Film Poster Analysis- Black Swan (June 2010-Present)

Title of the film- Black Swan

Director- Darren Aronofsky

Institution- For Searchlight Pictures

Year of Release- September 1st 2010

It is important that I analyse other film posters to ensure that I do everything I can to meet the needs of my target audience. The psychological horror film poster for black swan can be seen below:

This 'Black Swan' film poster denotes a medium-close up as it shows from the girls shoulders upwards. Although the girl's representation in this image is fair, I believe it is juxtaposed. The girl in the image has a pale white face and white is associated with light, goodness, innocence and purity. It is considered to be the colour of perfection and is opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. This links in with the crown that she has in her head and makes her look like she is better than everyone else and has authority over other characters in the film which could be why she is in the main image. However, although she has pale skin, her eyes are bloodshot red and the make up around her eyes is black which could show a sense of evil. This could give away some of the storyline as at the beginning of the film, she could be innocent and pure but by the end of the film she has changed and is evil and that evil is represented through her eyes within this film poster. In addition to this, her lips are a dark burgundy colour which could represent blood and evil coming through in her personality and the way that she is represented in the film. Her eyes are covered in dark make up which also signifies that she is trying to hide something.

The main image takes up the whole of the film poster and the background of the image is also white. The writing within the poster is only positioned on the bottom three quarters of the page. This is important because if it was filled with text then the audience may not read it whereas because the top three quarters of the page has been left with no writing, it allows the image to catch the audience's attention. Direct address is used in the image so that the character is looking directly into the camera to catch the audiences attention. The text used on the page is primarily black which allows it to stand out from the white background. The title is the biggest piece of font on the page as the audience need to know this to enable them to watch the film. This font is in capital letters and the 'B' and 'S' are bigger than the rest of the font in the title to establish the difference between the two words. In addition to this, there is a credit block at the bottom of the page, which is also black to represent how evil the film is. The film is released in October which is near Halloween to allow the audience to understand that it is a psychological horror film as it is being released in Halloween.

I believe that the target audience is predominantly female as the film is about ballet, although some males may also enjoy the story of the film rather than what the film is based on. In my opinion, the demographics of the film would be A-C2 as people in section E on the demographics table are less skilled and may not have been educated as well and therefore may find it harder to understand the storyline of the film. I also believe that they would also really need to like horror films or have a big interest in sports and dance. Younger people tend to take part in dance and ballet and therefore in my opinion, the film would be aimed at girls ages 15-30. I don't think that the audience have to have a certain occupation or career to be able to watch the film because it a horror movie and opens up the film to a wider target audience.

Overall, as a member of the audience I believe that this poster does successfully attract the target audience of the film as it follows all of the codes and conventions of a psychological horror film poster and gives an idea of the story line but doesn't give too much away to make the audience want to see the film.