MY POSTER

This is my version of 'The Birds' poster. It has been made in the style of Saul Bass with a simplistic and bold layout.

THE BIRDS (1963)

The Birds is a 1963 suspense/horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock

HORROR FILM POSTER ANALYSIS

30 DAYS OF NIGHT POSTER

This poster uses many typical Horror poster themes. It uses only two colours, which are red and black. Red and black are the most common colours used on Horror film posters and this is because of what they represent and make you initially think of when you see the colours displayed in a certain way. The colour of red is used because in horror films, there are a lot of gory scenes that commonly involve blood, something that many people are slightly put off or disturbed by. The red is used to make you think of this, and also to give you insight of what will be shown in the film. Red also is a colour to signify danger, something that every horror film plot entails. Black symbolizes a long list of things in general and especially in horror. As black is the darkest colour there is, it connotes with darkness and the unknown, which can be considered scary and unsettling. Black also symoblises death, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, hopelessness, sadness, remorse, anger, and mourning (to name a few). All of these things are very much referred to in horror films in some way or form. There will almost always be a scene where it is very dark in a horror film. The choice of colour used on a film poster is extremely important because a film poster is almost like a window/sneak peak insight

MOODBOARDS

Location

In horror film one of the main aspects that make the films scary is the location of where the film is set. To make the location scary, unusual or unknown locations are commonly used. For example the woods, an old haunted house in the middle of nowhere and abandoned buildings. This is to invoke our fear of the unknown and to create an unsettling sense of no hope or help being in such places.

Blood, Death, Gore

There are always scenes including blood, death or gore in every horror film. The whole point of horror film is the element of danger, which commonly results in some characters being killed, and others harmed (mentally, physically). This is a big reason as to why the colour red is used to commonly on horror film posters as it represents danger and blood.

The Threat

In every horror film there must be a threat of some sort. Some films such as The Ring, Hatchet and Chainsaw Massacre use monstrous threats that are of course not threats we’d face in real life, but because they have been created, there is more opportunity to create more scariness in them. Other films like The Night Listener and Silence of The Lambs use a psychological threat, which are people who are so unstable mentally to the point that they become life threatening to others. Events in these films on the other hand are much more likely to happen than monsters coming out of your closet!  The other common threat used in horror film is the paranormal. This is becoming an increasingly more common threat used in horror. I personally think this is because more and more people are becoming open to possibility of paranormal life being a reality.

HORROR FILM POSTERS

Most horror film posters have many aspects in common. For example the colours used are mostly red, black and white. This is simply because red is a colour that represents danger and evil. Black is a colour that represents fear, horror and evil.