film title and poster design - Horror

                                                                                                                                                     HUSH

The film title is an important part of the movie process.  Choose a title that is too long for the movie and it could confuse your intended audience.  Shorter titles that can be made to feel creepy by the accompanying Poster design that give a hint at the genre of the film are usually effective. It’s a sales tool to help invite an audience to view. 

This was the first poster I designed for my horror film HUSH. The title is perfect for the genre and reflects the ominous nature of the product. The first production of my film lacked effective use of camera angles which help to build suspense and even though I had a perfect woodland setting to film in, I was struggling to pull together a narrative.  I created quite a bit of local interest too!  I was focused on producing something scary with loose ideas instead of following the filmmaking process. I like the darkness of the woodland scene depicting an isolated environment, perfect for sinister activities.

I chose this Film title for a couple of reasons, firstly the antagonist, who does not speak at all throughout the film, who dispatches his victims before holding one finger up to his lips, almost holding the silence.  I thought it was a play on the audience, signifying many silences. Could it hint that the antagonist is warning the audience to be quiet, or that the protagonist is now quiet or because he the antagonist, doesn’t want to break the silence, it’s a secret. I wanted the audience to feel as though they were being communicated with directly, generating an unease and connecting with their fears, the darkness and perhaps, he’s coming for them…next.

This poster was my final design, I removed all links to any production company so that only the film’s title is visible. I decided to redesign the film front cover because I wanted the film to be raw, just a title and a background. I liked the effect of the red and the significance of colour representing, blood, power and danger. I like also that HUSH is only visible after it’s illuminated from the darkness, perhaps more realistic and scary in my opinion. I also looked at several horror film front covers and they generally all used dark to bright ratios but some faded in with red and these covers were much more eye catching.