Salma Hussain

Q: How does a poster for a recent horror film display the

conventions of the genre?

This is a poster for a the horror movie, Annabelle (2014)

The poster shows the use of iconography, in this case this is the doll and the
blood dripping from her eye. The doll suggests that the target of the horror
movie can be anyone as it is a collectors item, so this may belong to an
elderly individual or younger child, showing the victim already just by the doll
and how it is placed. This links to horror movies showing possession on the
most innocent-like objects/people are targeted in horror movies to create
suspense and fear. The blood indicates death and symbolises the movie
being a horror, as without the blood coming through the dolls eye may be
unclear as to what genre the movie is. This poster expressing the image of
blood, tears and dolls is a conventional linkage with horror films as these key
iconographies are shown largely through the horror genre.

Salma Hussain
The low key lighting also helps emphasise the genre of the movie, as it
focuses on the dolls features. The presence of the dark lighting indicates
death and horror, specifically as the colours are red and black, this highlights
the genre of the movie. The low key lighting helps identify that the movie is a
horror as it is all dark suggesting the location is a dark room where dolls are
kept, but the presence of the doll being there, is not safe. The lighting has
filled in the dolls smile; this smile highlights the innocence and happiness of
dolls, but the lighting effects this as it shows evil and a dark side to the doll
and looks threatening and scary.
The lighting can be linked with the text and font shown on the poster; this is as
it highlights the main text on the poster by the dark colours (black, white and
red indicating death and horror). The text of the title Annabelle is in red and
has thin writing; this suggests writing with blood and signifying death and
violence associated within the genre. However, there is not much text on the
poster, emphasising the text that is on the poster and easily readable and
creates the impression that the picture and title are the main focus. This
highlights the enigma codes and letting the audience have their own
predictions, this is important within horror movies not to give away too much
information as in some cases, they are very similar and may be easily
predictable.
Another key convention of the poster is the setting; this is displayed as a black
background on the poster. The black background indicates horror and
mystery, which creates enigmas. The poster being a black background
suggests the doll is placed in a dark room as dolls are placed in rooms, but
the presence of the doll is alive due to the small amount of light being on the
dolls face, focusing on the main character of the movie.
Overall, this poster to Annabelle clearly suggests the genre of the movie, this
being a horror. The mise-en-scene shows: the font, size, colour, character and
location, which are the main features of the poster but highlight the horror
genre and setting. I feel as if the blood coming from the dolls eye is to
emphasise that it is a horror movie and this suggests death, horror and that
its a horror movie and without the blood coming from the dolls eye, it may
have been more challenging to set a genre for the poster. Even though dolls
have been featured and are popular within the horror genre, they are also
popular in other genres as to why the low key lighting and blood is
emphasised and is important to the poster as it highlights the conventions of
the horror genre.