The Last Exorcism Part 2 Poster Analysis

The Last Exorcism Part 2 Poster Analysis

Introduction

I will be analysing the poster for "The Last Exorcism Part 2" to identify which Horror and Possession conventions it uses and which ones it breaks and try to find the meaning behind every detail of the poster.

Poster Conventions

A lot of poster conventions can be seen including the main image, the title, a tagline, institutional information and a release date for the film.  By following these conventions the audience can easily identify that this piece of media is a poster.  Not only does the poster include common features of a poster, but it also presents to us a number of colour and layout conventions as well.  Dull colours like black, grey and white are used since they are conventional of the Horror genre.  Features of the poster are displayed in a very conventional layout, with the title, institutional information and the date present at the bottom of the page, the main image filling the frame and the tagline placed at the top of the page.  By using these poster conventions it allows the audience to easily identify that it is a poster promoting a Horror film.

Main Image

At the centre of the image and the frame is the main character levitating off of the ground with her arms stretched out wide, as if she is being crucified.  This ties into one of the main Possession film conventions which is the use of religious imagery, since we associate this body position with Jesus being crucified on a cross which is one of the most well known instances and stories of the Christian faith.  Particularly western people will understand this reference since Christianity is the leading religion in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Italy.  Through this representation we can assume that the target audience for the film is a member of the western world.  The way religious imagery scares people in this poster is the fact that the demon inside of the character is making her perform this position, twisting the idea that religion is meant to be holy and free of evil.

-Setting

We are not given much information about the setting featured in the poster, however we can make assumptions based on two items within the frame.  The wooden floorboard suggests that the character is in a house or a lodge since these places tend to be the only places with floorboards.  Dust and paint on the floor connotes the idea of isolation, suggesting that the place has been abandoned since it hasn't been cleaned.  The wall behind the character is dirty and grimy, suggesting that this place wasn't looked after.  Dirt surrounding the edges of the wall represents the evil creeping in towards the character a the center of the frame.  Having the poster in black and white suggests to us that setting has some dark history surrounding it.

-Lighting

Judging from the shadow to the left of the main character, the lighting must be coming from the top right of the image, shining down onto the character in the centre of the frame.  Lights shining down from above represents heaven and holiness, suggesting a theme of religion and more specifically, Christianity.  Further supporting this theme is the shadow cast from the character which looks like a cross, a major Christian symbol that most western audiences will recognise. This is very conventional of a Possession film to feature religious imagery.  The character at the centre of the frame and she is well lit and easy to see, allowing us to clearly see who she is, what she is wearing and what her facial expression is.  Towards the edges of the poster the lighting becomes darker, representing evil closing in on the character.  It also directs the audience's attention to the female character since it the most well-lit feature of the poster.

-Mise-en-Scene

--Costume

White dresses are a symbol of innocence, purity and femininity; however the female shown in the poster suggests that these characteristics have been lost or tainted.  This is mainly due to the dirt on the dress and the style of the dress as well.  The dress is not revealing and is quite long, meaning she is not sexual-ised in any way which is a contrast to the female leads in other Horror sub-genres like Slasher.  Dirt on the dress represents the fact that her innocence and her purity has been lost or tainted because of the evil she is experiencing.  It creates a contrast to what a white dress actually symbolises, scaring the audience because their expectations are twisted and turned into evil.

A second piece of costume is used to tie into the most familiar Possession convention which is the use of religious imagery.  The character in the poster is wearing a rosary, a symbol of the Christian faith which is a popular faith in the western world, linking with the film's target audience.  This particular item suggests to us that she has not given up hope of defeating the evil fighting against her and that she can rely on her faith to be rid of the evil.

--Facial Expression / Body Language

Facial expression plays a major role in this poster, with the character looking up and screaming.  Screaming is a very conventional thing to see in a Horror text because it shows that the character is scared or is in pain, usually both.  When we see that the character is screaming, we assume that she is being scared or hurt by something that we cannot see, leading us to believe that she is possessed, letting the audience know that the poster is promoting a Possession film.  Having her eyes closed suggests that she does not want to see what the evil is doing to her or it could mean that she is closing her eyes in pain, further reinforcing the idea that she possessed.

Body language has been used very effectively to convey both genre conventions and the way the character feels.  In terms of genre conventions, we see the most common feature of a Possession film, the use of religious imagery.  We can see the character stretching her arms out, forming a position that resembles on of the most recognisable images in the Christian faith, Jesus on the cross; once again reinforcing the genre's conventions, making the film's genre easily identifiable by audiences.  Her head is bent backwards making her look up, suggesting that she is in pain or she is looking for some sort of hope.

--Colour

Only black and white are used within the poster and it used to give great impact for the audience.  The use of black and white suggests that what we are seeing in the poster has happened in the past.  This creates the fear of the unknown for the audience, since we do not know what dark secrets the past holds.  Colours become particularly grey around the character suggesting that her life, soul and innocence has been taken away from her and now she is just a lifeless shell to house the evil inside of her.

--Positioning

The character is placed in the centre of the frame to draw the audience's attention towards her. However she is raised slightly off of the ground, showing the audience that she is levitating, a common convention of the Horror genre, and a typical behaviour of a possessed human. Through this use of positioning the audience can easily identify that this trailer is promoting a Possession film.

Title

"The Last Exorcism Part 2" 

Tagline

"God asks. The Devil commands." clearly showcases conventions of the Possession sub-genre of Horror by tying in with religious beliefs.  This tagline suggests to the audience that the Devil is more forceful and powerful than God, making the audience fear for what the Devil will do next.  It also links in with the main image, telling us that it is the Devil that is controlling the main character.

Other Text

Other Colour

Conclusion

The Possession Poster Analysis

The Possession Poster Analysis

Introduction
I will be analysing the poster for The Possession to uncover the true meaning behind the poster, why the creators chose certain elements and to learn from the poster so I can use that knowledge for my own poster.  The Possession is a film within the Possession genre of Horror and is very interesting to analyse.  My possible narratives and have been greatly influenced by the film so I believe that analysing this poster will allow me to learn a great deal into making a poster for a Possession film.

Poster Conventions

The poster fulfils the general and layout conventions of a typical film poster but doesn't break any conventions.  This is an image showing a typical film poster layout:

The main image fills the frame, attracting the audience's attention towards the centre of the poster.  I would say that the poster does a very good job at drawing in the audience's attention through the main image, since it is a very effective and memorable image, making the audience more likely to see the film.  The title of the film, The Possession, is placed at the bottom of the poster in the centre of the frame.  It is positioned like this because it will be the last thing that the audience will see, making them more likely to remember it.  The tagline, "Darkness lives inside", is placed just underneath the title and this is done to ensure that the audience will see it and remember it.  Institutional information is placed right at the bottom of the frame so the viewer does not have to look at it.  There is one thing that is placed on the top of the poster and that is the phrase "Based on a true story".  It is placed there because it will be the first thing that the person will see, meaning that they will remember it for longer.

Main Image

The main image shows a young girl in a white gown with a hand coming out of her mouth and covering her face.  She is bent backwards, facing upwards as this hand is coming out of her. This tells us that she is possessed by an evil spirit and is taking over her by force.  She cannot fight back and must endure what the evil being is doing to her.

-Setting

There are two things in the main image that tell us something about the setting of the film.  The first is the background, a wall behind the girl that looks old, cracked and dirty.  This can lead us to believe that the film takes place in an isolated location, since the wall gives the impression that no one is there to look after it.  Two of the most likely places for the setting to be are either a prison or a mental institute.  These two settings scare us since they are associated with having dark histories, evil things that happen in these areas that no one speaks of.  It creates a mystery that the audience try desperately to solve, allowing their minds to wonder and think of terrible things that might have happened there thus making the setting even more scary.  The idea also links into society's greatest fear, the fear of the unknown.

The second feature of the main image that tells us about the setting is the costume that the girl is wearing.  While it only seems like a white gown, we only see the costume up until her shoulders so we do not see the rest of the costume.  We can interpret the costume as a straight jacket then since we do not know what else the costume could be, further linking the setting and connoting the idea that The Possession is set within a mental institute.  Another interpretation that supports the idea of the girl wearing a straight jacket is the hand coming out her mouth. Her hands are locked into the straight jacket, not being able to move them, so the hand tries to break free from anywhere it can, and in this case that place is her mouth.

This setting is very conventional for the Possession sub genre and helps to fulfil horror conventions since audiences are scared of settings that they believe have a dark history.

-Lighting

The light is coming from the top right corner and shining down onto the girl.  Since the lighting is this way it gives off two major effects and meanings that the audience can identify.  The first is that the bright light is shining above the girl, representing heaven, is her way of defeating the evil inside of her.  She is looking up into heaven to find a way to stop it.  It shows the fight between good and evil and further promotes religious imagery in the Possession genre.

The second major effect and meaning is the darkness surrounding the bottom left corner of the image.  The darkness spreads from the bottom to the back of her head and this could represent the evil making its way through her body and that it is taking control over her.  It also connotes the evil that is fighting against the good, and the darkness fighting against the light, further supporting the religious imagery being used in the Possession genre.  The darkness can also link into the fear of the unknown since we cannot see what is hiding beneath the shadows and we also do not know what the evil being inside of her looks like.

These effects create fear amongst the audience and make the mood of the image more bleak, scary and frightening.

-Mise - en - Scene

--Costume

In the poster we see the girl wearing some sort of white gown.  Since it is a close up shot, we cannot see what the white gown really is.  There are a few theories to deduce what the costume is.  One is that it is a straight jacket and that she is in a mental institute.

No matter what the costume is, we can gather meaning from the colour of it.  The white gown represents the innocence that the girl has and that she was once pure before she became possessed.  The lighting darkens the look of the gown and this could represent the fact that her innocence and purity has been tainted by the evil being inside of her.

--Props

The hand rising from the girl's mouth is grey, old and rotting (notice the dent where its thumb meets the hand).  This connotes the idea that the hand is part of a dead person. The nails and the hand itself is dirty, meaning that maybe that the body that the hand is part of was buried into the dirt.  We can interpret the hand as the personification for death itself, hinting that the girl is about to be killed and that death is taking over her life.  Another thing that reinforces this interpretation of the hand is that the fingers are pressing against her skull, meaning that the evil being is trying to take away everything from the girl, merely making her a shell for the evil to live in.

--Facial Expression / Body Language

The hand covers the girls face so we cannot see her facial expression, however if we imagine that the hand isn't there, she may look like she is screaming or crying for help.

Her body language shows that she is unable to help and defend herself, since her neck is bent backwards and she is facing the top of the poster.  She is looking for a way to break free from the thing inside of her.  It shows that she is desperate and makes the audience care for the girl, making them more scared to find out what is inside of her, making her into this unusual body position.

--Colour

The colours in the main image are white, black and grey.  These colours are seen as depressing, bleak and scary and this reflects the image as a whole.  Black represents the darkness and the evil inside of her that is taking control over her body.  The white background and the white gown represents the contrast between darkness and light, and good against evil. It tells us about the girl's innocence and purity, making us relate to the character more and emotionally connecting us to the film.  The grey colour of the hand represents the mix between black and white, telling us that while the girl was innocent, that is no longer the case.

--Positioning

The girl and the hand are positioned at the centre of the poster, focusing our attention to the main image, drawing in the audience and make them want to see the film even more.  The hand being placed above the girl shows that the evil has dominance over her and that it controls her, making us more scared about the demon that is possessing the girl.

Title

The title of the film, "The Possession", clearly tells us that the film is about someone being possessed.  Using the word "Possession" allows us to identify what sub genre that the film falls into.

The narrative of the film is very clearly suggested through the title but doesn't reveal too much about the plot, enticing us to come and see the film.

Tagline

The tagline for the film is "Darkness Lives Inside" and this can connote a number of things. This can be interpreted into a literal meaning; that the evil inside of her lives there and that she cannot escape or break free from it.  It also can mean something else, the fact that darkness lives inside all of us and that everyone has a little bit of evil inside of them.  This can scare the audience and entice them even more to see the film.

Other Text

In the poster there are two other pieces of text that need to be discussed.  The first is the institutional information placed underneath the tagline.  It tells the audience who created the film, giving us the director's name and names of other important people who made the film.  If someone sees that the film is being directed or written by a certain person that they like, they will be more enticed to see the film.  This text is accompanied by the date in which the film is released, which can be seen in red.

Another piece of text is the phrase at the top of the poster: "Based on a true story" and this entices the audience even more, making them believe that the events in the film could happen in real life, scaring them even more.

Other Colour

Four colours are seen in this poster, white, black, grey and red.  Red is a typical colour that is seen in the Horror genre and that is because it represents some Horror iconography, blood.  It is also a colour that attracts attention, making the audience look at the important information that is coloured red.

White is used to represent the innocence and the purity that the girl has in the main image.  It is also used for the text at the bottom of the screen where the lighting gets darker and this shows the contrast between light and dark.  The audience can also see the text clearly because it is coloured white.

Black is used represent the darkness and the evil that is being portrayed on screen.  The phrase "Based on a true story" is written in black and is placed above the girl in the main image, connoting the idea that the evil is always on top of her and is in control over her.

Grey represent the mix between good and evil, the fact that the girl has lost who she really is and is just a shell for the evil to live inside of her.

Conclusion

Overall the poster follows many Horror and Possession conventions that effective entice the audience to see the film.  It uses many techniques to ensure that a deeper meaning is established to give us insight into what the film is about and what it is trying to teach us.  It is a very typical Possession Horror film poster and allows us to easily identify what genre is falls into through the use of codes and conventions of not just Horror films, but poster conventions as well.

Insidious Poster Analysis

Insidious Poster Analysis

Introduction

I will be analysing the poster for Insidious to gain some insight into what codes and conventions of both the Horror genre and the Possession sub-genre are used in a multitude of features found on a poster.

Poster Conventions

The poster uses many different conventions of posters, from layout to colours and to text. The layout of the poster is typical of many posters since it features the main image filling the frame while having the title placed near the bottom of the page.  Beneath the title is the tagline and then the institutional information.  One unconventional use is placing the actor's names below the tagline since it is normally placed at the top of the page.

The main image is very conventional of posters since it fills the frame while also making the character give direct address.  Giving direct address makes the audience feel like the poster is being directed towards them, leading them to pay more attention towards it.

Main Image

The main image is the most important part of the poster since it helps to create the overall look, style, mood and feel for the design; allowing the audience to identify what type of genre the film promoted is in while also enticing them to see the film.

-Setting

Setting is hinted to us through the background of the main image.  We see a large modern house behind the main character, telling us that the character lives there.  Since we only see this one house, we can determine that the film is set in an isolated location which is typical of the Horror genre.  The reason isolated locations are used is because it means that the characters cannot get any outside help from the evil that is haunting them.

Blue is used around the edges of windows to give the house a more chilling, cold and scary feel.  The colour blue represents isolation and loneliness as well, further linking with the isolated location that the film is set.  The sky that surrounds the house is a dull blue colour, further promoting the idea of isolation and loneliness.  It also represents the characters mood, telling us that the boy feels isolated and lonely which does explain his blank facial expression.

We see hedges and trees around the house which are associated with forests, another typical isolated location.  However the idea of an isolated location is broken since there is a pavement near to the bottom of the main image, suggesting that the house we see is on a street somewhere surrounded by other houses since there is no other reason for a pavement to be there.

The style of the house, from is architecture to the colours hints that the film is set in a sub-urban town in North America.  This is help by the way the character looks, since he also looks North American through the shirt he is wearing and his skin tone.

-Lighting

Lighting is used to great effect within the main image to represent a number of things.  First of all it tells us that at least some sections of the film are set during the dark hours of the day, perhaps the scary moments in which we see some possessions.  Having dark lighting represents the evil that is featured within the film, almost as if the evil is taking over the town, the house and the boy.  This idea is further promoted by having the darkest sections at the corners of the page, suggesting that the evil is creeping in and ready to take over the boy.  Light seems to be coming from the above due to the shine on top of the boy's hair, representing the good fighting against the evil and that good is winning or will win.  Light coming from above also represents heaven in the Christian faith, suggesting that some Christian religious imagery will be used in the film, complying with even more conventions of the Possession sub-genre.

-Mise en Scene

--Costume

Costume is used to represent where the boy lives.  His shirt is designed in a way to look North American, with the red fill and the black lines.  This shirt has a very typical design that is stereo-typically seen on North Americans.  The boy's collar is bent over and the top button is unbuttoned, suggesting that he uses the shirt for casual wear for when he is in the house.  The shirt also looks like it is part of his pajamas, showing that he feels safe in his home.

--Facial Expression/Body Language

Standing upright, with a blank but slightly scared looking facial expression, the boy looks innocent, weak and scared.  He is giving direct address by looking directly at the camera, connoting the idea that he is scared of the audience or something directly in front of him.

In the boy's eyes there are, what seems to be, scratches in the shape of some unknown demonic code.  Tying into the fear of the unknown, it makes the audience scared since they don't know the reason for why the scratches are there and what they mean.

--Colour

The colours mainly used in the poster are white, red and a dull blue.  Colours represent many things and can give us hints about the location and the feelings that the characters are experiencing.  Setting his hinted to us through the use of red, white and blue, the colours of the American flag.  This idea is supported through the character's costume. Red is often associated with danger, anger and blood, linking in with Horror iconography. White is also used and connotes purity and innocence.   Dull blue can be seen in the background, surrounding the house and the sky above it.  Depression, sadness and lifelessness are all associated with a dull blue, giving a chilling feel to anything that is coloured with it.  The colour surrounds the house to represent that the house or something inside it is giving off these emotions to the characters and the audience.

--Positioning

Positioning and layout is very important in terms of posters because it can make the creation look more professional and easy to read.  "Insidious" follows many positioning conventions to create an effective poster that clearly displays important information for the audience.  Having the boy centre frame allows the audience to clearly see him, making him stand out.  The house is placed directly behind him, suggesting to us that the boy lives there.

Title

The title is placed in a very conventional location for Horror posters since it is placed near the bottom.  This is done to allow the audience to clearly see the main image while also clearly seeing the title.  "Insidious" means "proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects" according to Oxford Dictionaries. Negative connotations surrounding this word grants the audience insight into what the film is about and what genre it represents.  It could mean that the evil being featured in the film is being insidious or it could even be the boy who is seen in the poster, suggesting to the audience that the boy is the evil being.

Tagline

"It's not the house that's haunted" is the tagline for the film and is placed just underneath the title. This allows the audience to read both the title and the tagline in quick succession.  Since the tagline is short, it increases the chance that the audience will remember it.  It also ties into Horror conventions because many people believe that houses can be haunted, however "Insidious" breaks this convention by drawing attention to the boy who is possessed.

Other Text

Institutional information and the date are placed at the very bottom of the page because it is the last thing that the audience will read.  In this case the date is placed at the bottom-centre of the institutional information with a larger font, making it stand out.  Having this contrast in size draw the audience's attention even more, giving them that very important information for when the film will be released.  The main actor's names are placed below the tagline and this draws in more of the audience because if they like a certain actor, they will be more inclined to see the film. Another conventional piece of text is "From the makers of 'Paranormal Activity' and 'Saw'" and this is stated because if someone likes one of these films, they will be more inclined to watch "Insidious".

Other Colour

The title is interesting in terms of colour since it is coloured White, with two of the letters (S and I) coloured in red.  This connotes the idea that evil and danger is within the purity of the boy featured on the poster, suggesting that while he looks innocent on the outside, he is actually evil and dangerous on the inside.  White is also used to contrast against the main image, allowing us the clearly see the information on the poster.

Conclusion

Overall the poster for "Insidious" is very effective in drawing in the audience, giving them key information about the film but also entices them to see the full film.  Key conventions are used and some are broken (such as the tagline) to create a very powerful poster that persuades the audience to see the whole movie.