Research: More Horror Film Poster; Scream 4

Scream 4 film poster analysis

The poster is very dark, predominantly black which connotes conventions of the horror genre such as night, dark shadows and ‘the unknown’.
The white writing in the title really stands out against the dark background attracting attention and fixing it in the audience’s minds.
The red of the 4, the release date and the tag line connects them together, showing that this is a new film in the scream franchise. Red is a very typical colour of horror posters and associates strongly with horror as a genre, as it connotes danger and blood.
The main image on the poster is simple but easily associates with the franchise as it sources off the 2 main themes of the previous scream films. The mask of ‘ghost face’ is the trade mark of the film. When you look at the ghost face mask you immediately think of scream the film.
Having this on the poster makes sure the audiences associated this poster with the scream films. In this way it appeals to the existing scream fans.
The bottom of the mask has been edited to resemble a knife, the signature way in which all the victims are killed with a knife is therefore referred to reminding the audience that these are well established films.
The simplicity; lack of image and information on the poster shows that the films are so well known and have big enough fan bases to be able to keep the poster so simple that nothing is given away.
The tag line suggests that this scream film defies the rules of the previous ones. This is important because a lot of horror film franchises are very samey, so by letting the audience know that this film is different, it is made clear that it’s not ‘just another scream film’.
The intended audience is clearly the existing scream fan base and those who have seen the other films before.
The persuasive techniques used; tempting the audience into going and seeing the new scream film, finding how it differs from the others in the franchise.
The genre conventions such as sharp knives, concealed identity of the killer and colour red.
No characters are featured showing that the film is established well enough so famous actors are not needed to draw interest to the film.
Attention is gained by the familiar face of the mask. The production company is only featured very small and at the bottom of the poster showing it is not a major selling point of the film.