Saw IV Poster Textual Analysis

Director: Danny Lynn Bousman

Release Date: October 26^th 2007 (United States, Canada & UK)

The movie Saw IV comes from a franchise that has been producing films since 2004. Saw IV was released on October 26^th in the United States, Canada and the UK and in Australia was released on October 25^th. As of the success of the previous films, Saw IV was likely to be a hit with gross revenue being over $136 million. Saw IV was distributed by Lionsgate and Maple Pictures.

 The films’ target audience is likely to be males aged 16 – 24 as this age group is the most likely group to go out and watch films like this. However, there are also older characters in the film so another age group may also be from 16 – 35.

 The release dates of Saw films are all in time for the month of Halloween. A typical trend of Saw posters and teaser posters are that they are very minimal in what information they reveal to the audience.

 The Saw IV film poster does follow conventions of the Horror genre, such as the use of low key colour palettes to create a mood. Colours such as Black, Red, Grey and White are colours commonly used in Horror film posters. Another convention is revealing a character that is covered in blood or seems to look unusual creating confusion to the audience. The use of graphics on the film posters to create these effects is also a common convention of Horror posters. The effects are used to do one thing which is persuade the audience to go and watch the film or be enticed by the franchise before the film arrives in the theatres.

 The colour palette used is very cold and creates an unwelcoming feel. The central colours on the poster are Grey and Silver. These colours simply connote a sharp shiny metal which is dangerous when not handled carefully. Therefore it complies well with the film as metal is used throughout many of the Saw posters to cut up bodies. The colour grey also has a variety of meanings, being associated with calmness, plain colours like this give off the sense that someone has died or their innocence has been mistaken. Also, as the previous posters have shown body parts this poster can only reveal more about the coming film. The undertones of White being used connote the films clinical nature with the use of props which help to create that throughout the previous posters. 

 The only prop used in this poster is the weighing scale, which is likely to be holding one of the characters’ head. The face of the male character is very pale and harsh low key lighting used but also gives a subtle mood to the poster. The head of an unrevealed character in the scale parallels with the mood the poster portrays. Furthermore, the character NVC shows no emotion and his facial expression is plain. Although there is unbalance everything is under control. The weighing scale has also been placed at the right side of the poster illustrating that there could is a twist to the film.

 The simplicity of the poster demonstrates that the directors and producers of the film now want the audience to focus on the film itself rather than who’s in it. However, earlier in the franchise this was not the case.

 The font is serif which connote that the film is quite old fashioned but abstract as some letters are small and some are larger than the original size. The 4 is also in roman numerals which suggests the old fashioned feel about the film. The colour of the text is also in Black which stands out to the audience. This along with the image adds to the films portrayal of being unbalanced. Placed underneath the film title is the tagline which says ‘IT’S A TRAP’ in capital letters. The use of capital letters warns the audience and stresses more hype around film.

 At the bottom of the poster is the website if people want more information and the film studio Twisted Pictures and Lions gate entertainment who distributed the film. The website may also have details on the campaign and critics about the film.