Chernobyl Diaries Film Poster Analysis

Chernobyl Diaries is a horror film related to the aftermath of the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl. Chernobyl Diaries is a 2012 film which was co-produced and directed by Bradley Parker and Oren Peli. Chernobyl Diaries was made by the makers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious. Referring to this on the poster draws an audience in as they already know it will be a good film as it is made by the people who have already produced two good selling films.

From looking at the poster without reading any of it, audiences will already know that the film has a dark side to it and most likely be a horror film. The audience will know this because of the colours in the poster, black, white and red. This common housestyle is used a lot in horror posters because of the connotations of the colours. The colour red represents danger and the colour black represents darkness. Also, having red and white text upon a black background makes it stand out and easy to read.

As like most film posters, this poster gives a hint to the setting. The setting looks like it is a run down town. This adds to the horror of the film and would make people want to see it because audiences will want to know why is it run down? What happened to it? This relates to Barthe's theory as the audience will want to know the answers to the film and therefore watch it. Also, in the clouds of the main image, there is a nuclear sign. This will attract an audience as people know that nuclear is powerful and dangerous and will want to know what's happened.

There is a billing block at the bottom of the poster. A billing block is a condensed block of writing that contains, companies, directors and other cast members and crew. This will attract the target audience as they may realise their favourite actor or director starred or directed the film. This will encourage them to watch the film as they are interested in their work.

There is a tagline above the title which says; 'Ten years ago, the Ukranian government let tourists visit the area around Chernobyl. They said it was safe...It wasn't' this tagline gets an audience interested as they get an insight to the narrative of the film. This attracts an audience as they already know what part of the film is about, and will want to know the ending of the film. Also, the audience will want to know 'Why wasn't it safe?'