This table shows the frequency that the main conventions of movie posters appear across four examples of the product. Whilst "Amityville Horror"'s main image does not fill the entire frame, the space around it is used and filled with a distorted black background with two images overlaid onto it. All of the other conventions are adhered to with the exception of a tagline for "Amityville Horror" and a date of release for the previous and "House at the End of the Street". The tagline, whilst useful to draw attention and create intrigue, is not always necessary if the main image speaks for itself. It can, on the other hand, anchor the meaning of the image and make the poster much more memorable. "Pray for her" on the "Possession" poster is paired with the bright light, that shines so brightly on her face that it masks her features, to suggest that she is doomed to darkness for some reason, and by going to see the film, the audience may be able to save her. Date of release, however, may not be featured as it is an early poster and does not have a release date yet. Our poster will not have a release date, so as to create intrigue, however we will feature a tagline to achieve the same effect. Each of these elements are featured regularly on film posters and are expected by the audience. The title of the film is commonly 1 to 3 words, however the guidelines are not very strict, as shown in "House at the End of the Street". A small amount of words are used so that the title is remember-able; a short and snappy title is much easier to recollect than a long one. A longer title is sometimes used however to add more substance to the film and make the film less vague; if a person only hears the title of the film and it's vague, it may turn them off. If it is longer, it may interest them more.
The image is dominant in the frame and is the primary element that catches the audience's eye. As with "The Last Exorcism", the main image is of a young girl bending far backwards. This image isn't 'normal' to that viewer, and so it attracts their interest and they may go and see the film. The images generally seen in horror posters are meant to scare the audience in some way, either drastically or subtly. The image on "Amityville Horror" is more spooky than scary as it subtly suggests that the man in the image is evil, and paired with the effects on the house, the "katch 'em & kill 'em" painted in blood beside him and the article on his right, the image is designed to send chills down the audience's spine. The image from "The Last Exorcism" however is designed to disgust the audience into going and watching it. By having the girl bent backwards in an inhuman stance in conjunction with the effects on the image and the religious imagery, the audience are both horrified and intrigued by the advertisement. Common iconography in horror film posters is the use of religious imagery and the use of light and darkness. Religious imagery is only featured on one of the examples used, but it is used throughout horror as it is generally seen as pure and wholesome, so horror simply reverses that to scare the audience. Light and darkness, or the use of shadow, is common as the original horrors were based around things that lurk in the shadow, and this has continued on until now. "The Possession", 
"Last Exorcism" and "House at the End of the Street" all feature the main antagonist or protagonist in the light to show either that they are good, or to highlight their horrific features. "Amityville" however features the main character in the frame in darkness so that his identity is shrouded from the audience, creating a sense of mystery. Both techniques are commonly used to attract the audience depending on the narrative and the nature of the character. Our poster may also take this into thought and impedimenta this idea within our products. The image also needs to have a scary element that is beyond unusual and actually 'spooks' the audience to signal that it is in fact horror just as the four examples do.
Almost all horror films have their titles made from capital letters so as to be bold and attract the eye of their audience. Distorted text is also used commonly to reflect the sub-genre of the film, and if it is not distorted, it has some form of embellishment, such as the 'y' in "Amityville", to reflect a part of the narrative. Films that contain exorcisms or curses tend to have font that are disjointed and look slightly eroded to represent the evil spirit within a main character.These films also usually have black fonts to represent the evil also. Those with murder, or a desire for it, tend to have red fonts to symbolise the blood or white to show fear and death. Several possession themed films however combine these elements to show the demonic presence and also the fear and death that the film may contain. This is also shown in the dark and dull colour scheme; the curse or possession has left a main character with out life or is threatening to take it from them, and this main character is generally featured in the main image. Also, the posters all feature some form of institutional information to advertise the producing companies, the actors, directors and the crew that worked on the film. By placing this on the poster, the audience may become attracted to the film by who made it or who is starring in it.
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