Carrie was written by Lawrence D. Cohen based on a novel by Stephen King, Directed Brian De Palma and Produced by Paul Monash. Released on November 3rd, 1976. Disturbed by United Artists.
The film is about a girl that is closed of from others by being bullied at school and being abused at home by her religious mother. One day someone takes pity on her and asks her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom which she then agrees to go with him. Everything seems to go well until she is picked as prom queen and goes on stage to be drenched in pig’s blood. Carrie then uses her telekinesis power on her peers, creating murder and mayhem.
The poster consists of text and two contrasting medium shots of actress Sissy Spacek. The lighting in the picture to the left high key which displays a more welcoming and upbeat environment into comparison to the picture on the right which is low key with a bit of a glow focusing on the depth of colour coming of the actress’ emphasising the pain that is being inflicted.
The non verbal communication within the two pictures portrays different sides of the model which is very essential for the target audience to distinguish within this poster. In the picture on the left shows the actress broadly smiling and expressing happiness which combines well with the high key lighting connoting a positive atmosphere however the picture on the right shows the actress with a expressionless face with her eyes engaged widely towards the audience in a statue-like state which allows us to believe in the discomfort and pain that is coming from the shot.
The costumes from the actress in both differences foretell a story to the audience as it shows the gruesome comparison between the two which enables the horror genre to be expressed more. The light pink dress in the picture enhances the glee and happiness shown through the actress along with connoting her femininity and gentle emotions whilst the other that has the previous dress covered in a red substance believe to be blood. It connotes danger and warnings letting the audience aware of the bad things that will take place in the film.
The props used in this poster are used for the picture on the left symbolizing the usual US conventions of a teen homecoming queen with a sliver/sparkling tiara with pink roses with a pink bow which again as said in the costume analysis is connoting her femininity and gentle emotions within it, stereotypical revealing her frailness even though she may have the NVC of a happy and cheerful girl. This again comes into contrast with the opposite picture which relates more toward the horror theme, the denotation its self creates a story for audience to want to uncover and understand more clearly.
Setting is entirely seen within this poster however from what can be denotated from the left picture is a blue tranquil background along with glittery letters that is symbolically representing the prom environment; this is also known as previously said with the high key lighting it connotes a more safer feeling rather than the right picture that is dark and black around the actress connoting a eerie atmosphere to the audience.
The depth of field in both pictures is of a hyper focal distance. In 1976 it wouldn’t have been advanced as it is in the present however it clearly can show that within these the planes of the images the aperture and point of focus are the same throughout allowing it to be as a softer focus.
Anchorage in the poster allows the audience to be alerting of the tragic events which will take place at the prom and also clearly displaying what context of the images “IF YOU’VE GOT A TASTE OF TERROR… TAKE CARRIE TO THE PROM” this tagline gets the connotation from the pictures to get the audience more understanding that between both images and this text, a timeline of events are taken place which develops the mind of the audience to pinpoint this, thus intriguing them to watch the film showing whether their theories were correct or not.
This poster consists of both serif and sans serif font, the tagline at the top of page is of serif font connoting tradition which may have been quite unusual in 1976 because of it being new and accelerating for audience, however to be viewed today it is more understandable as to why it was done. On the other hand this serif font was used so many can think of having secret reveals in tradition towards ‘Carrie’ which gets them more interested in viewing this film. The sans serif font comes from the title in the middle of the poster ‘Carrie’ this created a more modern feel to it, along with the wave font which made it more fun to look at in that time, nowadays in current horror film posters the conventions of font for this genre wouldn’t casually be done like that in 1976 however those were times of growth and development to the new age of today, so it can easily be seen as acceptable.
The main colours used in this poster are predominately low key such as black and red. This then connects to the audience that it is based upon a horror synopsis. The background colour is black which has the attributes such as emptiness and darkness. The colour red represents blood and death, all in which has a major importance to the genre and plot being said through the poster to the target audience. The aim for this poster was to diversely advertised among different platforms in media e.g. the internet for viral marketing, Magazines, Cinema and commonly known for coverage on buses. The aim for all posters is the intrigue the audience by selling the film evidently making them want to go and see it.
By Monique Rhomes
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