G321 Thriller Poster Analysis

G321Donnie Darko Poster Analysis

One of the most often-discussed psychological thriller movies is Donnie Darko. The movies advertising campaign was very clever and conformed to its genre as well as challenging it at the same time.

The first image that draws you attention is the image of a rather sinister looking rabbit, which would conform to a psychological thriller, as it is a reference to a mental issue through contact with a non-being and the blue representing the outer terrestrial, however I will go into more detail about this later. However never to my knowledge before has an animal represent this. The image also contains pictures of the cast through a fragmented effect, hinting strongly at the psychological genre. The image isn’t really conveying much in terms of story line and so therefore it leaves us with a feeling of mystery, which through human interest intrigues us as an audience, this effect of less is more is often used in thriller advertising campaigns as it captivates the audience.

The second thing that captivates you is the blue makes the rabbit bold and stand out which can often be seen as it stands out from the black background often used as the backdrop in thrillers, as you can see on the left for the poster of The Number 23. The image mainly consists of blue, grey and black tones which links to a sci-fi genre that is often used to echo space and these conform to other psychological thrillers such as A Clockwork Orange, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Second, etc.  

Often in Thriller movie posters you will find a tagline (For example in The Grey they used the tagline of ‘Live or die on this day’ and these are effective as they use something for you to remember it by and almost begins to convince you to see it, however this poster has not used it, this joins hand in hand with what I had said previously about the poster not giving much away about the movie. I believe this is so that the audience goes into the movie open minded without much to expect and if you’ve seen the movie then you would know because I see it almost alike literature as there are many interpretations on the movie so if they don’t give you anything to begin with then you will interpret the movie yourself.

The typography of the poster is typical of thriller movies (You can see similar font in the reflections poster on the right) and is centralised to the poster and can tries to focus the reader to the centre. The title reads Darko, which is ironic as from the title you can see the light is trying to burst through the title and the text. Donnie Darko is a very mysterious name and only really allows the audience to learn of the protagonist in the movie and the name has connotations to darkness and mystery that is again reflecting the movies genre.

In this poster we can see that there isn’t any specific locations except for we can just about see the American flag flying in the background however much other than this the viewer can’t pull out. I feel that once again they have purposefully left this out as they have the settings because alike the tag line that they left out they have done the same here too, creating a sense of mystery and Donnie Darko is hiding something.

G321 We Need to Talk About Kevin Poster Analysis

We need to talk about Kevin is another fantastic Psychological Thriller using fantastic cinematography throughout the length of the movie. I am going to analyse their advertising campaign but in particular how they have made their use of a poster effective and what it portrays about the movie.

To begin with, the poster is two tones and the colour is tinted blue, which is often used to display times of calmness. However in this poster it challenges this stereotype by showing the protagonist and his dominance as a male character throughout the movie by purposefully not using normal skin tones as it highlights the darkness within him and again reiterates his dominance. The tones make for a very visually balanced photograph and pleasing to the eye. The blue is again challenging the often-used colour of red to portray and represent demonic or evil character, which they are attempting to portray here, which he later becomes.

The use of white within the poster is used however used in a sense or irony, as often the colour white would be associated with innocence and purity, yet is evident that the play on words of the tag line ‘Mummy’s little monster’ that he is not pure and innocent, he is the complete opposite showing corruption and the inevitable harm to others. The white challenges thriller conventions as often thrillers are straight out and use colour such as red and black portraying evil and not often would they use irony through the use of colours, however in this poster it is very effective.

The positioning of the camera angle is using the rule of thirds, however often in thrillers you will see the protagonist being presented front on, however in this shot we can see that the protagonist is being present to the side, hinting that he isn’t going to conform to normality, this hints at the corruptness behind the character that he is not hiding his corruption or demonic ways. The picture is a medium close up and has been used to show the facial expression on Kevin’s face, which reflects his emotions, and it adds a very effective dramatic effect to the poster. The little use of mise-en-scene adds to the drama because if it were introduced into the photograph it would be over crowded and would begin to loose it drama.

‘Mummy’s little monster…’ this is a good use of irony on the anchorage as it is often little angel instead of monster, this sheds humour on what is a very serious case and this does not conform to thriller conventions as Thrillers are generally a genre that wants to be taken seriously. The irony that is referred to again is there because this portrays an innocent little boy however from the image of the protagonist we can see that he is clearly not young and doesn’t seem to need the nurturing from his mother anymore however the ‘monster’ element is meant to be taken literally and this sets a dark humour and eerie environment for the audience to enter the film to. Often thriller movies want to create a sense of mystery or element of eeriness, which is often very effective as it is in this Poster, this conforms to the conventions however the dark humour challenges thriller conventions.

The title is written in block bold capitals and in particular the name Kevin is so much larger than the rest and of the text on the page that brings obvious attention toward the protagonist. The font they chose had makes the title look sincere and serious, the fact that the title is so much larger than the rest of the test gives the feeling that the text is almost being shouted at the reader and begins to give off a bitter theme throughout the poster however it works well as it draws attention to the picture and title which are clearly the two main things on the poster.

G321 Eden Lake Poster Analysis

This is a very good example of a very typical thriller movie poster and contains all the elements that would often be expected in them.

To begin with we can see the protagonist present, once again alike in We need to talk about Kevin they have used the rule of thirds to position the protagonist, the way she has been dressed, poisoned and posed is vital to the poster in order of making it achieve it’s impact. As I said the first thing that strikes you in the poster is the woman, she is clearly a young woman and this makes the poster effective as it is aimed at the younger generation especially those of a similar age group, this is often found in thrillers because their target audience is between 18-26 year olds and so this conforms to thriller traditions that way. She is portrayed alike many young women in the media these days, fashionable and rather well kept, this allows the audience who is likely to be watching will relate to the protagonist, this is a strong Thriller technique used in Thrillers alike this one, again conforms to traditions.

She as the main character is given a lot of light to use, this can be contrasted with the characters in the background who are just shadows, this is almost a terror tactic within the poster itself and begin the audience to pick up positive connotations about her as a character, the fact that the audience can see her face begins to show that she has nothing to hide and even down to the details and colour of her hair, it’s blonde which hints at angelic and innocent. The shot is a medium close up, helping the viewer understand her emotions and shows her body language and facial expression to the audience.

Out of all the aspects of the photo the positioning of her is really important because she is immediately pictured and the one who draws your attention, this is often the case in thriller movies as it is effective in outlining a partial story line and introducing main characters. Their use of light is extremely tactical as naturally our eyes follow the flow of light therefore we follow the light on it’s path from the top of her flowing down to the EDEN LAKE title.

We see the contrast between the female and male figures in the movie, their use of stereotypes in this movie isn’t just restricted to this particular movie, in fact it is often shown throughout the thriller genre and is one of their most often used conventions. In the background you can see the shadows of the male antagonists, the angle is positioning them on a low angle, which shows their dominance and power along with other aspects. Light is also used here for the audience to distinguish the good against the ‘evil’ in the movie. Often in Thriller movies you will find that the women are often the innocent character and males are portrayed as evil and so therefore it conforms to thriller traditions.

The setting and location of the poster is clearly in the woods, which is used in a lot of thrillers such as Blair Witch Project, Cabin the Woods (Pictured) and The Tripper. The setting is important as we can see in this poster because it gives the audience a brief setting idea and gives hints to what could happen in this particular area. In a wood or forest the characters are particularly vulnerable giving away the feeling of entrapment, we can see the protagonists sense of endangerment. We can see she is hiding from the four silhouettes; these are merely a mystery to the viewer and an enigma to the audience. The use of black presents the presence of evil within them, and this gives the audience the feeling that they are the antagonists, this is a very good example how thriller movies use lighting, camera angles and scenery to present a clear antagonist to the audience and allow them to distinguish the two, this conforms to thriller traditions. However there is light coming from the trees, this connotes the feeling of hope. The length at which they are positioned away from the shot works because the forest is imposing around them, and the black that makes them seems to make it so that they are one with the forest, use of the black works well therefore.

We can see a few of the characters wearing hoodies, automatically many would associate the type of clothing along with youth, in this poster they are presented very negatively, they begin to fall into the category of ‘thugs’ and the poster doesn’t help challenge this stereotype, however no other thriller movie to my knowledge has based their antagonists on younger groups except from ‘Harry Brown’, this therefore challenges typical thriller movie conventions.

The title of the movie is very bold in the poster; the text is debatably one of the most important items to be shown on it. The text in many thriller movies is very bold and loud, often in capital letters (Example being Unrest, see image) and this is often a very successful tactic as it grabs more attention and could be seen as it is being screamed at you. The colour red within the title connotes feelings of anger, rage, violence and most notably, Danger as well as looking intimidating and scary. The font is tattered and untidy making the title look dirty and unclean. The patches of red make it look like blood and splatters, which is an effective technique and again gives an insight into what the movie will entail.

The tagline is very small however is still fairly dominant which the use of white as it sticks up from the black background, using very successful contrast on the white against black. The white shows the innocence they intended to go for however the white then leads onto the red title suggesting what they would receive instead. This shows an insight into the story line and gives a lot away, however they still keep the conundrum and effectively keep your interest through the use of light and enigma created by the advertising campaign so therefore they give a lot away if you interpret it, however upon face value there is little to be made of the story line.