Genre Research (Film Poster) Horror

The film posters that I am going to be evaluating are Horror, Science Fiction, Drama and Romantic Comedy.

Genre definition: The word genre comes from the French meaning type or class. Media genres appear within a medium (film, television) such as a horror film or the television 'situation comedy'. A genre can be recognised by its common set of distinguishing features.

For the horror genre I have chosen: The Shining (1980)

Codes and conventions

The codes and conventions within this film poster are the bold title and the credits of the film.

Sub genre

The sub genre of this film is a physiological horror as it relies on a characters fears, guilt and belief emotional instability and sometimes supernaturalness to build tension and further the plot.

Film examples

Other films of the same genre are the Saw, The Exorcist and The Ring.

Audiences

The type of people to watch this genre of film would be teenagers and adults ( e.g. 15- 40) due to the fact that the horror genre is not suitable for the younger generation. Horror is a popular genre for teenagers and adults.

Colours

The main colours of this poster are red, white and black to give more detail to the films genre. For example if the poster used pink and purple as its main colours this would make the audience misunderstand the genre because these colours are associated usually in Rom coms etc. Whereas black and red could be associated with death and blood.

Lighting

The lighting of the poster is high key to enhance the terrorising image of the two characters.

Characters

The image doesn't give to much away and shows that the film is intense due to the action shot of a weapon being used and the characters emotions successfully give the idea to the target audience that the film is a horror because the woman looks terrified of the man with the devilish look on his face. The image of the main appears to be a larger image than the woman this shows that he is the dominant character and is frightening to the the woman, making the film seem exciting and adds intensity.

Actors/actresses: Jack Nichloson and Shelley Duyall

BBFC: The film certificate of this is a 15.

Director(s): Stanley Kubrick