In order to understand film posters further, I have decided to analyse the technical, written and semiotic codes of this poster for the film Dawn of the Dead. In the image above I have highlighted the main features of the poster, and as such if any are mentioned please refer above.
The poster makes use of minimal design so as not to distract the viewer from the main aspect of the poster. We see the symbolism of the poster - the top half of a head - take the main focus of the poster alongside the title of the film. The title of the film is angled to create a perspective effect in order to draw the eye towards the head at the top of the title. These two elements take up the majority of the space in the poster, however do not take up as much space as possible to allow room for other elements.
We see the tagline of the film appear at the top of the image (an iconic quote from the film's marketing), which indicates to the viewer that the film is a horror film by making use of typical horror conventions. Quite unconventionally, the poster has no main casting credits; the poster has instead credited the director, George A. Romero. This is important - because the actors of the film were virtually unknown, the poster instead relies on the success of the director to appeal to the audience. In addition, Romero had a large fanbase and so by including his name as the focus the poster could draw in existing fans of his work (shown with the use of the director's previous works).
The symbolism of the head also helps the audience deduce the film to be horror, due to the use of red as a shadow effect to denote blood. In addition, the poster extensively uses red to further this implication of a horror film. Finally, the poster includes a mandatory billing block, along with a certificate warning that takes up a small chunk of the billing block. Inside the billing block, the words "Red the St. Martins Book" are included. Since there are fewer words than a modern film in the block, a viewer is more likely to spot this. This can help draw a potential audience in by introducing them to the book first, so that they know what to expect when watching the film. The rest of the block credits various people, including the main cast, producer and director.
We see the tagline of the film appear at the top of the image (an iconic quote from the film's marketing), which indicates to the viewer that the film is a horror film by making use of typical horror conventions. Quite unconventionally, the poster has no main casting credits; the poster has instead credited the director, George A. Romero. This is important - because the actors of the film were virtually unknown, the poster instead relies on the success of the director to appeal to the audience. In addition, Romero had a large fanbase and so by including his name as the focus the poster could draw in existing fans of his work (shown with the use of the director's previous works).
The symbolism of the head also helps the audience deduce the film to be horror, due to the use of red as a shadow effect to denote blood. In addition, the poster extensively uses red to further this implication of a horror film. Finally, the poster includes a mandatory billing block, along with a certificate warning that takes up a small chunk of the billing block. Inside the billing block, the words "Red the St. Martins Book" are included. Since there are fewer words than a modern film in the block, a viewer is more likely to spot this. This can help draw a potential audience in by introducing them to the book first, so that they know what to expect when watching the film. The rest of the block credits various people, including the main cast, producer and director.
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