Film Poster Analysis: The woman in black.

The film that is being promoted in this poster is ‘The woman in black’ directed by James Watkins, the story centres around a Lawyer Arthur Kipps, played by Daniel Radcliffe, he is struggling at work as he is still grieving for his deceased wife who died whilst given childbirth to their son Joseph. His employer gives him the opportunity to redeem himself in his career his employee sends him to a isolated village to sort out the estate which belonging to a deceased woman the villagers attempt to make him leave the town however their efforts fail as he refuses to. However to his horror he discovers that the house is haunted by the ‘woman in black’ a woman who kills the children of the village because of the grief she has because her own child’s death. The woman in black belongs to the gothic/supernatural genre it is similar to the type of film I want to create as my film will have elements from the gothic/supernatural genre too. I have choose this poster as I think it is appealing as it shows the various scenes from the film this poster has been used to advertise the DVD and the audience will be able to identify the different images from various iconic scenes from the film, making the poster appealing to eye. I think the poster is mysterious and haunting as the images used around the frame of the main image of Daniel Radcliffe link into the tagline of ‘What did they see?’ This film poster maintains common layout conventions such as the main title of the film is the second most predominate item on the page except from the main image the text is easy to read, The font of the text used is in an old fashioned serriff font reflecting the time era that the film is set in and also that the genre of the film is gothic, furthermore the main image maintains conventions of featuring the main character as the main image however the poster also breaks conventions as it features smaller snapshots from the film around the frame this is because this poster was the official poster not a teaser poster which in comparison did not feature the main character Daniel Radcliffe. This poster also breaks conventions in its layout as it is common for horror films to use unknown or low key actors so the film is more realistic however the woman in black’s main character Arthur Kipps is played by worldwide known actor Daniel Radcliffe famously known for his roles as Harry Potter. I believe that the producers and directors of the woman in black have chosen to use Daniel Radcliffe as this horror film was originally released as a 12A however although this film is targeted at a pre-teen and upward audience as they received 120 complaints to the BBFC. Moreover the poster features the main actors name across the top of the poster this breaks the convention of actors remaining anonymous, however I believe the poster has been advertised this way as the producers may aim the film at a similar target audience to the Harry Potter films moreover the Harry Potter films are from the Fantasy genre and contain elements from the gothic genre. The main image featured in the poster of the woman in black show’s Daniel Radcliffe peering through a window, throughout around the edges of the window different snapshots of the film appear, the first is of a child’s doll which has been abandoned this reflects the deaths of all the children the woman in black has captured, the second is the woman in blacks house eel marsh establishing the setting of the film to the audience, the third is threatening writing on the wall reading ‘you could have saved him’ this reflects that the woman in black is attempting to communicate with Arthur Kipps and her presence is threatening and bitter, the fourth shows two young girls who lives were taken by the woman in black showing that her victims are innocent, the use of children within horror is a significant piece of iconography as children are often seen as innocent it is therefore twisted and unexpected that they would be associated with evil entities it is also thought upon that children are more vulnerable to supernatural the next image is an action shot of Arthur Kipps running showing that perhaps he is fearful of the woman in black, the next shot is of the woman in black and her son their eyes have scrawled out suggesting that perhaps they have no souls and are supernatural beings, the final image is of Daniel Radcliffe as it shows him holding a lantern he looks bewildered showing his reaction to the woman in black. All of the images are in black and white except for the colour focus on Daniel Radcliffe’s eye I think this is an effective piece of editing as it relates to the tagline of ‘What did they see?’ through the images around the frame the audience see through the eyes of Arthur Kipp and his memories he has collected from eel marsh house. I think this image is effective however it may be too much of a revelation for those members of the audience who have not seen the film yet they will not identify the scenes the images come from however they will still understand what the images symbolize and this may give away too much of the plot and not leave enough sense of mystery for the audience. However the poster does not feature any images of the Woman in Black so therefore it still maintains a element of mystery as the force of the happenings is not revealed leaving the audience questioning ‘What did they see?’.