Thriller Movie Posters

Posters for thriller films can hint at themes in the film before people see it. From looking at posters for thrillers I have noticed conventions of them.  The first one is that it is common for the protagonist of the film to be the focus point in the poster. It is seen in the 'Black Swan', 'The Silence of the Lambs' and 'Seven' posters. This may be so that people are aware of whose story we are following and who we should be supporting.

                                          

It is common also for the main text on the poster to be red. I think that this is because the colour has very strong connotations of blood, danger, passion, alert, risk, death; all common themes in thriller films. This can be seen here in the 'Jaws', 'Misery', 'Seven' and 'The Silence of the Lambs' posters. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another popular convention is the gripping and blunt taglines. For example: 'Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now, he's writing to stay alive.' 'In space no one can hear you scream' and 'Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die'. These can also gives hints to the

content and themes of the film. 

Also, the posters tend to be quite simple designs. In these examples there is usually one focus point- the

egg in 'Alien', the house in 'Misery',

the shark in 'Jaws' etc.