Tuesday 18 October 2011

Textual Analysis Of A Horror Film Poster



The Final Destination is the fourth and so far final instalment of the Final Destination series.

The poster is of a close up a white female. There is low key lighting. The low key lighting gives us a sense of mystery and creates an eerie effect to the poster. The low key lighting makes her eyes blacked out. The black background connotes death and an evil presence.

Her mouth area has a super imposed image of a skull instead of a normal mouth. This combined with the black out of her eyes makes her face appear to be like a skull. This image denotes a skull. The connotation of the image is death.

Her Non-verbal communication shows us that she is screaming. The screaming connotes that she is in agony or is in fear over something. Her raised eye brows also supports this idea.

Her setting is not clear but around her face appears to be broken glass. The broken glass could connote that it may be an accessory to her death. The broken glass, in an extreme case, could be the result of her high frequency scream which is expressed in her Non-verbal communication.

The text which says 'Rest In Pieces' supports the broken glass as it is broken in pieces. It is a play on the common phrase 'Rest In Peace' which is a word used to pay respect to the deceased. It may also imply that characters in the film may suffer a brutal death where the victims body is mutilated.

The white colour of the title, which reads 'The Final Destination in 3-D', may have been used to contrast the dark background. It may also connote zero visibility which may represent the presence of an unseen super natural force which is often the reason of the deaths in the Final Destination series.

At the very bottom of the poster is a text which reads the month 'August' which is the month of release. The text is in red which may be to stand out on the poster to catch the viewers attention. It may also connote danger or warning. It may also connote an impending battle with premature death which is a theme of the movie.

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