The Blair Witch Project
Poster Analysis
Graphic design
- The poster relies on very traditional ways of evoking fear from the viewer, linking back to childhood fears such as the darkness, the darker side of fairy stories and the image of the girls face lit from below similar to when scary stories are told when you are young, a torch was held below the narrators face to light it from below. Using these techniques in a serious way makes this poster extremely effective in being frightening for the audience.
- The colour scheme of this post is predominantly black, showing that the film has a very dark tone, but also connotes fear and creates an enigma as there is limited visibility in the setting. The darkness of the background and high contrast also helps to highlight the key features of the poster either in red or white. This colour scheme follows the conventions of supernatural horror films and gives a real sense of danger.
- Title is at bottom because keeping main aspects of the poster out of the central triangle to make the viewer look for longer as they have to scan the poster to take the information in. The image of the girls face and the detail of the woods is also positioned in the upper and lower sections for the same reason.
- The text “In October...” is all that is left in the centre triangle of the poster as it keeps it away from the title and the film information to make it seem more real, and this realism is a main intention of the film.
- Other main features on the poster are highlighted in red, such as the symbol which has links to witchcraft and voodoo. The fact that this symbol is so unusual creates and enigma for the audience making it frightening. The red colour of the Blair Witch symbol has connotations with danger, blood and death and shows that it is linked to the danger within the film.
- The image of the girl in this poster is taken with a point of view camera at a low angle, extreme close up of her eyes, which hides most of her facial features adding to the enigma. The girl is looking into the camera showing that it is her point of address. This shows the audience that the style of the film is hand held which was a revolution at the time that the film was first released, and so was a big selling point for the film which is why it is a huge feature in the poster. Her face is predominantly shadowed showing she is in the dark and it also symbolises how this character is surrounded by danger and engulfed by fear. In this image the girl’s eyes are shown quite clearly and this emphasises the fear she is feeling and as it is personal address to the audience it brings them into this sense of fear and desperation that is clear from her expression
Setting
- In the upper sector of the poster, you can see a silhouette style tree outline, clearly indicating to the audience where the film is set in the woods, a stereotypical setting for horror stories, linking all the way back to fairy tales such red riding hood and Hansel and Gretel, where the innocent victims are taking into this territory which is where the danger is. The woods used as a setting has connotations of darkness, isolation and danger and this is reflected in the dark tone of this image used in the background of the poster.
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