pulp Fiction poster giving it an old comic book feel.

Imagery

These film posters contain both stills from the film or character shots but they also contain some type of iconography to reveal the film’s genre and something about the film. These iconography pictures don't reveal too much about the film and are often used as teaser posters or special editions. The images on posters show some of the narrative of the film, so they have to be clear. These are two different posters for two different films. On the Right is the official UK poster and teaser poster for the film The Machinist. the teaser poster is on the far right with the post it note. There is no official information, actors or director information on there but it still sparks an interest. The poster with the character on it was released after. The teaser poster on the left only has the film’s title and a post it note of a game of hangman. This is showing a few letters but is not complete leaving the audience wondering. Under this post-it are words which end in the letters the hangman does: Mother, Killer, Murder and Miller. It is assumed that theses are all relevant to the film.The other poster on the right has the main character from the film, with bruises on his face.

These posters are both for Black Swan. The one on the far left is the official poster featuring Natalie Portman and the iconography poster is a drawing special edition poster. These posters are both alike but have different styles. A theme common in both of them is the feathers or wings over the eyes implying mystery and disguise. The iconography poster has more colour in it as it has the brighter red of the swan 'crown'. Still both sets of eyes are red. The iconography poster is something for fans to keep but in some ways it could of still been used as a teaser poster despite using the star names as it doesn't reveal the black swan look.

Font

In this genre the title of the movie is usually written in red or white to help it stand out on the page.

The text can have bold letters in it shown on the Shutter Island poster. Or there can be a mix in-between the two as in The Box or secret window. This then highlights the key words in the text for the audience and gives them the focal point of the movie. What's in the box? What's through the window?

Some of the text is clean cut where as some of the text is distorted or again some of both in Secret window. if the text is distorted it is hinting at the mental condition of the person shown in the poster and the smoother letters are easy to read and stand out.

Pretty much all of the titles are written in capital letter which makes them stand out from the other bits of text on the poster and makes them easier to read from afar.

Theory

Roland Barthes: The Action/Proairetic Code is the idea that little actions or imagery (that do not particularly raise questions,) creates tension and suspense for audience as they have to guess what happens next. This can be used particularly well in psychological thriller posters, as the creator can hide little clues and features in parts of the poster which could have an impact on the film.

The Enigma Code pushes audiences to ask questions about the film’s plot leading them to want to find out more about the movie, which can be done from seeing sneak peeks of a film in film posters.

The Semantic Code and Symbolic Code look at symbols, connotations and meanings of symbols in a poster. Usually everything in a poster is put there for a reason so it is questioning what could they imply?

Barthes Hermeneutic Code is when a text is not being fully explained. Audiences want to find out what happens as everything is kept a mystery until you see the film. This applies to film posters in the way that looking at the poster audiences do not have the whole story, therefore they are curious to findout more.

Theory

Barthes theory and Psychological thriller posters

Action/Proairetic Code: The feathers do not straight away raise questions; however, they could be linked to the narrative of the swan.

Enigma Code :The crack in the woman’s face makes audiences want to ask questions about the film’s plot and how the crack got there. The feathers also raise a question as they aren't black as the title implies.

Semantic Code and Symbolic Code: The whole poster could be said to be symbolic as everything is representing something from the movie.

Hermeneutic Code: The crack in the Portman's face doesn’t make sense to the audience at the moment, so it is a mystery. the audience can also be wondering where the title 'Black Swan' comes into play.

What I want to do.

Looking at all these different posters the imagery idea I like at the moment is like the Hard Candy and Dark Skies posters. I like the connotations and effects of showing the child alone with the title and credits underneath. However instead of putting a review on the top of the poster I would like to put a tag line at the top.

I would use the colours like the Secret Window poster. I would use sepia tones and depending on what my survey shows red highlights.