Research Task - Film Posters of Blade

In the "Blade" film poster, it follows many typical conventions of the vampire and action genre. It uses a limited colour scheme, composed of mainly deep reds and blacks. The red is a typical signifier of the vampire genre as many films of that nature use red in various different ways to connote the way the antagonists of the film (vampires) are represented. For example, in "30 Days of Night" its is used for the end title which has scratchy and disjointed typography as if it was carved by a claw with red splattered around the title. All this connotes the vampires as much more violent and twisted but in this poster it is much more subtle. It is used for the background which has the face of the main villain imposed on it, again connoting them as the villain due to the red being a sign of the vampires. But instead of more archaic in nature, the limited view of their face and just revealing their eyes makes them seem more imposing then the hero Blade who is in the centre. It creates the feeling that the vampires in this film are more subtle and widespread as the face takes up the majority of the poster's background, connoting the greater presence they have in this particular film but also it doesn't give too much away about them, suggesting they are hidden within the world and try to hide within humanity.

For the hero's costume, black is predominately used which can be seen as unusual from the obvious connotations it has of evil  but in this case it used to connote the secret the character has which is he is in fact half vampire. It is used to show how he is disgusted at his nature of being part of the things he hunts so wants to hunt them in an effort to feel more human as said in the tag line of the poster, "The power of an immortal, the soul of a human". This also could mean how vampires lack a soul of their own, painting them clearly as the villains as this connotes they lack any human emotions and purely making them evil creatures. The black outfit also helps display the character as an anti-hero, someone who is not completely good like traditional heroes but has their own flaws which make them more believable and unique. It helps create the usual debate of is vampirism a curse as its the only thing that gives Blade the power to hunt them so its creates an unusual situation within the film as displayed by the trailer as well.

Another feature evident on the poster is the use of a tag line which helps the audience identify the film cause they will remember the tag line and tell it to friends so its like a form of advertsing since they spread it around and make it more likely for them to see the film if they walk by and recognise the tagline for the poster. The actors names also create the same effect as if the audience are fans of the particular actor like Wesley Snipes, they are more likely to come and see the film due to already being fans of that actor. The use of naming dropping however, is only used if the actors are well known since unknowns won't generate extra income and are likely to put audeinces off.