The fact that her eyes are staring right at us signifies that she may be dead or also by her eyes you can also take the impression that she is staring at the audience as if she needs help as she has a hopeless look on her face. This also fits into the conventions of a thriller film, as there is normally a death and also a crime mystery.
The women has her mouth open this connotes that she may be dead as when somebody is dead their mouth is open also her mouth may be open because she may be asking for help. This also fits into the conventions of a thriller film, as you would expect to find death in thriller movies.
The use of blood on her face signifies that there is going to be a lot of violence and death. Violence and death are also conventions of thriller and horror movies.
The fact that one side of her face is covered in more blood connotes that she may have two sides to her and that one side is violent and brutal where as the other side is more caring and not violent. This correlates to the title as it signifies that everybody will know her name because she is so different in terms of her two personalities.
The characters eye is staring at us in an evil way, which signifies that the character doesn’t have good intentions. The little bit of light on his face signifies that this man may not be all evil and may have a good side to him however the dark light overpowers the light as there is more shadow which connotes that this man is more evil than good.
The title is called the purge. The definition of the word purge is to get rid of an unwanted feeling or emotion this correlates to the thriller genre as in thrillers there are normally people who have bad memories and emotions that they cannot control this is a convention of the sub genre of thriller movies called psychological thrillers. This also signifies that in the movie people may want to get of people as well which implies that there will be death in the movie, which is a convention of thriller movies.
We can only see half the characters face, which connotes that the character may have two sides to him. However we only see one side and the side we see is a dark side, which signifies that in the movie we will only see the bad and evil side of the character.
The man is giving an evil smile at the audience and the use of the close up means that they want to emphasise and zoom in on his face expressions and the emotion on his face. The use of the smile signifies that this man is evil, as the smile doesn’t look friendly which connotes that he may have bad intentions.
Lyall Young
Film Poster Analysis (Franklin Kwawu)
This is the theatrical release poster for Jacob’s Ladder, a psychological-thriller / horror film which stars Tim Robbins, was directed by Adrian Lyne, and released in 1990.
1) The poster is quite plain when compared to thriller posters of the future. The background is pitch black with a phantasmal like face of the main character Jacob. The black colour is signature to thriller and horror movies as it is a mysterious colour and is often associated with darkness, evil and death. The black background, combined with the face of Jacob, also evokes a sense of fear as Jacob’s face appears to shaking and almost ‘drowning’ into the abyss of the black background. The fearful expression on his face strongly suggests to the audience that this movie is a thriller-horror of some sort.
2) The caption put onto the poster is a strong indicator of the genre of this movie. It reads, “The most frightening thing about Jacob Singer’s nightmare is that he isn’t dreaming.” Two words in this sentence indicate to the audience what genre this film is – Frightening and nightmare. Thriller films often include a protagonist who is on a journey to discover something or solve a mystery. In the case of Jacob’s Ladder, his dreams are haunting him and the poster tells us that they aren’t hallucinations but are actually real. This suggests that in the movie, Jacob will set out to find out what is causing these dreams and why they keep intensifying to the point that it is driving him insane.
3) The font and title of the film are also minute indicators to the genre. The title is coloured in red and is comparatively large to the poster. Red connotes terror, death and anguish. This is linked with the expression on Jacob’s face in the poster who is visibly shaken and looks ghost-like. The title of the film is a reference to Genesis 28 : 12, where Jacob dreams of a staircase or ladder descending onto Earth, linking it to Heaven and God. This not only gives an indicator to the audience about the direction of the plot, but it also suggests a mysterious element to the film, which is ever-present in thriller films as it keeps the audience on their toes and excited for the duration of the film.
4) The face of the protagonist (Jacob) is another indicator to the genre and sub genre of this film. Jacob’s face appears to be shaking violently and is also pale signifying extreme fear. This suggests that the film has elements of not only a thriller film but also horror.
Khadeem Robinson
This poster shows a woman's head trapped in some sort of trap which hints that this film is going to be quite graphic and gory as this depicts a sadistic act of human torture. Also there is a lack of colour within this poster, which could represent a dark setting and corrupt world where society has been distorted. Additionally this poster lets the audience know that this is going to be a horror thriller. This poster isnt very creative of colourful as their is a lack of colour or design also the font is quite basic and ordinary which tells us that not much thought was put into the design of the poster.
Also if you pay attention to the girl's facial expression you see fear on her face which could indicate that this is a horror thriller as there is a high level of anxiety and concern on her face.A Saw is an object used for destruction and to tear apart another item rearranging it this could suggest this tells us that this film includes torture, violence, bodily harm and possibly dismemberment.
Researching and analysing various iconic thriller posters has enabled our group to be able to ascertain the key elements that are involved in not only the posters of thriller films but also in the films themselves. We learnt that a film doesn't have to be explicit in what it is trying to convey in the poster and can be minimalistic and still project a powerful image or sugget the plot of the film (ie Jurassic World which only features a T-Rex skeleton on the front). This research will be heavily utilised once we produce the final film as it has made us aware of how imagery can alter the audience's perception of film heavily.
Lyall, Khadeem & Franklin.