Analysis Poster - 28 Weeks Later

 

The Masthead on this poster is big and bold with a worn styling to it which connotes the age of the image, and directly relates to the title 28 weeks later as the name of the film suggests a unit of time; this creates a link between the style used and the theme of the film. The Masthead itself says in thick text “WARNING!” which does connote an aspect of danger, and it does seem to have a faint blood spatter across some of the lettering which helps to infer the danger element, and does connote the horror genre through its use, although subtle.

The imagery used in the poster is very minimalistic, as it only features a figure in a biohazard control suit wielding an assault rifle, but the image reinforces the danger aspect of the image and is in keeping with the style. It also seems very realistic as it does seem like a genuine quarantine poster, especially with the use of the biohazard symbol which altogether connote that there is some kind of infection or disease which is threatening human life. The only other imagery used is the border of the images which connotes a sort of professionalism to it as if it was government issued, and the entire poster seems like it was designed to instil fear into those who have been quarantined.

The typography used in the poster follows the same style as the masthead, and the text itself really reinforces the ideology of the film having “Maintain the quarantine” as the top line which easily connotes the content of the film to an audience and it also features more aggressive text saying “deadly force” which connotes that disobedience of the warnings will be fatal. This helps to connote the situation to the audience, as the entirety of the text seems like a military or government force made it.

The colour used in the poster stands out vividly as it only uses different shades of red with a white border. The red is a classic convention of the horror genre, mainly because it resembles the colour of blood and as most horror films feature an aspect of gore it makes it very easy to connote the film genre to an audience. The white border is also useful in that it helps to separate the colour of the text from the main image. The white around the outside also aids the verisimilitude of the poster as it actually looks like a real poster that would be issued, bar the film title.

The film genre is quite easy to identify, although at first glance you may mistake it for an action film, however, after reading the text and seeing the style of images it does seem more like a horror film poster, as it doesn’t seem cheesy like some action posters and has a very serious appearance.

Although it may not be the clearest horror poster ever devised it is very effective at connoting the film style and content, using common conventions and minimalistic imagery.