Textual Analysis of a Film Poster (INSIDIOUS)

Film title: Insidious

Director: James Wan

Wrter: Legh Whannell

Release date: 29^th Aprl 2011

Synopsis: Insidous is based on a normal American family who have recently moved into a new house, which is fairly old. Their young son has an unknown accident and then falls into a deep coma which cant be explain as there is no explanation to it. The family then start to experience odd and weird event. They then begin to believe that the house is haunted and decide to move to another home which s quite modern and not old like the other house. However, after settling down in their new home the same weird experiences is still happening and getting worse as days go bye. They then decide to seek for help and this help makes them find out that it is not the house that haunted it’s their son. There is only one person to get his son back is the father himself.

The poster has a mixture of key lightening. When you first look at the poster, you actually wouldn’t think that it is a horror film because of the high key lightening that has been used, mainly at the top of the poster around the house. However when you look at it closely, you will then notice a few wrong things about the poster. Even though there has been high key lighting used it doesn’t look bright, but looks quite dull. Also around the poster low key lightening used, which looks smoky and ghostly. This will automatically warn the audience that there is something wrong with the house. The low key lightening does give the poster an effect of mystery. 


When looking at the poster as a whole it has a cold look which will make an affect on the audience and making them have different thoughts about the film, which will make them what to find out more about the film.

There are some symbols that have been used in the poster which some audiences may notice and some may not. Firstly if you look closely on the left hand side of the house on the window, you will be bale to spot a figure and the arm of a body. This may already scare some audiences and may actually tease them to go on and watch the film. Also another symbol used is the eyes of the boy. His eyes have been scribbled out and this will get the audiences thinking why has his eyes been scribbled out? There can be many answers to that question. Again this symbol may influence the audience to watch the film.

The main figure of the poster is the boy who has been placed in the middle of the poster and has no facial expressions. The position of the boy can be seen when using the rule of thirds, which is making the boy the main focus of the poster. This may be representing he fact that this boy may be the main character of the film. Also the title of the film has been placed in the middle of the poster but just under the boys head. The font of the title is quite big and the colour of it makes it stand out.

There is one main genre convention used, which is the eyes of the boy. Since this is a supernatural genre the eyes of the boy works well with the genre.

What may drag attention to this poster is the boy in the middle with his eyes scribbled out. This could easily confuse the audience as to why the eyes off this boy are this way and also the skin of the boy doesn’t really look normal or healthy.

The tagline of this poster is, “From the makers of SAW and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.”  Many people have heard about the movies ‘Saw’ and ‘Paranormal activity’ and know what type of movies they are, especially that these movies where successful in the industry. This will give the audience an idea on what the film will be like, s8ince it is by the same makers of other movies that may have been watched. Also audiences who are fans of ‘Saw’ and ‘paranormal activity, this tagline will interest them to watch the film.

On the poster there is a quote from a known person, “SO SCARY I was whimpering in sheer terror (5star). Collin, The News of the World.” Reading the view of another person could influence audiences to watch the film and also the 5 star rating from this person can also influence others.

I believe that the marketing side of this campaign was successful. The poster was displayed on the internet, on billboards on the windows of movie stores, on buses and even in newspapers. The aim was to advertise this film and to tease the audiences on the upcoming new horror supernatural film.    

I think that this poster is a good poster as it will communicate effectively with certain audiences who are interested in horror films and those who are especially interested in supernatural films. Just the look of the boy on the poster will get audiences thinking, why are the eyes of the boy like this? Is he possessed? Is he a ghost? It is also a good poster because it doesn’t give away a lot about the film which will draw the attention if different audiences and not only the target group.