Insidious poster textual analysis

Insidious is a film about the demonic possession of a child, who causes spirits and demons to haunt his family. Firstly, the skyline of the poster says 'from the makers of saw and paranormal activity' which are both, very successful and horror movies. It also gives the reader an idea of what the film will be about. Because Saw is a gore based horror and Paranormal Activity is a demonic type horror, the audience may be curious to see what the makers of the films have come up with. You can also see the grabbing white colour of the title and other texts on the poster, to attract attention.

In the background of the poster there is a house, this suggests that this will be the setting of the film. As well as this, you can see the sky is grey and 'stormy'. This sets the dark tone for the film through pathetic fallacy. All of the curtains seem to be closed in the house, which creates a scary atmosphere and suggests that something is being hidden. The reviews of the film will attract people because they are saying things that the viewer will want to read. 'So scary i was whimpering in sheer terror' people will want to read reviews like this because people that will watch this movie will either watch it out of curiosity or because they want to scare themselves or this genre of movie is their favourite.

Placed in the centre of the poster is a boy. This suggests he is the main character of the film. Under him is the caption 'It's not the house that's haunted' this suggests that the boy is haunted as it is under him. Also, his eyes appear to be scratched out, which could suggest many things. One of which could be that he is dead, but still in a live state. Another could be that something is inside him, or taken over him, in most possesion movies this is the case.

Paranormal Activity 4 Poster Analysis

The Paranormal Activity series are very successful. In this specific poster you can see the caption 'All the activity has led to this...' this suggests that something massive is about to happen, creating curiosity and maybe even eagerness to see the film. The colours in the poster are mostly black, but in the actual picture of the girl it is blue. This is because parts of the film are recorded on a webcam, and this webcam is currently using a night vision type view. The colour of the title is red, which is the colour of blood and often associated with evil. Another caption also says 'It's closer than you think' which suggests that even when you feel your safest, or have time, than you will be wrong, and there is always some sort of presence.

As you can see this is in a bedroom, which we can presume is that of the girl's in the picture. So she is in her own home which is usually seen as a safe, if not safest place to be. But in the poster you can see there is clearly a shadow, or some sort of presence behind her while she sleeps. This is very frightening because everyone has a feeling of security in their own home, especially their bed. This will make the audience feel scared because they will feel that there home is no longer totally safe and they have had a false sense of security. The fact that it is a shadow, and not actually a full person makes the audience curious as to what the figure actually is, and if they watch the film then they will find out. The girl is asleep, and this is seen as the time when we are most vulnerable so we want to know we are safe. Because there is something behind the girl and she is so oblivious to it, it makes the audience question themselves like 'do things like that happen when i'm asleep?' etc. The whole poster and film will make the audience question their sense of security and frighten them.
 

Questionnaire

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H7R6CT6

The Conjuring Poster Analyses

The Conjuring is a horror film about a house filled with 'demons' and they haunt the family that move in to the house by committing plenty of paranormal actions. A series of horrible, events happened at the farm house, one of which involves the mother hanging herself after cursing the house in the name of satan.

The setting of the poster is in rural America which is desolate, and not as advanced with technology as the cities, this makes it a great place for such event like this to take place because of the thought of not being able to get help right away. As well as this, most buildings in rural America are old.

The fact that this film is set in and around a house suggests that something like this can happen to you, and your home is not always the safest place. The Farmhouse in the poster looks old because of the architecture (e.g. porch with pillars) and the state of the house, it has stained/dirty wooden panels, mossy roof tiles, and it is just generally not well looked after. This gives the house an eerie feel to it. As well as this, you can see how desolate and isolated the house is and the surrounding area. There are trees all around the house and no other buildings, from this view you cant even see a road to the house, it develops the idea that the house was built in the middle of nowhere, so there is no one around (or at least there shouldn't be). The fact that there are not leaves on the trees suggests that it is winter, but if you look in to this a bit deeper, you realise that winter is the time of year when the trees die. so this big, leafless tree on the right of the poster represents death. There is also a noose on the tree, which suggests that somebody has commit suicide and will make the audience think just what happened here to make someone want to kill themselves. Not only this, but there is the shadow of the woman who had commit suicide on the ground, which gives you an idea of what type of horror the film will be, something along the lines of possession, demonic, supernatural, paranormal etc. The mist in the poster adds to the curiosity and mystery that already exists within the poster, the idea of this is for the viewer to be so curious and intrigued that they want to watch the film. This is the case with most films similar to this and this is why a lot of people watch these types of films, out of curiosity. The colours in this poster are all dim as well, this suggests that there is nothing particularly happy about the film. The grey skies suggest bad weather, which could be a form of pathetic fallacy. There is also a statement under the title that says 'Based on the true case files of the Warrens' the Warrens are a couple who investigate distressing and paranormal events that people genuinely believe to be caused by demons or spirits or something along those lines. The fact that this film is based on a true story makes the audience think that it could happen to them.

Representation

 

Simon Cowell is an upper class man that is expecting a baby, and this is him holding up a baby grow saying 'My genes have the 'X' factor'. This is reflecting him in a positive way as children represent responsibility and care, which Simon Cowell will now have to make time for as he is usually very busy promoting something or taking part in something.

 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a tv programme about a young black male moved from his home by his mother because he was getting in to trouble. He moves in with his wealthy uncle and aunt. They have a family of their own, and Will (pictured) their nephew, disrupts their routines. This TV programme represents race in a good way, as they are not racially stereotyped, they are successful each in their own way. Will is the main character and all he usually cares about is having fun and 'getting girls', he is also quite irresponsible. But he does have positives, he is always there for his family and is willing to do almost anything for them. He is very funny and gets himself in to difficult situations, which he always find his way out of. You could also say this programme could represent class as well, as will comes from a very poor working class background and is thrown in to a wealthy upper class family. His uncle doesn't always see eye to eye with him because he knows will is irresponsible because of his background which can be seen to represent both class and race negatively.

 This is Zoo magazine, a well known 'Lads Mag' the girl on the front at the time was 22 years of age. Obviously she is very young, and this is a very poor representation of women and age. It shows that young women are being encouraged more and more to reveal themselves in order to get money, if thats what they want to do then fair enough, but it sets a terrible example for young girls, especially considering she is not so old herself.

     

Shoplife is a tv series following a group of young people who all work in a shopping centre. This is Jon, a homosexual young man who works in a doughnut shop. He is trying to get enough money so he can afford his own house. To do that, he must either save up the money is already earning or push for a promotion. With a promotion in any job, comes more responsibility. He feels that he can handle the responsibility and feels he is prepared for the promotion, but needs to persuade his current manager. I believe this is a good representation of homosexuality because although he it may not seem like he wants to achieve much, he has very achievable short term aims for himself, like get the promotion so he can earn more money and afford a house, ultimately giving him more time to plan for the long-term future.

 Family Guy is an animated TV comedy about a family with some very odd but funny characters. One of the characters is Joe Swanson, he is the man in the wheelchair. He is a policemen and therefore acts as a good-doer for society, keeping drugs out of the region and stopping crime as you would expect from a policeman. However because he is handicapped, you can see how this would create a problem for it but he has the upper body strength to overcome almost anything. Although this is just an animated program you can see how they have implied the message that anyone can become anything, ultimately reflecting well and inspiring all people who may have a disability or handicap.

Magazine analyses

Zoo is a magazine aimed at men aged between 18-30. It is known as a typical 'Lads Mag' because it consists of things that young men tend to like, such as girls that are exposing themselves and this is mostly what the magazine consists of. However it does also include other aspects like comedy, jokes often referred to as 'pub jokes' because of their short and quick to the point nature.  It also contains results and commentary of sports from over the weekend. All of these contents will appeal to most men between the ages of 18-30 and probably older. It is currently priced at £1.80, which is an affordable price for someone between the ages of 18-30.

  

This is an example of a Zoo magazine's front cover from 2010. As you can see, there is a picture of a lady who is about to undress herself, this catches the eye of the reader, who is usually a male aged between the ages of 18-30. The title of the magazine, also known  as the masthead, is at the top and is in the colour red. As well as being an eye-catching colour, red can be seen as quite seductive. The same could be said about black, which is also known as a seductive colour. The main cover line of this particular issue of Zoo is 'Melissa! the new cover girl you elected' this adds to the idea of a patriarchal society, that men have the power to choose which girl should be on the cover of the magazine. You could also argue that the main cover line is 'Whopping 30% off £1.20' this tells the reader that they are getting a good deal. The cover lines of this involve more women 'stripping off' in order for it to appeal to the target audience. The cover line is 'Sexy soccerettes strip off!' as well the cover line being about women it is also about sport. This is also another factor that working class men are typically attracted to, sport. Sport is also involved in another cover line at the bottom of the page. The font is big and bold and in bright colours to attract attention, men tend not to be as bothered about the colours so this is why they can choose whichever colour they see fit.