Research: Poster Analysis - The Blair Witch Project

Introduction
The Blair Witch Project is an American horror film released in 1999. The narrative is presented as a documentary pieced together from amateur footage, filmed in real time. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company and directed by Daniel Myrick and Edardo Sanchez. The film relates the story of three young student filmmakers who hike into the Black Hills of Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, and subsequently go missing. The viewer is told that the three were never found, although their video and sound equipment was discovered a year later. This "recovered footage" is presented as the film the viewer is watching. In this analysis I will explain in detail the conventions and meaning of this film poster.

Camera work
The camera work used in this poster is a high angle which is focusing on the subject eyes. This camera work used makes the subject’s eye the main focus of the poster, which would attract the target audience. The camera work used makes the subject look vulnerable however at the same time the image appeals to the target audience. The fact that only half of the subject’s face is shown suggest enigma. The image taken is a still taken from the footage and cannot be reproduced because this film is based around footage which has been found. The lighting used could suggest that a torch is being used underneath his face to enable his face to be lit up. This would allow the target audience straight away to indentify the genre of the film horror, due to the connotations. The lighting only lights up parts of his face making one his eye’s the main focus whilst the other is half lit up. This would attract the target audience as it can be used as a focal point. The eye’s show emotion of fear and together with the camera angle suggests that the subject is the victim. This would therefore attract the target audience as they would want to find out more about the image.

Colour - The three predominant colours used in this poster are black, red, and white. The black represents dullness and darkness together this adds with theme of the genre (horror) so it allows the target audience to identify the genre straight away. The red shown in this poster is not used as much as the other two colours. The red is only used to show the logo and the website of the film. The use of the colour red emphasis the logo which could suggest death or danger. The red at the bottom of the poster is used to attract the target audience to the website and makes this section of the text more visible. The last predominate colour used in this poster is white; this is only used to show the writing. By putting the writing in white it allows the target audience to read the text clearly and it stands out against the black but at the same time it’s not over power the main image. Having some text allows the target audience to gain a brief understanding of what the film is about, the text used in this poster leaves the target audience wanting to watch this film. The white suggest purity and in this case is used a neutral colour in order for all three colour to tie in together. The use of the colour white is also a practical design choice. The three predominate colours indicate mystery which will attract the target audience in wanting to watch the film or known more about it.

Typeface - The Typeface used in the main title “The Blair Witch Project” is all written in capital letters. This is means it’s trying to emphasis the title as something important. Having the title in capital letters would attract the target audience as and therefore become recognized. This would encourage the target audience to watch the film or find out more about it. The typeface above the main image is written in small but bold text this is often known as san serif. This allows the target audience to have a brief understanding/ background of the film within the summary given on the poster. The use of white colour in the typeface enables the text to be seen clearly against the black background. The emphasis is made on the face that it’s a ‘real’ which would attract the target audience as not many films have this storyline based on raw footage.

Layout - The layout of this poster is clear and easy to read. The layout of this poster is simple and is eye catching to the target audience. The layout of this post is similar to Saw IV and other film poster in that they all follow the same conventions which are the main image, title, brief catch phrase of the film and credits. All these conventions are easy to indentify however in their separate ways enable the target audience to understanding what the genre is immediately. The layout of this poster makes the target audience first drawn to the image, then the text above and lastly the title. This means that the target audience are keep engaged with the whole poster.

Target audience - The target audience for which the poster is aiming to attract is people aged 16-25. The use of the word “students” in the poster suggests that other students would prefer watching the film as would find it easier to relate to the characters. It could be suggested that students studying Film, Media studies etc are also being targeted due to the use of the language “three student’s filmmakers”.

Representation - The representation of this poster suggest enigma through the image. By only allowing the target audience so see the top half of the persons head but the emphasis being on the eyes shows huge enigma in the fact that the target audience cannot identify the person leaving them wanting to know more. The representation of the logo placed above the writing is trying to show someone being hung but it an unusual way. This logo shows ambiguity. The use of the colour red represents blood or devil which is all connotations to do with horror. The other major representation is the image. Its placed in a forest with indicates a feeling of isolation this together with the eyes creates a representation of fear.

Media language - The media language used in this poster is straight to the point and written so that the target audience understand the point trying to be portrayed. The writing covers all aspects which the target audience need to know in order for them to have a good
Understanding of the film for example explaining who is in the film “three students”, the location Maryland and the place where the film is set “the woods”. The use of the ellipsis after the word “documentary” adds tension to the text. This allows the target audience to pause and think also adding enigma.