I Saw the Devil
I Saw the Devil is a South Korean film directed by Kim Ji-woon and written by Park Hoon-jung. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited U.S theatrical release.
Film posters are advertised prominently on billboards, film theatres, in magazines, the internet, and most commonly the side of buses however this would not been the case for I Saw the Devil. The purpose of a film poster is to sell the film to make an audience want to go see it, in order to do this certain devises are used for persuasion.
Firstly, the film poster takes a orthodox format and layout as it is portrait with a linear structure, the film details such as the production, distribution and cast etc. are all at the bottom.
The main colours used in this poster are low key such as black for the background with a dark red overlay and a dark turquoise transparent mix, along with some white text which provides the contrast. The mixes of these colours provide a macabre sight which would signal to the audience that this is a horror film or another type related to that genre.
The dominant colour on the screen is black which is a conventional horror appearance, it denotes a variety of different ideologies provides effects and evokes response from the audience. One of the effects black gives is a low key of lighting this creates a dark feel and connotes feelings such as death, fear of the unknown and evil etc. the black background leaves the chance for the two actor’s faces to be hidden and consumed by the background. The transparent red overlay doesn’t conflict with the background presumably because it is dark. The dark red and the splatter given to it suggests blood and interprets pain, suffering and agony and not just gore because the splatter emphasise a fair amount of blood but not a huge amount which would have been understood if there was a smear, wipe or bucket effect. The turquoise mix doesn’t reveal the actors skin colour which may have disturbed the dark horror/ thriller mood of the poster because the audience is familiar with nature (natural skin colour) but unfamiliar with the unnatural which would and to the unknown, fear factor convention of horror also the mix make the poster aesthetically pleasing and not to boring to look at as it provides a fair amount of colour, not limiting the purpose of engaging the audience. The white font is the only contrast of the page but it is not too contrasting to harm the view of the poster. The font is not dark so therefore it doesn’t have to fight with the background which is good as the title of the movie is important as it gives out arguably the most essential information of the film which is the title, so the individual purpose of the font is successful as the visibility is good. The chalk/paint effect with a smear accentuates the horror energy given off.
The actors NVC is also beneficial, it is a close up so there non verbal communication is key and they have achieved the purpose as their NVC connotes a lifeless/emotionless feel as it is neither happy nor sad, crazy or sane etc. this would add to the unknown nature that the film poster imposes. The slogan in red text below “Abandon All Compassion” further accentuates the murderous vibe given by the blood colour effect/look.
Overall, I believe this poster accomplishes the main purpose of persuading an audience to want to watch the film. This is done through various techniques such as the anonymous and ambiguity portrayed which has told and given clues about the film but not revealed it which will enticed and draw its target audience in.
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