Film Poster Analysis; Devil

     The main colours used in the above film poster for the movie “Devil” are black and grey with the significant use of the red. The black and grey are used to present to the audience the genre of horror through the themes of darkness. The red is used to emphasize to the audience the upside down crucifix which relates to the religious title “Devil” which shows us that the film is going to have some sort of religious significance to the genre of horror. Also highlighted in red is the number “6” above the door. The number 6 is relative to the devil and devil signs, adding to the theme of religion. Finally, the down button on the lift is highlighted in red, ie: pointing towards the ground or where there devil is situated in Hell, further adding to the religious and anti-christ themes of the genre horror.

Upside down cross

as shown in an

artist’s impression

of Baphomet, a 

main figure in the

Satanist religion.

     There are some key symbols in relation to the film title and theme of religion in this poster. As said in the above paragraph, the upside down red crucifix on the lift represents the anti christ which is showing the audience the central theme of the film is to do with religion. The number 6 above the lift doors relates to the illuminati symbol of the 666 which relates back to the devil and the title of the film. Finally, the down button on the lift is highlighted red, representing the lift and/or the people in the lift are going down ie: to hell, again referring back to the theme of religion.

Famous pop

singer-songwriter

Lady GaGa making

the “666” symbol

around her eye with

her hand

The Illuminati symbol of the

All Seeing Eye, a huge 

Satanist symbol

     The main and only object in the poster is the lift. The lift suggests that the film is to either take place of have some significance with a lift. It also suggests that the people that might be in the lift are either going up or down, as lifts only go in two directions. This is showing by highlighting that the doors are closed and there are two buttons on the lift, one going down and one going up, meaning that the fate of those inside is decided upon the lift itself.

     The messages in the poster are mostly visual for example the satanist symbols and messages, etc. There is a tag-line at the top of the poster “Five strangers trapped. One of the is not what they seem.” This suggests (with the title) that one of these strangers is the devil, hinting to the audience the themes of religion in the film.

     I think that the intended audience for this poster are working and middle class males and females (mainly males) aged between 15 and 30. This is because horror and thriller films are usually aimed at this specific audience, but by looking at the people that went to see it, we can see that in fact females went to see the film more than males, showing that a poster’s target audience isn’t always necessarily the target audience for the film. 

          There are some persuasive techniques used in the poster to attract the target audience. The dark colours used and the film title “Devil” instantly shows the audience this is a horror film, so the main audience for horror films (male and female teenagers) will see that this is what Devil is about, making them want to go and see it.

     There are a few genre conventions used in this poster. The main one being that the setting is dark, which is stereotypical for a horror film as most horrors films tend to take place at night or in a dark place. Also, the lift doors are closed which brings in the sub-genre of claustrophobia, which is used in a lot of horror films to scare the audience. If the doors were open, this would perhaps have a different effect on the audience because they then wouldn’t have that claustrophobic feeling, whereas the doors closed is giving this hint to the audience.

     None of the actor’s names are used in the poster to create a USP, because none of the actors in the film are particularly big stars, but there is the USP with the use of the name of the famous horror film creator M. Night Shyamalan. Known for his big horror hits such as The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Happening. I think that the poster has his name on it in order to attract more people to come and see the film.

     There are no critic quotes on the poster, and I think that this wasn’t necessarily because there weren’t any good reviews, I think that it was because the editor of the poster wanted to keep it plain and simple so it is plain for the audience to see what the film is about and what might be in it, without any manipulative opinions from critics.

     There is only one gratification promised on the poster, and this is that the inside of the lift in on fire and the button says it’s going down, perhaps telling the audience that people are in there, so this is going to make people come to see the film so that they may see whether or not people are stuck in the lift. This gratification promises the audience they could be scared if they go and see this film and this is done by bringing the theme of claustrophobia into the poster and the dark colours.

     The attention is gained again from the above paragraph, the fire in the lift. This is intended to shock the audience into wondering if there are any people in there.

     The tagline works effectively because we are given a general outline about what the film may be about, but not too much therefore making sure people don’t actually know the storyline in order to make them want to watch the film so that they know. “Five strangers trapped. One of them is not what they seem.” This lets the audience know that the film will has a twist relevant to the title.

     There are not many examples of important information in the poster, except the main one being the image of the lift. This is important as it automatically gives the audience a sense of the setting which is vital for the audience as they now know a decent amount of the film for them to want to come and watch it. Also, having the title of the film on the poster means that the audience knows that the film is going to have some religious significance, giving the audience two vital pieces of information, enough to draw them in to want to watch it. The most important piece of information (the image of the lift) takes up the most amount of space whereas the other piece of important information (the title “Devil”) doesn’t take up as much, showing that the editor of the poster wanted the audience to see the lift over anything else.

     The poster is quite important for the marketing campaign. The poster and the trailer are the only two forms of advertisement in the marketing for this film, so the poster had a big role in the advertising. The poster has been placed in several different advertising spots; it’s been seen on phone boxes, buses, train stations on the internet and on television as well as many other public places. This shows that the poster has had a significant role in the advertising for Devil, because if it wasn’t so big it wouldn’t have been placed in so many different places.

     I don’t think that this poster was very expensive to make; the simple shot of the lift with the special effect of the fire doesn’t look as if it cost a lot to make. This suggests that maybe the production team didn’t have much money to spend on advertising, which ties in with the fact that there aren’t any stars names suggesting that perhaps the poster was in fact on a budget to make.

     I think that the poster is extremely effective because the poster does everything needed; it suggests to the audience what the content of the film may be, and also gives in hints not only of the genre of horror but also the sub genre of religion and the devil. The poster also draws the audience in by keeping it plain and simple, making the audience want to know more whereas if the poster contained a lot of information and was designed in a busy fashion, this could put the audience off as they may not want to find anymore out.

     It communicates quite effectively with the audience in a sense that the audience are given the vital information a poster is to give without giving too much of the plot away. From the poster, we know that the film title, a general outline of the story and the setting. We are told these so that the audience has something to want to come and find out. The things we are not told are not put on the poster on purpose so that the audience has something to want to come back and see. We are not told who is in the film, any character names/picture, what the possible outcome could be etc. This is what makes the audience want to come and watch the film, as they want to find out this information; if they knew this information already it might put them off wanting to see it.

     There are no example of any readings harming the message of the marketing campaign for this poster; there is nothing on the poster distracting the audience from the main and sub messages of the poster.

     The poster is not generally offensive, although some Christians may take offense to the upside down cross as they may see this as an attack on their religion. Other than this, there is nothing really much offending on this poster.