Textual Analysis Of A Horror Film Poster (Roshane)

Halloween is a 1978 American independent film horror film, which was directed and produced by John Carpenter and also co-written with Debra Hill. Halloween was produced on a budget of $325,000 and incredibly ended up grossing $60 million worldwide. This has resulted in Halloween becoming one of the most profitable independent films.

It's very important to have a film poster which catches the attention of the public seeing as how they're usually advertised on billboards, magazines and the internet in order to create a buzz about the film. This is also beneficial as it helps to attract people who may not be interested in horror films. This highlights why it's essential to have a a good film poster seeing as how the purpose of a film poster is to sell the film to make the audience want to go and see it.

Props are visible in Halloween's film poster as we can see the knife and mask. The mask is used to keep the audience guessing about who the killer is. Through NVC the body language of the actor appears to be tense due to him holding the knife very tight. It seems as if he's looking at someone, mostly likely his victim. Due to the shark at the end of the knife this could suggest that he's ready to kill and this is again emphasised by the lifeless look on his face. His clothing is dark which could relate to his personality, being that he's a dark and evil person. The setting appears to be in a house which is where your mostly likely to feel safe, but this isn't the case in the film poster which the film is looking to get across to the audience.

Black is the dominant colour in the film poster and it's effective because it gives a low key lighting which creates a dark feel and connotes feelings such as evilness, death and fear.  

Overall, I believe the audience will want to go and watch this film due to the mystery surrounding the masked killer. There's many hidden secrets in the film poster such as who the masked killer is looking at and why he has a knife in this hand. Also, due to the colour black connoting a sense of death and fear this will enable excitement amongst the audience to go and watch the film.