This is the DVD cover for the film 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'.
The front cover itself contains a more subtle key image than what is normally expected. Hidden within the title of the film is the still image of a male looking into a mirror. It is an over the shoulder shot with the camera's focus on the mirror, with the character looking at himself. This gives the feeling that you are in the room with the character and that he is in a personal moment. He is looking into the camera with a menacing expression signifying that he has or is about to do something malicious. Also, the fact that he is looking back at himself puts forward the idea that he is questioning himself or his actions, possibly signifying a sense of insecurity and instability commonly found with psychotic killers. The character's hair is scruffy and seems to be unkept, further suggesting that he does not care about his appearance and that he is untamed by law and free from the expected ethics of a normal man.
The title of the film is entirely coloured red, with the main image embedded into the word Henry and tinted red. Because there is only one character in the photo, the audience can take that that character is Henry. The colour red, in this context signifies blood, gore and anger, which are likely to be prominent traits in this film. The text beneath the title "He's not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real." stands out from the black background, just like the red title does. 'Freddy' and 'Jason' are both fictional characters from other thriller/slasher films 'Nightmare on Elm street', 'Jason X' and even 'Freddy vs Jason'. By seeing this it gives the audience something to go by in terms of expectations of the film. The fact that the sentence states that he is real makes a psychological impression to whoever is looking at the cover because Freddy and Jason are notorious for being sick and twisted as fictional characters, whereas Henry is comparable to them and he is real.
Overall, the simplistic nature of the cover gives a very enigmatic and stylish feel to it. This causes the audience to be provoked into knowing more about Henry, other than him being a serial killer and also causes the audience to expect a distict and well thought out styling to in the film, another reason why they should see it.
2 comments:
yes good, it sets up an expectation of omething almost documentary in its realism.
well analysed, you deal with the narrative image and film' identity very well.
good work nick
ms b
overall assessment of your blog:
a tricky one this as the quality of your work suggests a high grade, but there's so little of it that its impossible to give more than a C.
4 posts - 1 a homework, 1 a brief definition, which is fine if short. the other 2 are exactly along the right lines, but there should be loads more of them!!
you need to show off (both range and depth) your ability to do independent research, to take theory done in class and apply it to texts of your own choice.
you've got so much to offer here nick, but its just not happening.
if you want to 'up your grade' you need to act fast, it'll be too late soon. see the main blog posting to help you focus.
ms b
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