Copyright 2018 by Gary L. Pullman
What scares an audience?
In selecting such frights, it's best to tap into general or universal
fears. After all, a horror novel is written for a general audience.
The Internet is a good source for identifying the objects of such fears, some of which make sense, while others, the phobias, are irrational (at least from the point of view of those who don't suffer from one of them). Either rational or irrational objects of fear are acceptable fodder for the fiction of fear, aka horror stories.
Besides Internet lists, movie posters themselves are great sources for identifying general or universal fears. They should be: they're selling them, in the form of films.
By analyzing a horror movie poster, a writer can determine which particular fear the poster is tapping, but he or she can also obtain a few other valuable bits of information, learning a few tips about how to put a scary story together and how to emphasize its frightening aspects.
In analyzing such posters, one should focus only on the poster itself, without referencing anything from the film. That way, one is not biasing his or her interpretation of the poster itself with external information.
The Internet is a good source for identifying the objects of such fears, some of which make sense, while others, the phobias, are irrational (at least from the point of view of those who don't suffer from one of them). Either rational or irrational objects of fear are acceptable fodder for the fiction of fear, aka horror stories.
Besides Internet lists, movie posters themselves are great sources for identifying general or universal fears. They should be: they're selling them, in the form of films.
By analyzing a horror movie poster, a writer can determine which particular fear the poster is tapping, but he or she can also obtain a few other valuable bits of information, learning a few tips about how to put a scary story together and how to emphasize its frightening aspects.
In analyzing such posters, one should focus only on the poster itself, without referencing anything from the film. That way, one is not biasing his or her interpretation of the poster itself with external information.
The poster for the movie
Alien is a good example.
Before we consider it in detail, let's list a few facts about art and design upon which such posters rely:
Before we consider it in detail, let's list a few facts about art and design upon which such posters rely:
Readers
of English are taught to read from top to bottom and from left to
right.
Artists appeal to the senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell), and sight, the chief of the senses, involves a variety of elements: color, distance (yes, we “see” distance, using depth perception), size, shape, and intensity (light or dark).
The central image (the selling point) is positioned near, but slightly off, center. Often, this image is of a model, who is shown larger or more intensely than other models, if others are pictured in the poster. Unless the context suggests otherwise (a Playmate, on the cover of Playboy, for instance), a female model is directed at women who are about the model's own age and economic station, while a male model is aimed at men of about the model's own age and economic level. The idea, it seems, is that the poster invites the viewer to imagine him- or herself in the model's place, relying on his or her wanting to be like the model.
Posters frequently use what Hollywood calls “props” (short for “properties”), objects which may have thematic or symbolic significance.
The overall design of the poster moves the viewer's gaze so that it ends up on the product.
Posters are divided roughly into thirds, horizontally, vertically, or (rarely) diagonally, so that there's a foreground, a mid-ground, and a background.
Often, a poster implies a metaphor. The metaphor is usually related to an intangible quality, such as an emotion.
The text, if any, is the key to unlocking the meaning of the metaphor.
Not all posters contain all these features, but the features are common to posters (and other print advertisements in general).
Okay, back to the Alien poster.Artists appeal to the senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell), and sight, the chief of the senses, involves a variety of elements: color, distance (yes, we “see” distance, using depth perception), size, shape, and intensity (light or dark).
The central image (the selling point) is positioned near, but slightly off, center. Often, this image is of a model, who is shown larger or more intensely than other models, if others are pictured in the poster. Unless the context suggests otherwise (a Playmate, on the cover of Playboy, for instance), a female model is directed at women who are about the model's own age and economic station, while a male model is aimed at men of about the model's own age and economic level. The idea, it seems, is that the poster invites the viewer to imagine him- or herself in the model's place, relying on his or her wanting to be like the model.
Posters frequently use what Hollywood calls “props” (short for “properties”), objects which may have thematic or symbolic significance.
The overall design of the poster moves the viewer's gaze so that it ends up on the product.
Posters are divided roughly into thirds, horizontally, vertically, or (rarely) diagonally, so that there's a foreground, a mid-ground, and a background.
Often, a poster implies a metaphor. The metaphor is usually related to an intangible quality, such as an emotion.
The text, if any, is the key to unlocking the meaning of the metaphor.
Not all posters contain all these features, but the features are common to posters (and other print advertisements in general).
The first thing we notice is the word “ALIEN.” Centered at the top of the poster, it's printed, in all-capital letters. The white text stands out starkly against the black background, both the size, the color, and the capital letters drawing our attention. We know that, by convention, all caps indicates shouting or screaming, but there's something else unusual about the word. It looks unfamiliar, or alien, because its letters are spaced, as if to suggest that the thought the word expresses is, like the word used to express it, strange and is being spoken haltingly, perhaps with awe or dread.
Centered below the text, some distance down the poster, is an oval object that resembles both an asteroid and an egg. The ambiguity of the object heightens the sense of the alien, or the unknown.
It's egg-shaped, and there's some sort of substance oozing from a crack in it, but the substance doesn't resemble egg yolk; it looks gaseous or, perhaps, radioactive; the crack in it seems to resemble a grinning mouth; and the object's outer surface is pitted and cratered, and bears strange bumps. We've never seen an egg like this! In fact, maybe the object isn't an egg.
Maybe it's an asteroid. It appears to be made of stone. It looks hard as a rock. The pits and bumps resemble those that mark celestial objects. It seems to be oozing gas or radioactivity. It's located in outer space. Whatever it is, the thing is certainly unlike anything else we've ever encountered; it's alien to us.
In small letters, beneath the asteroid-egg, is a sentence: “In space no one can hear you scream.”
I feel a slight shudder every time I read that!
This sentence is a masterpiece of copywriting. It locates us; we are “in space.”
It isolates us: “no one can hear [us[ scream.” (Why do we scream? To sound an alarm, to signal the need for help, but, since “in space no one can hear” us, we're completely on our own: no emergency medical technicians, no police, no firefighters, no military personnel are coming to our aid. We are isolated and alone.)
The sentence also gets personal with us; the sentence assures us that “no one can hear you scream” (emphasis added).
Below the asteroid-egg, a green shadow appears, which resembles a strange rising sun, just as the top of a strand of the cargo net looks a bit like a mountain range along the horizon.
What's in the cargo hold? We don't know, but the poster suggests, whatever it is, it's scary and dangerous.
The sentence below the asteroid-egg also identifies the types of audience who would probably be interested in seeing the movie the poster promotes: “space” suggests that the film is likely to appeal to science fiction fans, while “scream” implies that people who enjoy horror movies might want to see this film.
All that is quite a lot to pack into a single sentence!
The poster is divided roughly into thirds horizontally: the word “ALIEN” and the space between it and the central object (the asteroid-egg) is the top layer, or background; the asteroid-egg and the sentence below it are the middle layer, or mid-ground; and the cargo net is the bottom layer, or foreground.
As the eye travels down, the viewer's gaze is led from the notion of the alien to a visual representation of it, and finally to the cargo net, which leaves the viewer with a sense of mystery and uneasiness.
Finally, the black background represents space, where “no one can hear you scream,” but it also symbolizes the unknown, another word for the alien, unifying the poster's theme and helping, once more, to drive home the theme of the poster: the movie is about something beyond human ken.
By analyzing this poster, we learn:
Art,
design, symbolism, and text work together to tap into an audience's
fears. (In a novel, such elements can, and should, also work together
to achieve the same type of result.)
One of the fears many people have is of the unknown, or “alien.”
Ambiguity can be both a source of fear and a way to heighten fear.
Visuals (images, or in novels, descriptions) can generate or heighten fear.
Well-thought-out, well-written sentences can suggest a variety of ideas and feelings, producing several related effects.
Colors can express symbolic meanings or associations.
A lack of context creates mystery.
Placement in a poster (or arrangement, or composition, in a novel's scenes) can, and should, promote both the writer's message (be afraid; be very afraid!) and its emotional expression.
Sometimes, simpler is better.
One of the fears many people have is of the unknown, or “alien.”
Ambiguity can be both a source of fear and a way to heighten fear.
Visuals (images, or in novels, descriptions) can generate or heighten fear.
Well-thought-out, well-written sentences can suggest a variety of ideas and feelings, producing several related effects.
Colors can express symbolic meanings or associations.
A lack of context creates mystery.
Placement in a poster (or arrangement, or composition, in a novel's scenes) can, and should, promote both the writer's message (be afraid; be very afraid!) and its emotional expression.
Sometimes, simpler is better.
A
poster is a promise. See this movie, Alien, and you will be scared to
death—and you'll enjoy it (both the movie and the fear it
generates) if you like either sci fi, horror, or both.
It's up to the movie to deliver on this promise. Most people who've seen it, including critics, agree that the film is just as frightening as the poster promoting it indicated it would be.
In using similar techniques to identify and communicate the fear a novel's first sentence, its first paragraph, and its first chapter, indicating what will follow, are also promises that writers must keep.
It's up to the movie to deliver on this promise. Most people who've seen it, including critics, agree that the film is just as frightening as the poster promoting it indicated it would be.
In using similar techniques to identify and communicate the fear a novel's first sentence, its first paragraph, and its first chapter, indicating what will follow, are also promises that writers must keep.