Thriller Poster Analysis 2

The Snowman (Dir. Tomas Alfredson, 2017).

Information on The Snowman
 

The film which is being promoted in this particular poster is called 'The Snowman' (Dir. Tomas Alfredson, 2017) which is part of the crime thriller genre. The Snowman is about a crime squads lead detective, Harry Hole, investigating the disappearance of a victim on the first day of snow. As the film progresses, the protagonist, Harry, starts to believe an elusive serial killer is active again due to the fact that the victims pink scarf was discovered to be wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman. With the help of his partner, Harry must connect old-cases to the new ones in order to outwit the antagonist before the next snowfall. This poster is conventional for a thriller film poster due to the fact that it shares the same colour co-ordination for what is symbolic for a thriller film.

The Snowman poster main attraction is the character, which we suspect to be Harry Hole, which implies to the audience that the film is based around this character. The background of the thriller poster is mainly the colour white, due to the snow, which is unconventional for thriller films as white represents innocence and purity, but thrillers usually have dark and mysterious backgrounds to represent death and evil. However, the white surrounding Harry implies to the audience that the snow represents the victims: the more snow that falls, the more the antagonist kills. The background also shows an isolated environment which is conventional for thriller posters as it shows the characters to be vulnerable. Additionally, Harry, is holding a gun which is iconographic prop for thriller films. The title on the poster is located at the bottom of the page in black writing with a unique font which connotes that the storyline to the film is not the typical thriller storyline. This will intrigue the audience to go to watch the film. This particular poster includes a tagline which is 'soon the first snow will fall and the hunt for the killer begins' which is significant as the audience will begin to think of a possible plot for the story, and will encourage them to go watch the film.

The colours used in The Snowman poster are significant to the whole creation of the poster as they signify to the audience what type of film it is. The conventional colours used in thrillers include red, black, white and grey. The colour red represents blood and danger to the audience. The colour black implies death, mystery and evil. The colour grey appears dull and a depressive colour which could represent how a character is feeling or an environment. White however is used to represent the innocence of characters, but some posters show less white than black which implies to the audience that the evil is taking over. In The Snowman poster, all these significant colours re used. The colour white is used most commonly and could be a metaphor for all the innocent victims as the more snow that falls, the more the killer strikes. The colour red also stands out which gives the audience an idea of the storyline as blood represents blood, death and possibly murder.

In conclusion, this teaser poster is extremely effective in promoting 'The Snowman' film as it gives the audience a sense of what the film is about and may attract the audience to go watch the film. The use of the conventional colours clearly identifies the genre of the film to the audience. Additionally, the setting of the poster is in a isolated environment, but an unusual location for a thriller film to be taken. For example, thriller films usually take place at isolated houses, not in the mountains. The unique selling point for the 'The Snowman' poster which makes it different from the other thriller film posters would be the title. I think that the title would intrigue the audience to go to watch the film as thriller films don't usually contain unconventional antagonist characters, such as a snowman, as snowmen are usually perceived to be happy and cheerful characters.