Analysis of Horror Film Posters and Magazine Covers for my A2 Media Studies coursework.

1. Horror Film
Poster and
Magazine Covers

2. Fright Night Poster
• Conventions:
Nigh time, full moon, house alone (isolated), demonic
creature above house, single person at window, vampire
fang style font, tag line
• Typically horror films are filmed at night, makes it seem
more creepy and allows for scare factor through the fact of
not being able to see what is in the dark. Full moon allows
for the only outside light, usually this makes people crazy
(lunatics). Isolated house meaning no one can help, typical
for horror films, adds to the scare factor (no one can here
you scream). The evil is another typical convention of a
horror film, this is some sort of demonic creature, this shows
what the evil is (supernatural being), adds to the scare
factor, usually almost impossible to stop. The colour red
hasn’t been used in the poster, usually red links with death
and gore, this suggests that they may not be any bloody
scenes. The typography used conveys a horror genre
through the use of the fang style text (the ‘f’ and ‘t’ look as
thought they are fangs and the letters in between are the rest
of the teeth). The facial expression has been used because it
shows off the demon’s fangs which suggests that this horror
film involves vampires, or vampire style being. The lone
person at the window suggests that they do not know what is
going on around them and or shows that they are alone, so
nobody around to help them. This is typical for a horror film
as they are the easiest targets to kill. The tag line “there are
some very good reasons to be afraid of the dark” suggests
that the “evil” being likes the darkness and will kill you if
your there. It also says that it is not safe – this is also typical
for a horror film as this links back to what previously was
mentioned at the fact that anything could happen in the dark
because you can’t see it coming.

3. Night of the Living
Dead Poster• Conventions: Red font, zombie style typography, lone
house on a hill, zombies coming towards lone house,
light sky/dawn, dark ground, tag line
• Typically horror films are filmed at night, this film on
the other hand looks as though it also includes day time
through the use of blue and yellow sky. However this
could be either sunrise or sunset. The dark ground would
link with the typical horror convention as it would
appear that night time has been used. The red font which
has been used links with the horror genre as we associate
red with this genre (usually people die in horror films
and red links with death and blood). The zombie style
typography links with the image of zombies suggesting
that the horror film is about zombies. Having the
zombies going towards the house makes it seem as
though there is no where to escape adding to the
isolation and entrapment – this is also a typical
convention of a horror genre, this allows for more
suspense as there is no where to run from the zombies.
The lone house on the hill is another typical horror genre
convention as this isolates the characters making them
seem more vulnerable. And no where to run – also a
typical convention of a horror genre. The tag line There
IS a fate worse than death suggests that this horror film
is trying to be more scary as it includes the undead
allowing the audience to become more frightened.

4. Carrie Poster• Conventions: Black background, red person and font,
isolated person, typography, tag line
• Typical convention of the horror genre is the use of red
which signifies blood and death, and has been used in
this poster. The main character (Carrie) is covered in
red, most likely blood, this would make her the evil
character / killer as she has blood on her hands. The
black background isolates the character making her
seem more evil and deadly. Black is also a colour
associated with the horror genre as black/darkness is
used a lot in horror films to limit sight and conceal the
evil being. The black background also conceals the
surrounding by not being able to see what she has
already done .Her dress looks as though it is a night
dress which is another common convention of horror
genre as usually the characters are dressed in night
ware as horror films are usually during the night time.
However after some research I have found that she is
actually wearing her prom dress as the events which
took place at her prom caused her to go evil. This is
also a typical setting for a horror film as this is a place
which will have a large group of teens usually doing
the typical stupid horror film stuff (e.g. having sex)
The typography used is almost ghostly as the bottom
half is slightly faded, this suggests that some sort of
other world things may happen. One of the different
types of horror genre is supernatural element Carrie’s
got direct mode of address which draws the audience
in as her focus is on you, it also seems as though she
wants to act her revenge on you. You will know her
name is the tag line or this poster suggesting that she
will enact a crim so bad that everyone will remember
what she has done.

5. Diabolique
Magazine Cover
• Conventions: Typography, main image from Woman in Black,
masthead of all horror genre characters, date line, main cover
line, colour scheme blue, white, orange
• The masthead is in the typical place across the top third
however it has been angled a different way making it cover a bit
more of the page. Adding in the horror genre characters above
gives the magazine a unique selling point (USP) as it has been
used across all the magazines and no one else uses it. The main
cover image is taken from the film The Woman in Black, it has
the main character as the over all image. The only not typical
thing they have done is having the main character (Daniel
Radcliffe) not giving direct mode of address which means they
do not need to rely on the image bring in an audience / catching
the audiences attention, they are instead relying on the
recognition of the actor. The main cover line relates to the main
image as it explains what the image is about, however most
people can recognise this image as it is a well known film. The
position of the main cover line is a usual place some magazine
place it however some position it up the left hand side as that
would be the most visible on a magazine shelf. The other cover
lines font size is another typical convention of a magazine cover
as they are in different size depending on their importance
(larger ones are more important than smaller ones). Colour
scheme is the usual 3 colours, blue, white and orange. The only
thing different is usually magazine that are of the horror genre
would use red as a part of their colour scheme as everyone
associates red with the horror genre. The colours used are quite
bright which is different for a horror magazine as usually a dark
colour is used. However using a bright colour makes it stand out
from the cover image. Blue is also not a usual colour to use on a
horror magazine as it associates more gender than to the horror
genre. The typography used is consistent throughout the cover
the only one which is different out of all the cover lines is the
main cover line as this would make it stand out from the others.
The style also relates to the film.

6. Fangoria
Magazine Cover• Conventions: Masthead, main cover line, cover lines, small
film stills, price, quote.
• Typical convention of a magazine is to have the masthead
across the top third which is what Fangoria have done. The
name of the magazine links nicely with the horror genre as
Fang is related to vampires and goria links with gore which
is all a part of horror genre. Main cover image is from the
film Black Swan, they have almost faded in her face with
the background which only allows her make up to be seen.
This adds a sort of creepy effect as it focuses your gaze on
her eyes. She (Natalie Portman) is also giving a direct mode
of address which draws the readers attention to the
magazine. The use of so much white will also draw in an
audience as it is so bright and eye catching colour. This is a
little unusual for the horror genre as horror is usually
associated with darkness. The colour scheme fits in with the
typical magazine as they have use 3 colours. The black and
red are usual colours for the horror genre. Dark purple is
also slightly associated with horror. The film stills all appear
to be from horror films as there is some kind of bloody
creature in all of them. This cover hasn’t used many
different font sizes between their cover lines, this is most
likely because they didn’t want any attention drawn away
from their cover image as this would most likely cover some
of her face. This also means that they other cover lines are
not as import as the main article but are equally important as
each other. Only using her face allows for mystery as the
audience can not see any of her costume, this allows for
some mystery and makes the reader want to find out more.

7. Empire
Magazine Cover• Conventions: Mast head, cover lines, Puff, main image,
colour scheme, selling line
• Typical conventions of a magazine cover is to have the
mast head across the top third, however for Empire it is
but there is also a tag line across the top saying what
type of issue this magazine is. The cover lines are in
their typical position as well as font size. Having
different font size to show their importance. The main
cover line relates to the main image. The colour scheme
is a part of the magazine convention of having only
three however there is an extra colour in the puff but
that is to make some of it stand out more. Using that one
extra colour allows for the puff to stand out more from
the rest of the cover otherwise it would just blend in
with the rest and not have much importance. Some of
the colours would be typical for a horror film – red and
black. However these relate to the colours on Ant Man’s
costume. Ant Man is also giving a direct mode of
address which draws in the audience because they are
focusing on them. The tag line Superhero Special
informs the reader the reader that the main focus of this
particular issue is superheroes as there are an increase in
the number of films being realised over the next year.
This also reaches to this increasing audience as they
would like to know about all these upcoming superhero
films. There is a selling line which is a typical
convention of a magazine as this brings in reader as they
know that this magazine is The world’s biggest movie
magazine, they then know that they will get lots of
information that a huge audience rely on. They have
also crossed out biggest and changed it to smallest as
this relates to their main focus of Ant Man as he can
shrink presumably to ant sized so will be the smallest.