Film Posters – Conventions by Genres (Part 2)

Sahara



·         Main Characters (Protagonist and “sidekicks”)

·         Glowing crescent which forms an “S”

·         Many People in the background (possibly enemies and villains)

·         Tagline: “ADVENTURE HAS A NEW DESTINATION”

·         Colours: Different shades of brown and gold

·         Title: Sahara 

This Sahara poster shows conventions of an action genre.  The poster shows a full shot other three people. The shot has a male standing firm and proudly with a male and a female behind him showing that he is the team leader out of the group. The shots connotes that the film is action based as the main character is standing firmly while if you closely there are many many people behind him in still motion. This shows that they are possibly after something he has of value which shows that it is possible an action adventure film.  In part of the background you can see a crescent eclipse which forms and “S” glowing towards the ground. This is gives some indication that the solar system may play an important role to the film. The tagline “ADVENTURE HAS A NEW DESTINATION” implies that the film is clearly an adventure film, and that it is not going to be in it’s traditionally location such as films being shot in the city with big buildings and busy traffic but rather more unconventional. Different shades of brown and gold gives and impression of earth, nature and masculinity, and also evokes high feelings of prestige, wisdom and wealth.

American Beauty



·         Close up of a females stomach – intimate

·         Rose

·         “....look closer”

·         Colour: Natural Caucasian skin with a red flower

·         Title: American beauty

The American beauty poster places a rather intimate visual display, due to the raw conventions used.  The poster shows that the film is likely to be a romance film. The poster uses an extreme close up which is initialled used to show the emotion and general reaction to a shot. Within the close up shot there are two main components that clearly stand out which are the close up of a Caucasian young women with a blossoming rose lightly held down with her fingers.  The female’s skin is covering the whole of the poster as a background dominating the poster; therefore this same female will dominate the storyline of the film.  The red rose is to symbolise love and passion in the film, therefore indicating to those who will see the poster that the film is likely to be a romance film.  As she is holding the rose it is like to mean that she is heavily involved in the love story line.  “.....look closer” tagline implies that there may be something more to the story that is not advertised, therefore urging people to find out more about the film and take an interest in it.

Film Posters – Conventions by Genres (Part 1)

As a group our classroom looked at a number of different film posters and briefly analyzed in notes when conventions are used for each poster to help represent and exhibit there genre.

House of Wax

·         Lifeless Body

·         Wax dripping heavily like blood

·         Colour: Primary :Black

·         Tag Line: PREY. SLAY. DISPLAY.

·         Title : House of Wax

The posters conventions basically show that the film is a horror genre based film. The lifeless body shows symbols death, which is ties in well with horror, as a horror film would not be a horror film with our death. Also I believe the body was designed to the point where viewers may doubt if it’s a real body or just wax which may be important to the story line of the actual film. The wax dripping of the body also symbols that there will be bloodshed within the film but also that wax plays an important point with in the film. The heavy use of black which can be seen as symbolizing power, submission, death and mystery/fear. Black in media and also society is often linked to mysterious such as black holes, or submission such as western Christian priest wear to signify dedication and submission to God.  Well known horror villain Dracula is always seen where black often. The tag line connotes clearly that someone or a group of people will be preyed upon by someone/group, and then slayed easily like cattle and then likely to be displayed like trophies as the Tagline is “PREY. SLAY.DISPLY”.  The title was most likely the theme to the poster.

American Pie

·         Young people laughing and having fun

·         Boy topless

·         Image of a Apple Pie

·         Tagline: “There’s something about your first piece”

·         Colour: White and Red

·         Title:  American pie

The American pie poster shows that the film is teen comedy which may focus on friendship, relationships and sex. The poster shows a group of teens with roughly equal number of boys and girls therefore showing that a relationships maybe important as you could pair girls and boys with one boy to spare, who is likely to be the playboy/player of the group.  The male who is topless stands which shows that he may be the main protagonist as he stands out, this may also symbolises that the lack of clothing’s may mean that he has a mission to an intimate relationship. There image of the apple pie and the title refers back to a scene where the main character is caught masturbating with a pie after previously being told that “third base feels like warm pie”. The tagline “there’s something about your first piece” also is not clear if it’s talking about sex or a piece of pie pretty much like metaphorical innuendo.   The poster main colour white which is mainly used to signify purity and virginity, where as the secondary colour red signifies passion, desire and love. White denotes that the characters are likely to be virgins which are often seen as pure, especially in America. The red also denotes that some characters are desire a relationship and love.

 

Symbols and Iconography

Symbols and iconography is a very important factor to horror films as this can bring a strong sense of realism and history to a horror film.  Factors such as religion (Christianity as it is the dominate religion in the western world), blood and open body parts such as “guts”, and the colours red and black and also devil/occult factors.

Over Symbols and Iconography Used:

·         Mental Disabilities

·         Animals (Such as Rats, Cats and Snakes)

·         Mirrors

·         The supernatural and unordinary

·         Psychos and Slashers

·         Sci-Fi

Which help with the result of:

·         Isolation

·         suspense

·         anticipation

·         anxiety

Welcome - Introduction in to the Horror Genre

In Our First lesson we look at the genre of horror and how to identify this genre with conventions often used within it.  We brainstormed together as a group and found that for the location these many components will come up such as Location where you may see haunted homes which may have a history to it which may affect the storyline. Settings such as graveyards, forests and other abounded areas give the sense of mystery and absent present which can help slow the heart beat of the audience. Basements and churches also provide a richer context to the genre of films.  Lighting may often be natural highlighting factors such as shadows; direct lighting on the face of characters and also ambient light such as fires and shinning light from the moon which helps produce a realism effect.  Combing the lighting with editing of short and fast paced transitions and the anticipation and surprise factor to horror story line.  Often there are characters that stand out in horror films such as teenagers who give a innocent approach to a film. Monsters are often a popular topic in the horror genre, monsters such as vampire, werewolves and zombies. The horror genre use sound and music to their advantage in making a horror film tense, scary and heart pounding. Classical music and sounds of opera help rise suspense and anxiety. Strings screams and other sounds that could be heard as high pitch can also show that something eerie is taking place.