Film Poster Analysis-Orphan (Pre June 2010)

Title of the film- Orphan

Director- Jaume Collet-Serra

Institution- Dark Castle Entertainment

Year of release- 2009

'Orphan' is a psychological horror film. Below, is the film poster that was used to help with the promotion of the film before it was released. 

Just from looking at the main image on the poster, you can immediately see that the genre of the film is a psychological horror film as the girl featured in the main image as the girl in the image looks evil. In addition to this, the main image used on the poster is one of the most important aspects as it is used to draw the audience’s attention into the poster and is also one of the biggest conventions of the film poster. Due to the fact that that the girl is the only person in the image on the poster suggests that she is one of the main characters within the film. Direct address is used in the image as Esther is looking directly into the camera which is a vital aspect to use to enable the poster to catch the audience’s attention to look at the poster. Furthermore, the fact that the image takes up the majority of the page is important because it means that unnecessary text isn't just placed on the poster to fill up the space. If the poster was just filled with text, the target audience wouldn't read it. Behind the image is a green background, which represents life and jealousy which could mean that Esther is starting a new life in her new house but she could be jealous of the other two children already within the family and wants to ruin the relationship between everyone within the family as she is jealous because she has had a bad childhood and has had a different upbringing. Low key lighting is used on the poster has been used which makes it look like Esther is hiding something which could be revealed in the film, giving the audience a reason to see the film. Esther is wearing old-fashioned clothing which would differentiate her from the other characters within the film as the rest of the family don't dress like this, which represents as being isolated and different. However, the school uniform like costume and pig tails represent how young she is as she still goes to school, which gives away more information about the film as she could go to school, where other incidents happen within the film. However, Esther's costume in this image is juxtaposed because her pale face makes her come across as innocent but in contrast her dark hair makes her seem dangerous and evil.

The masthead on the poster "THERES SOMETHING WRONG WITH ESTHER" further represents the genre of the film as it means that something could be psychologically wrong with her. In addition to this, the white bold font ensures that the font stands out from the green background and catches the audience’s attention as soon as they look at the poster. Furthermore, the tag line "can you keep a secret" at the bottom of the page, again gives away some of the storyline as it suggests that Esther is keeping a secret that is revealed in the movie and the audience will want to see the film to find out what this secret is. This links in with the low key lighting used within the poster as this lighting suggests that Esther is hiding something and all will be revealed in the full film. This writing also stands out from the background and represents the horror genre as red has connotations of blood and evil. Also, when the audience are lured in by this poster, they might then want to go and watch the film trailer, to gain a greater perspective of the film. They will then realise that the same tag line is used in the film trailer, this time as a strap. This therefore creates continuity between the two media texts and makes us understand that there is definitely something wrong with Esther and she isn't like any other orphan.

Although the film poster does follow most codes and conventions of film posters, it does however challenge some conventions. This is because whereas in most film posters the title of the film would be situated at the top of the screen, on this film poster, it is positioned nearer the bottom of the screen, which you wouldn't normally expect as it should be the first thing that the audience see. Although, there could be a reason for this. The title may be positioned here because it could be the last thing that they want the audience to see so that they can remember it and then go onto watch the trailer so that they can find out more about the film and events that happen within the film, which will then make them want to watch the full film. Also, the font of this makes it look like child's writing as there is a mix of lower and upper case fonts. However, you would not expect an ordinary child's writing to be in this sharp, evil writing, which makes Esther 'different'. It also looks like it has been engraved and suggests that Esther is engraving her evil on other people within the film and destroying other people’s life's. Finally, the date of the film’s release is situated at the bottom of the poster and stands out again in a red font to ensure that people know when they can go and watch the full film.

I feel that the orphan film poster successfully appeals to their target audience as it includes all of the details with the main image of the main character within the film. I also feel that because the text used on the poster is "short and snappy" it will further appeal to the target audience because it meant that they can quickly read it and will give the audience a clear understanding of the film without giving too much information away to also allow them to see the film.