The Black Dahlia Film Poster Analysis

Katie Charman

The Poster:

The ImageThe main image of the poster is of a woman lying down. From the drop of blood on her lips and the white light coming from underneath her, you get the idea that she is dead. The white flower coming from the left hand side of the poster could symbolise she is in a coffin. The colour red stands out in the titles and from her lips, this suggests that the film is about a murder which fits in with the film-noir crime genre.Most of the posters background is a block black colour. This again represents the idea of murder and no emotion as there isn’t much colour.

The TextThe text on the film poster is all the same font and the names at the top are identical in size and colour. With most of the actors mentioned on the poster, they are well known for their surnames and this is why the surname has been made a bigger font size so that the audience can associate the film with them.

The film title ‘The Black Dahlia’ is again in the same serif font. The letter ‘K’ especially tails off at the end which could represent blood dripping too. As the main female character was an aspiring actress, the font choice may have been chosen to fit in with the idea of fame and glamour.

The NarrativeAs the colouring of the poster is mostly black and white, the film-noir genre is quite evident. The way the character has her eyes open and is looking up at something gives the sense that she is an innocent character which again fits in with the femme fatal character that is usually a main focus in the film-noir genre.As the film poster uses a dark background and has the black colouring, the film hints at having a sinister or dark note to it such as a murder.The drop of blood falling from her lip signifies that a murder may have happened too and as it is falling downwards it could be signified as though she herself lost control and was falling apart.

ColourThe colour black is very prominent within the poster as it takes up most of the background, this could signify the death that surround the film. It also could signify negativity and the sad nature of how the female character died.The colour of the woman’s face is quite pale and light in contrast to the rest of the poster which could represent her innocence in the way that she died. As the pale colouring then transgresses into the bottom light of the poster it could again signify her death.Red is also a prominent colour within the poster and as it is spread out in thin lines it could represent the blood as it is a murder film. It may also represent passion and lust due to the showbiz storyline.

The Camera DistanceThe picture of the female character is a close up profile shot of her face. Her features are prominent as there is an outline, however as they appear to be a smooth line, this adds a certain softness to her character, highlighting again that she is innocent.By using a close up it allows emotion to be shown, in this image especially, the character appears to have quite a blank expression looking upwards which links back to the storyline of her being an aspiring actress.

The AnchorageAs the film poster doesn’t give a lot away about the films storyline , the use of the anchorage “Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in Californian history” allows the audience to see that the film will be in the crime genre and based around a murder.

The way it is placed directly underneath the films title once again helps explain what the title means. The writing is in the same serif font which links it with the rest of the poster and creates a ‘look’ for the film. As the writing is all in capitals and the same height, it adds a serious note and could perhaps have links to a crime document.

LightingWithin film-noir films, Chiaroscuro lighting is usually used in order to create the well-know silhouette effect. For ‘The Black Dahlia’, the one light source is coming from the bottom of the poster and is extremely light. Usually when light is shown, people look into it as a way out, however as the light is shown to be behind her in the poster, it could represent that there is no way out for her.The use of the chiaroscuro lighting also creates the silhouette effect around her face which makes her features stand out, this is typical of a film-noir film and so fits into the genre.

The LayoutThe layout of the poster is layered so that each image of piece of text falls on top of each other.As the image, title and production text is all at the bottom of the poster, it could be trying to make the audiences focus be on the females face.The black block of background could relate to the storyline, as in the film it is based on a group of detectives trying to work out how a woman was murdered. The black could represent the unknown and how they don’t know how she died. The fact the female is looking into the darkness could also represent that there is something she knows and that we as an audience will perhaps find out in the film.

The Written TextAt the bottom of the poster comes the block of written text which tells the audience the production companies, who the film is aimed at and other important names in production.

For the Black Dahlia the most clear writing is “The new thriller from the director of the Untouchables and Scarface” this shows that there may be a link between these films and others that have been made before which once again highlights the idea that this film explores a crime storyline.

As the films certificate is ‘Rated R’ this translates to the audience having to be aged 17+, this immediately highlights the fact that this film will be discussing and incorporating adult themes which is typical of a film-noir genre.