The apparition analysis

The Apparition Analysis The horror/thriller movie ‘The Apparition’ which stood directed and wrote by Todd Lincoln was released 24th August 2012 in the USA. The film itself is about a couple who, in the course of a college experiment, began being haunted by the supernatural. The main characters are Ashley Greene (who’s presented on the poster), Sebastian Stan and Tom Felton.

The poster visualises a dark haired, young and attractive woman who is isolated by multiple of coldlooking and coarse hands - that being of the supernatural. This leads me to the point of this being a conventional poster that encounters the ‘Male Gaze Theory’ – an attractive woman, who looks like she’s not wearing any clothing (sexual connotation which is in aid for the pleasure of men), is endangered and isolated.

Due to this film being based around the supernatural, greys, pale blues and blacks dominate the colour scheme because this idolizes the paranormal perfectly. Considering the significance of the colours alone, grey is an impartial colour that connotes no emotion whatsoever, it portrays a mysterious vibe. As a result of this, it gives an implication that the mystic characters are emotionless which therefore makes the movie seem all the more daunting. Grey is closely connected to silver, being mysterious and also that of sensitivity which associates with Ashley (woman on the poster) looking extremely timid and threatened. Focusing on pale blue, blue could portray that of a calm and tranquil state. However, for this poster I believe it represents something entirely different. I’m certain of the fact that it denotes frigidity; Ashley is isolated by a cold-hearted ghost. Lastly, black is a dark and deep colour which portrays nothing but an unknown certainty to the film, the fact that the model is silenced by creepy hands makes the film all the more secretive; more shadowy, and consequently more engaging – this is supported by the direct approach of Ashley looking right at you, making you fearful for her.

The font used is something that looks like an Impact typeface, that being simple, not decorative, and bold. The simplicity of the typeface makes the movie a lot more vague, usually horror movies involve typography that distress the lettering in some way or another, i.e. smearing, fragmenting, scratching, erasing, adding noise, etc. which enables the audience to see what genre of horror the movie is, we know that if blood is dripping from the typeface, the horror is going to be gory. Subsequently, with the meek typeface for The Apparition, it makes the audience all the more on edge when they approach this movie; we don’t know what is in store for us.

In addition to this, the typeface of all the lettering is in capital letter form - Caps lock is an emphasis that denotes a flamboyant, almost shouting pronunciation - this makes it twice as serious as well as seems more dangerous on her behalf. It also makes the movie seem all the more petrifying, people usually raise their voice when they’re trying to get their point across, when something is of a serious state and focusing on her endangered image on the front cover, the typeface speaks for her, and she’s endangered and needs help.

The tag/selling line states “once you believe, you die” which creates a lot of suspense, it makes the reader want to know what you have to believe, in order for the mystical character to kill you, this further represents the ambiguity of the movie; there’s so much vagueness, lack of information told, that it makes you so edgy but exceedingly willing to watch it.