Textual Analysis - Poster - Beverley

Film title: Mirros
Year of release: 2008
Director: Alexandre Aja
Producers: Alexandre Aja and Gregory LevasseurActors: Kiefer Sutherland and Paula Patton

The use of this poster is to promote the horror film mirrors which states will be coming out in cinemas on the 15th August. There is low key lightning is this poster since the background is very dark and there is little lightning throughout the poster which follows the horror convention. From the non verbal communication we can see that the main image is of a woman. We can see this through her hair and facial features. We can see that she is very distressed since her eyes have widened and eye balls are white on top of that she has very big eyes. There are bags under her eyes and her month is opened wide. This shows the audience that something bad is about to happen to her and she is very scared or that something bad has just happened to her, and from this we can tell that mirrors is a horror film.

There is a little bit of light around the characters face. The light makes certain parts of her face look very fate this is around her cheeks, forehead and eyes.

The setting however is not clear to us since her face takes up most of the image all we are able to see is darkness within the background which could suggest that she is in a dark room somewhere. Because her face takes up most of the image there are no props shown to the audience and we can not see any costume in which the character may be wearing.

The main image is a close up shot. The image is also Symmetrical this shows the relationship between the main image and the title of the film which is mirrors which also helps understand the context. The connotation of this would be that in a mirror you can see you reflection if you look into a mirror you are guaranteed to see your face. Your face is symmetrical.

The colours used in the poster are white, red and black. The White used makes the font stands out clearly on the black dark background. Red is used to represent danger and fear which is also reflected since mirrors is a horror movie meaning the audience are likely to sense some fear or danger during aspects of the film. The black makes everything seem dark and dull which may also add to the fear and tension in which the film mirrors may have.

This additional information is necessary since it may attract more audience because the hills have eyes was rated a good film. This is a good way of promoting since form the poster the audience is aware the director who directed ‘the hills have eyes’ also directed mirrors meaning the quality would be around the same. Meaning people would be sure to enjoy mirrors and rate it as a good film just like the hills have eyes.

The text used is very simple. All the text is in caps lock making it stand out more. The font throughout the poster is constant. It doesn’t really change apart from the title mirrors was bigger compared to the other text and was in red whereas the rest of the text on the poster was in white.

The mirrors was directed by Alexandre Aja and produced by both Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur. The filing for mirrors started in May 2007 and came out in America on the 15th August 2008 and 10th October 2008 in the United Kingdom. The mirrors was a very successful film since it was able to make up to $30 million in America alone.

The purpose of a film, poster is to advertise a film. The film poster will normally come out before the film and is apart of the advertising package as well as other forms of advertising which include trailers and teaser trailers. From a film poster very little is told so it is hard to know what the film may be about.