"Ghost Tour" Short film poster analysis

The layout of this poster is very distorted. The main image covers the whole of the film poster, it is a birds eye view of a room as if the ceiling has been taken off and someone is looking in. This image is at an angle and a shadow of a human is featured in the middle. All of the text is pushed to the top and bottom of the poster. The image definitely gives away what the short film is about. The dark candle-lit room partnered with the shadow tells us it is either a thriller or horror. Another feature which hints at the genre and plot is the tag line which says "We all have to go sometime." This tells us that death is involved, the fact that it is all in capital letters adds that extra sinister edge. The tag line matches the main title of the short film "Ghost Tour". The font of the title is quite and old fashioned looking font, it is fairly skinny but still look is bold on the page. It is a slightly off white -yellowy colour, it is the same colours as where the light hits the tiles on the floor in the main image.

There is the institutional block at the bottom just above the logo of the production company and the release date, all in the same font as all the other text. Having a release date it very unusual for a short film poster as they usually are released at a film festival and public viewing is staggered. 

The overall colours of the film poster are very dark, the outer edge is all black and dark browns and gets lighter towards the middle so its clear to see the shadow. All the furniture in the room is dark mahogany which is slightly red. The mixture of all the dark colours mixed with the red connoted death and evil. The colours on this poster are very important as you instantly know what genre the film is without reading the title or looking at the main image.

Due to the main image being a room with a shadow it is impossible to tell who the main characters are or what happens due to there being no body language or facial expressions to analyse. However this does create enigma, which is typical of a horror. We don't know who the shadow is off or where the room is, which leaves the audience asking questions and in turn hopefully making them watch the film. The mise en scene of the whole poster works really well to display the themes and genre of the movie with out giving too much away. The props used are all old fashioned looking, there is a chair and sofa set with a large lamp on a wooden unit. All the same reddish colour and look like they have come from an old gothic mansion. The composition of the shadow is very clever as it is the main thing you look at with out actually being that big.