Poster Research - Selfie

On this poster, the names nor images of actors are not shown, not even in the billing block, which is very standard and the text doesn't quite match. The text and imagery overall is very minimal, and doesn't give much out to the audience. The title of the film is the largest text on the image and is placed at the top above the image, but the lighting is so dark that it's unclear if the title is either on top of or separate from the image. The image itself is quite self-explanatory, even though there are no images of the characters/actors; the phone links to the title and the blood suggests violence and/or gore. There is no certification, but judging by the fact that the imagery contains blood and has a general sinister look about it, it would more likely be around a 15.

Media Language
The main image shows a phone in very low key lighting, immediately suggesting a sinister atmosphere. The blood dripping from the camera then implies that there will be some kind of injury or death, adding to the dark and sinister genre, then the hand holding is green in colour with black nails, which suggests some supernatural undertone.
The word 'selfie' is a very youthful word, so it therefore shows that this film in involve teenagers. The actual lettering of the word is very harrowing and sketchy, bringing out the horror element.

Representation
The combination of the horror genre and the almost comical word 'selfie' is like a juxtaposition, in a way. It's almost suggesting that this seemingly harmless action is potentially lethal, which actually then counteracts the horror element of the poster and film as a whole.

Audience
Usually, the audience for these kinds of films are people who like horror films and that genre in general. This poster looks quite low budget; the title font is repetitive, the billing block font doesn't look right and there is no other information around the image. The audience for this would possibly be around the 16 - 24 age group, as it's usually teenagers and young adults that enjoy horror films, and also the fact that teenagers can react and relate to this situation of taking a 'selfie', linking back to the youthful aspect.

Narrative
The narrative and chronology for this short film is, again, unclear, however the audience can pick out what may or may not happen from this poster; the camera dripping blood could signify that taking a picture could be lethal.

Genre
The genre of this film is extremely clear; the font, the lighting, the image, the colour all suggest horror. The way that all of these factors are presented shows that this short film is of the horror genre. Altman's theory could easily be applied here, despite the fact that there are so little semantic codes. The blood signifies death, the discoloured hand suggests unnatural happenings and the low light implies fear, which are all common codes featured in the horror genre.