Film Poster Inspiration

When creating our trailer, we also need to create a poster, As our film is a clown horror, we needed to take inspiration from other clown films, such as: IT, CLOWN, 100 TEARS and HELLO BINGO. All these titles had something in common and other aspects that made them all different. It was important for us to consider all of these ideas before creating our own. 


All these clown posters have a common feature, regarding the shot of the poster. They all have a close up photograph of a clown against the screen. The clown is commonly looking directly at the audience, which gives an eerie and sinister appearance. In addition, it also helps to entice and invite the audience in, in a persuasive way as it almost looks like the clown is talking directly to the audience. This is effective because clowns are historically used to entertain and amuse young children, which means that they would be asking them questions, talking to them and playing games with them. Therefore, the idea of the clown staring directly into the audience's eyes helps to fixate and engage our target audience into the film. The colour scheme throughout the posters is commonly dark. The primary and main colours used are reds, blacks and whites which is ironic, as it is the colour of the face-paint that clowns would wear. These colours also symbolise negative aspects, for example, the colour red symbolised danger and blood, whereas black connotes power, mystery and death, all attributes that are commonly associated 
with horror films. 

In all three four of the posters, the title is placed at the bottom. This is effective, as the main image of the clown is filling the frame of the photograph, therefore, if the title was in the middle as well then it would create a distraction from the main image, which is the most important. The fonts are all in capital letters, which is not only a stereotypical convention for film poster, but helps to make the font bolder and more engaging for the audience. The audience are able to notice the title quickly, which immediately puts thoughts and ideas in their heads about what the film could potentially be about. Film posters are tricky, they need to be able to give the audience an insight to what the film is about, without giving too much away- much like a trailer. The posters need to be able to speak for themselves, which is an important factor that we have noted when we create our own poster.The credits and small prints are conventionally placed underneath the title of the film. This is an easy way for the audience to locate where the facts are about the film. Such as, who made the film, produced it and any actors/actresses that are featured in it, as well as the distributor. This is important, as it can help the film to have a USP- Unique Selling Point. If a film has famous and successful actors in it, that have been featured in other successful, popular and well known films, then its a common indication that this film will too, be effective and successful.

There are dark and reflective tones used on the posters which help to give an ominous and creepy atmosphere. Similar to our trailer credits, we want to include this on our poster. As the photographs are so close up, it's important to make the clown look realistic and effective. By adding small dash marks and faded corners helps to add a surreal and eerie atmosphere to the poster. The date is often placed where the credits are- underneath the main title. However, in the third film poster, the date is posted at the top. Identifiably, the date tells the audience the release date of the film. This is important for fans and movie enthusiasts, as it helps to create excitement and adrenaline for the audience. This is also an important factor regarding the social media aspects of the film, as then, the company are able to release hints and count downs for the film, to produce more excitement for the film, and get the film grossing and trending on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. 

Slogans are a common feature that are presented in posters. They help to entice the audience into the poster, usually through the way of asking questions- a form of direct address. Some examples of slogans in horror films include: 'If this movie doesn't make your skin crawl... it's on too tight!' This automatically suggests something about cannibalism as it creates an image of the skin needing to be removed due to it being to tight. This reflects a chilling atmosphere to the audience as the thought of someone saying that would unnerve anyone. This could suggest that the film is a zombie like one which answers why the skin is too tight as they eat skin.'The night HE came home' An enigma is created just by using the noun 'HE', as no one knows who this character is. Having it in capital upper case letter suggests that this character has dominance and power within the film, which you should not mess with. This therefore suggests that 'HE' is the antagonist of the film. Using the word 'home' implies that it would be set in a neighborhood which would be very relatable to the audience as they live in a neighbourhood.