Textual Analysis Of A Film Poster | The Crazies

Release Date: 26 February 2010 (UK)
Directed By: Breck Eisner
Genre: Horror Mystery Sci- Fi
Written By: Scott Kosar and Ray Wright

The Crazies written by Scott Kosar, Ray Wright and George A. Romero, released in the UK on the 26th February 2010.

Film posters are used as a method of advertisement to help promote a film. Film posters are usually displayed in various media platforms such as magazines, internet sites, billboards.

The chief narrative focus of the poster is the sign post on the right of the poster. This reads “Welcome to…. County...” Parts of the typography on the sign are not visible because the sign is covered by another typography which is written in a red sans-serif font, which reads “Help Us”.

The red colour looks as if it was written in blood. This follows the characterises of a horror movie, where there is someone or somebody who is trying to stay alive while something or someone is trying to kill them. This would help attract an audience and create a buzz straight away because there are audiences who are attracted to these types of films.

The dominant colours of the poster are of a grey low key which helps create, the atmosphere of death, sense of mystery, fear and emptiness which all link to the genre of the film.

The setting of the poster seems to be an old American crop field with a road which fades away into the distance. This is also helps to enforce the convections of horror films. Where the characters of film are stuck in an abandoned area and need help to escape.

We can then say that the “Help Us” written on the sign post and the road which fades into the distance are connote the same thing, and this then creates a buzz for the viewers because they would all try and work out the plot of the film, just by looking at the poster because they may believe it’s a film which connotes the normal codes and convections of horror films.


The anchorage of the title of the film, “The Crazies”, is written in a red sans-serif font, the red colour looks as if the writing has been smudged, this could connote the displacement of the characters in the film, by the designer(s) choosing to use this effect, and this could then create a vague idea for the viewers about the plot of the film and the type of characters in the story, this could then persuade the audience to dig out more information about the film, and I believe this is the main task a poster is to perform.

“The”, is written smaller and placed in the centre above “Crazies”, the designer(s) may have chosen this method of designing because they want the audience to be focused on the typography of “Crazies”, because this anchorage best explains the plot of the film.

On the top left of the poster there are 3 quotes from reviewers for the film, this helps create a buzz for the audience, and draws a wider audience for the film, because the follows of the reviewers may not be attracted to this genre of film. But because the audiences highly respect the reviewers they will give the film a chance and go and watch the film. This will in return create more revenue for the film production companies.

On the bottom of the poster, there are two logos of the film production companies which produced the film. This may have been done to help create awareness for the companies because the companies are not well known compared to the Hollywood Majors, by having the logos at the bottom of the poster this will create a wider awareness for this film and further films to come.

Overall, I believe this poster accomplishes the main purpose of persuading an audience to want to watch the film. This is done through various methods/ techniques such as the smudged red colour font for the title of the film, this is attractive to eye but on a more in depth level its give the audience a vague idea of the type of the characters which are entailed in the film.
I do however believe that if the poster had included the names of actors on the poster, this would create a larger buzz for the film, because of the use of “Star Power”, because actors who play certain rolls attract fans who may have enjoyed the actors previous film. Also to help inform the audience on a wider scale the age certificate show have been included on the poster.