'Silhouette' style poster
The above posters show a silhoutted character against a lighter background. This is a good concept for my film poster as it gives me the opportunity to introduce the main horror villain in the film, thereby rendering the poster 'scary' in appearance, whilst still concealing the details of the figure. This in turn both draws the audience in as it makes the focal character of the poster more interesting and mysterious, and also provides them with more of a surprise as to what the character actually looks like in the actual film. One thing I have noticed is that the size of the silhouetted figure is almost directly corrolated to how threatening and menacing it appears on the poster. The smaller figure on the poster on the right, for example, appears far less of a threat and therefore far less scary than the other larger silhouettes. The use of the colour behind the figure also seems important as well: the red-orange colour of the poster on the left appears the most threatening as red connotes danger, but similarly the middle and right posters, with their drab colours, appear more eerie and more naturally and subtly chilling. One more thing to consider is the positioning of the character within the poster: on the left and middle posters the character is facing the person viewing the poster and I feel that this, in turn, makes the poster seem more disturbing as it is focused on the audience, making the overall feel of the poster more threatening and personal.
'Full face' style poster
The above posters show a full face shot of what is assumedly the main horror villain creature of their films. This could be a good concept for my poster as I do have a main 'monster' creature which fits the grotesque appearances of the figures in the examples shown above, and it is much more initially striking and unnerving than the previous poster concept, being that the face is the focal point and there is little else. Each poster uses a dark background in contrast to the coloured or lighter backgrounds of the silhouette posters, and this in turn makes the face stand out even more, which is something I need to consider should I use this technique in my own poster. However, this design for a poster, whilst unnerving and probably the most obvious portrayal of a horror poster, does not utilise the sense of mystery that the previous poster style does; and this in turn may not pique the curiousity of some potential viewers whereas not revealing everything may coerce some people to watch the film out of intrigue.
'Location/landscape' style poster
The above posters is more focused on a location/landscape than a specific character. This would be somewhat beneficial for my poster as it does not reveal any of the plot/characters, creating intrigue and mystery, however, it does not really connote the horror theme very effectively (with the exception of the font, which is reminiscent of a horror film) and therefore using this technique in my own poster could confuse my potential audience. The other problem in using a poster like this is that there is not any particularly striking or important locations or scenes in my film (it is set in a dark basement and there are no proper shots of an exterior building) so this poster is overall not the best choice for my poster. Also, judging by the fact that this is the only poster of this style I could find that represented the horror genre, it is not a popular design, and therefore may not be the most effective in regards to conveying what I wish to convey in regards of my own film poster within my chosen genre.
Conclusively, it would appear that in regards to the effects I wish to achieve and the audience I wish to gain from my poster, the 'silhouette' style is the most effective as it captures attention and appears ominous and chilling but reveals little of the plot/characters, creating a sense of mystery which will hopefully draw my audience in.
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