Thriller Poster Analysis 1

 

Jigsaw (Dir. Micheal Spierig and Peter Spieri, 2017).

Information on Jigsaw

The film which is being promoted in this particular poster is Jigsaw (Dir. Micheal Spierig and Peter Spieri, 2017). This film belongs to the crime thriller genre and is the seventh film of the Saw franchise. The Jigsaw film is based in a city where bodies keep being found in a uniquely gruesome demise. John Kramer, the man known as Jigsaw, who has been dead for ten years, however, investigators search for clues and all evidence links back to him. The antagonist, Jigsaw, plays dangerous mind games with his victims who have to decide how much they are willing to give to stay alive. This poster is conventional for the representation of the Saw franchise as most of the posters have disturbing images on them. Additionally, the Jigsaw film poster was conventional to other thriller film posters because it shares the same colour co-ordination for what is symbolic for a thriller.

The Jigsaw poster is a man with face paint on that resembles 'Billy The Puppet' which is iconographic for the Saw films. The background of the poster is dark which is conventional fro thriller film posters as the colour black represents death, evil and mystery. This poster is for the sequel to Saw films, therefore, the audience do not need any further information about the man in the poster, covered in the iconic Saw paint, to make sense of the poster or make assumptions about the narrative. The symbiosis of 'Billy The Puppet' face paint is important, as it increases recognisability to the Saw films. Fans who have watched the previous Saw films will identify very quickly that the Jigsaw poster is part of the franchise for the Saw films.

The poster contains the title 'Jigsaw' in small, red writing at the bottom right hand corner of the poster, which implies that the poster designers didn't need the audience to see the title, as the iconic Saw face paint will imply that Jigsaw is part of the Saw franchise and because the films are so well known. Therefore, the audience have an idea about the kind of narrative that will feature in the film. The red writing connotes blood and death which foreshadows the narrative as it's very gruesome. The colours which tend to donate to the Jigsaw poster is, white, black and red. The use of the white and black colours reflect the battle between life and death which the characters within the film face. All of these elements combine to create a sense of fear, disgust and curiosity for the audience and encourage them further to go and see the film.

In conclusion, this teaser poster is extremely effective in promoting the jigsaw film; it creates the right amount of intrigue to lure in its target audience through its simple use of image and mise-en-scene. The audience will already know the basic narrative of the film is they have watched other Saw film, but, nevertheless, the use of the 'Billy The Puppet' face paint is recognisable and iconographic for the Saw franchise. The unique selling point for the 'Jigsaw' poster which makes it different from other thriller films would be the plot of the storyline.