Poster Analysis #3: Hard Candy

Hard Candy is an independent thriller film which was directed by David Slade and stars Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page. The film focuses on a confrontation between a sexual predator and a 14-year-old girl he attempts to seduce.

The poster for the film is made up of several different elements. The main image of the poster in the middle and shows a young girl in a red hooded top. This is clearly a throw back to little red riding hood, and connotes innocence of the small child which then highly contrasts by the dark, grungy design of the bear trap which she is standing on which conveys that the girl is likely to be in some sort of danger. This lets the viewer know that the film is much darker than might be first apparent from the title.

The background of the image is a very simple textured gradient which helps to draw the viewer’s eyes to the centre image. The colours of the gradient background start off at the top with an off-white/yellowish colour which has the girl in the foreground, which convey the child’s innocence but it fades down into a much duller grey colour with the bear trap in the foreground.

The use of colour along with the striking image of the girl standing on the bear trap helps grab the viewers attention by using shock tactics which will, in turn, make them more interested into finding out what the film is about. The bear traps helps to show the viewer that the film is likely to be in the thriller/horror genre.

The other elements of the poster are the movie title and the quote from an ‘expert witness’. The movie title is done in a very simple, grey, all capitals font which isn’t very distracting and makes this poster a more visual poster rather than a verbal poster, with a lot more emphasis on the image rather than the text of the poster. There is also one quote from an expert witness at the very top of the poster which is also not very distracting at all, keeping the main image as the main focal point for the poster.

Overall I believe this is a good poster as the use of shock tactics with the main image of the poster help interest the viewer in the film and hopefully makes them want to find out more about it/go and see it. I believe it communicates with the audience successfully as it simply and effective portrays the themes of child vulnerability with the use of the image and gets the point across without having to throw too much information at the viewer.