The 2001 film The Others is a psychological horror film starring Nicole Kidman. This is the poster that was made to accompany the film. The basic plot of the film is about a woman who is living in a house with her two children during World War II and she keeps seeing people in her house who she thinks are ghosts and thinks they are trying to hurt her and her family. Towards the end of the film it becomes clear that her and her children are the ghosts because she killed her two children then shot herself. The people who are in the house are human and are trying to contact with the ghosts in the house.
The median of this product is print in the form of a poster. The ideology of this poster is to look creepy and eerie. It is supposed to entice the viewer and make them want to watch the film. The genre of this product is horror; we can tell this because of the dark background colours the text and the character’s facial expression. The representation of this poster is spooky. It also gives the viewer the impression that the character featured in the poster will be the one who is the ‘victim’ in the film because she looks scared. The audience that this poster is aimed at is an older audience possibly 16 year olds upwards because the colours used aren’t very bright, there isn’t a lot going on and it doesn’t follow the codes and conventions of a poster that is aimed at a younger audience. The institution of this poster is Dimension Films. This poster does not contain much narrative; this is because posters for films aren’t meant to give away too much in order to keep the audience intrigued. Also because posters for films are advertised in places like bus stops, phone boxes, billboards and on the side of buses people would not have time to read a lot of text. The text that is included in the poster is at the top of the page in block capitals. This ensures that this is the first thing the viewer will see when they look at the page because normally people read from the top of a page.
The composition of the poster is quite simple. The main image is the female character holding the lamp on the left side of the page. The poster has a plain black background with white text all in block capitals. The denotation of the main image is a quite young woman holding an old lamp looking towards her left. As she is holding a lamp, half of her face is in the light and the other half is in the darkness. This image denotes that as her hair is pulled back, it symbolises the time period that the film is set in. The lamp she is holding also mirrors the date and shows it is in the past because it is old and has a flame which shows it is either a oil or gas burning lamp and not electric. The woman is wearing a necklace which is probably a rosary because in the film she is very religious. As the woman looks scared and is looking to the side it suggests to the viewer that she thinks that there is someone behind her or near her who she doesn’t want to be there. The viewer can tell that the woman is nervous because her neck bones are showing; this could show that she is gasping or holding her breath because she is scared this makes them more curious to see the film.
The lamp is a vital part of the poster because not only does it symbolise the time period but the light that it provides only shines on one side of her face. This suggests that she might ‘have a dark side’ or have a dark secret she is hiding. Also, because the rest of the poster is in total darkness the light is the main focal point. When people die they are said to see a bright light, as the main female character is actually a ghost maybe the light from the lamp could be representing ‘the light’.
There is a quote from the film at the top of the page, ‘Sooner or later they will find you’. This gives the viewer more of an insight of what the film is about and as the viewer reads it, it sounds like it is directed at them which build tension. The main text is the title of the film near the centre of the poster. ‘The Others’ is in block capitals, there are also some other small lines coming off of the text which look like small rays of light. Light is a big part of this film because her children have a rare disorder which makes them allergic to bright lights. The small rays of light coming off of the text could suggest that light travels everywhere and there is no escape from it.
The actresses’ name that is the main character in the film is above the main title in block capitals. This is done because Nicole Kidman is a well known actress so this may influence someone’s decision to go and see the film. Nicole Kidman had starred in another thriller/dramatic horror film in 1999 called Eyes Wide Shut. Also in 2001 she had starred in the well known film Moulin Rouge.
The key codes and conventions that this poster has portrayed are to make it look as mysterious as possible by making it in almost total darkness, not including a lot of text and only revealing one actress that stars in the film. I think the poster successfully relates to the film and involves key clues that the viewer can relate to when watching the film.
The median of this product is print in the form of a poster. The ideology of this poster is to look creepy and eerie. It is supposed to entice the viewer and make them want to watch the film. The genre of this product is horror; we can tell this because of the dark background colours the text and the character’s facial expression. The representation of this poster is spooky. It also gives the viewer the impression that the character featured in the poster will be the one who is the ‘victim’ in the film because she looks scared. The audience that this poster is aimed at is an older audience possibly 16 year olds upwards because the colours used aren’t very bright, there isn’t a lot going on and it doesn’t follow the codes and conventions of a poster that is aimed at a younger audience. The institution of this poster is Dimension Films. This poster does not contain much narrative; this is because posters for films aren’t meant to give away too much in order to keep the audience intrigued. Also because posters for films are advertised in places like bus stops, phone boxes, billboards and on the side of buses people would not have time to read a lot of text. The text that is included in the poster is at the top of the page in block capitals. This ensures that this is the first thing the viewer will see when they look at the page because normally people read from the top of a page.
The composition of the poster is quite simple. The main image is the female character holding the lamp on the left side of the page. The poster has a plain black background with white text all in block capitals. The denotation of the main image is a quite young woman holding an old lamp looking towards her left. As she is holding a lamp, half of her face is in the light and the other half is in the darkness. This image denotes that as her hair is pulled back, it symbolises the time period that the film is set in. The lamp she is holding also mirrors the date and shows it is in the past because it is old and has a flame which shows it is either a oil or gas burning lamp and not electric. The woman is wearing a necklace which is probably a rosary because in the film she is very religious. As the woman looks scared and is looking to the side it suggests to the viewer that she thinks that there is someone behind her or near her who she doesn’t want to be there. The viewer can tell that the woman is nervous because her neck bones are showing; this could show that she is gasping or holding her breath because she is scared this makes them more curious to see the film.
The lamp is a vital part of the poster because not only does it symbolise the time period but the light that it provides only shines on one side of her face. This suggests that she might ‘have a dark side’ or have a dark secret she is hiding. Also, because the rest of the poster is in total darkness the light is the main focal point. When people die they are said to see a bright light, as the main female character is actually a ghost maybe the light from the lamp could be representing ‘the light’.
There is a quote from the film at the top of the page, ‘Sooner or later they will find you’. This gives the viewer more of an insight of what the film is about and as the viewer reads it, it sounds like it is directed at them which build tension. The main text is the title of the film near the centre of the poster. ‘The Others’ is in block capitals, there are also some other small lines coming off of the text which look like small rays of light. Light is a big part of this film because her children have a rare disorder which makes them allergic to bright lights. The small rays of light coming off of the text could suggest that light travels everywhere and there is no escape from it.
The actresses’ name that is the main character in the film is above the main title in block capitals. This is done because Nicole Kidman is a well known actress so this may influence someone’s decision to go and see the film. Nicole Kidman had starred in another thriller/dramatic horror film in 1999 called Eyes Wide Shut. Also in 2001 she had starred in the well known film Moulin Rouge.
The key codes and conventions that this poster has portrayed are to make it look as mysterious as possible by making it in almost total darkness, not including a lot of text and only revealing one actress that stars in the film. I think the poster successfully relates to the film and involves key clues that the viewer can relate to when watching the film.
Abbie this is a fairly comprehensive analysis of the poster BUT it would be more useful if you annotated the poster rather than wrote an essay - you are less likely to miss out details and easier to consider layout which is very important when recreating a poster.
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