Film Poster Analysis- Silent Hill (Pre-June 2010)

Title of the film- Silent Hill

Director- Christophe Gans

Institution- TriStar Pictures

Year of Release- April 21st 2006

Silent Hill' 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. 

Silent Hill is a psychological horror film about a mother who takes her daughter to a place called ‘silent hill’ because she talks about it in her dreams but can’t remember and therefore her mum brings her there to allow her to remember this place.  The film poster shows an image, which takes up the whole page. However, whereas on other film posters it is the main character that takes up the majority of the page, on this poster some of the area is shown and the sign “welcome to silent hill.” The sign is very scratched and old, which you wouldn’t expect on a sign, suggesting that something has previously happened in Silent Hill for the sign to look like this, but the audience would have to see the film to find out what has happened. In addition to this, a character is showing but it doesn’t necessarily look like the main character of the film because although she is placed in the centre of the page, she doesn’t seem to be the main focus. Whereas, on other horror film posters direct address is used to catch the audience’s attention, on this poster the character has her back to the camera suggesting that she is trying to hide something of she is about to enter silent hill to look for something. This allows the audience to have a bit of an understanding of the storyline without giving too much away.
 
This is supported by the tag line “we’ve been expecting you” which could mean that the girl has been having these dreams because they want to see her. However, again not too much information is given away and this created a code of enigma and wants the audience to see the film because at this point they are unsure of who they are expecting to see as the characters faces aren’t shown in the poster which makes the audience want to see the film to find out what has happened. Fog is used in the image to represent a mystery and the unknown which is used in all horror films. I think fog frightens people because of the unknown that could be lurking just beyond your sight. This adds a big effect to the film poster because the audience are always left wondering what is happening. The fact that there is fog suggests that the film is set in winter which also makes it scarier as if it was set in summer, the atmosphere might be a lot happier, which you don’t expect to see in a horror film. From looking at the title of the film we can denote that the film is a horror film because the writing looks like it has almost been painted onto the poster as the letters are all different sizes. The writing is also in black to allow it to stand out from the background to the audience and black has connotations of power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown and usually has a negative connotation. This is important especially in this film poster because the audience are always left unknown to what is happening and to whom because none of the main characters within the film are shown.
 
There is a credit block at the bottom of the poster which allows the audience to see the names of the director and actors within the film, which could further make them want to see the film as some of their favourite characters and actors might feature within the film.