WEEK 3 - Visual hierarchy for the alien poster

WEEK 3 - Visual hierarchy for the alien poster
The visual hierarchy on a film poster is important because a lot of people will see these posters so it’s important to get the visual hierarchy spot on, can be the difference between the audience wanting to see the film or not.
The poster for the film alien (1979) is simple but effective. the first thing on the poster our eyes are drawn to is the egg one of the reasons the audience is draw to it is due to its size, it is relatively big in comparison to the writing, the second reason is the positioning, its centred perfectly in the middle of the page, the last reason and probably most eye catching would be the green glow that surrounds it, due to t he amount of black the poster contains it clashes with the bright green so it jumps of the page The black background and the shadow on the egg creates a dark atmosphere which suggests the film could be a horror, similar to the poster of the film exorcist (1973) which had similar attributes including being very dark and atmospheric.
The title of the film is not the first thing the audience is drawn to but it is obviously pointed out, and lies at the head of the poster overlooking everything else. The typography is plain, simple and in bold this makes the poster look more serious and professional which would stop the audience comparing this to tacky b-movies that were around at that time and previous films over the years which involved aliens,
The only other text is the tag line, “in space no one can hear you scream” this is a line that creates a sense of horror and adds mystery. Because it is smaller than the title and surrounding imagery it is less noticeable and therefore the last thing your eyes are drawn to. The audience will walk away with a slight chill, curiosity and hopefully a desire to see the film...