Thursday, 10 September 2015

Semiotics - Analysis of Film Poster

Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs. We read images in an attempt to decode them and have them make sense to us. Two key words are
  • Denotation: what we see when we look at an image.
  • Connotation: what is understood from the image.
For example different colours express different feelings and symbols. Red can be seen as anger or love. Blue can be seen as calming or coldness. Green can be seen as envy or nature. Finally yellow can be seen as cowardly or sunshine. There are many more things that these colours could symbolise but the list is never ending.

Semiotics of a film poster
This is the film poster of the film Sinister. Firstly the thing that stands out is the face on the wall almost painted in the blood. Immediately you can see this face is anomalous and chilling which reflects to the viewers that there is going to be some sort of demon or ghost involved in the film. Secondly I noticed the girl walking past and has her hand pressed up against the wall near where the picture of the face is. This could be the girl has been possessed by this demon and is portraying this by drawing the face onto the wall. The fact the face is dark reflects that he will be a dark and intimidating character in the film. Finally you see the less obvious things like cracks in the wall which could show how the demon has spotted weaknesses in the young girl and thats why he chose to possess her.
Another way you could look at it is that the image on the wall is made of blood and this reflects the pain that he has caused this young girl.

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