Saw Poster

Main Character: Victim in a killing trap (Amanda Young in the reverse Bear trap)
Tagline: “HOW MUCH BLOOD WOULD YOU SHED TO STAY ALIVE?”
                “EVERY PUZZLE HAS ITS PIECE”
Colours: Black, Red and Grey

The first Saw poster uses very basic functions to conjure a terrifying fate for the victim in the reverses bear trap. The image shows a victim with a reverse bear trap attached to her face. This shows to the viewer that this film is heavily influence by traps and torture as the victim in the trap would be in fear for her life as you can see in her eyes in the poster. Showing a person with a weapon on there face that could potential kill the person by ripping the face apart  would defiantly attract an audience to see if she will make it alive. The audience that this is most likely to be aimed at is a young to middle age audience (18-35 years old), most likely a western Caucasian audience as well.  You can tell by the only person on the poster is young Caucasian women who would most likely look attractive if she did not have a bear trap clenched to her face, by infusing beauty and butchery it will result in gaining a heterosexual male audience. Seeing a victim on a horror poster alive with the potential weapon that could kill them is not often seen on horror posters, this is why I think the poster is effective as it uses minimal conventions and factors but conveys a strong image which you’re likely not to forget.

The Saw poster has two taglines to it, although film posters often just have one this makes the poster more attractive.  The first tagline for the poster is “HOW MUCH BLOOD WOULD YOU SHED TO STAY ALIVE?” and the second tagline is “EVERY PUZZLE HAS ITS PIECE”. The first tagline shows that the film maybe heavily induced with carnage, as it asks an actual life and death question. The questions could be taken from a quote from the film therefore showing that someone in the film will be put into the situation, but the question can also be seen as being asked towards the audience looking at the poster. This in result can immerse and submerge a relationship between the audience and the film or a character in the film as they would imagine what they may do in a situation similar to the character in the film. The second tagline “EVERY PUZZLE HAS ITS PIECE” shows that the film is also a thriller or at least takes thriller conventions from the genre, as the plot is loosely referred to as a game (Puzzles), which thrillers are often seen as. This could also show that the film uses thrillers factors to help make a successfully film such as suspense, tension and excitement.

The use of colours helps reinforce the posters main intention to demonstrate the twisted horror which the film is about. The colour black is used to dominate the poster. Black is associated with power, death, evil and mystery.  The colour black is a mysterious colour which is often affiliated with fear and also the unknown (for example a black hole).  Black also connected to negative connotations such as black listed, black humour or Black Death.   Black also denotes strength and authority.  As it is regarded to be formal and prestigious (Black tie, black dress and black limo all annotate formality). For this poster I believe that the colour black was used more for the uses of the association towards mystery, power and death rather then formality. Second colour which is used for this poster is the colour white; this is mainly to give a bit of balance to the poster. White is associated with light, goodness, innocence and purity. This colour is often considered to be a colour to represent perfection. This colour is mainly used for the text (excluding the title ‘SAW’).  With the large amount of black used for the poster, assigning white for the colour of text makes it clear and readable to read, and also attractive as it grabs the intentions of the viewer/passer by. Greys are used for the colour of the victim. Greys a mix between black and white, one which represents negativity the other represents positivity giving grey the 50/50 balance in between.  This shows that the victim may be innocent in the film or guilty (as black is seen as in-pure and white is seen as pure), all depending on the villains view. The colour red is used for the title to grab attention of the audience as it is the most vibrant colour out of the three colours.  Red is the colour often affiliated to both fire and blood, so it is often seen as a colour that represents war, danger, strength, love, desire and power and also courage as it used in many flags around the world. Red is seen as a very emotional colour and is a very visible colour as it is used for stop signs; stoplights and fire emergency equipment are painted red as they grab the attention of others around the colour.  Red text brings it forward to the foreground. With the title coloured in red denotes that the film is heavily involves danger and there maybe a lot of bloodshed in the film with the tagline at top asking “HOW MUCH BLOOD WOULD YOU SHED TO STAY ALIVE?” it connects to the titles main colour which is one shade of strong red.  Using theses three colours of black, white and red is often seen in the horror genre and is a popular convention for it. Although this poster uses theses colours very simply with only on shade of black, white and red to convey the image, although the character in the poster is in different shades of grey to show realistic detail of the character although taking colour away from her face makes her almost lifeless.

·         The poster evokes tension, suspension and potential death

Besides saw 6s poster the other posters in between pretty much use the exact same conventions. Saw 2,3,4 and 5 use mainly Black, white and red. The main difference is how the use these colours both differently and the same .