'Final Destination' Film Poster Analysis

Black, white and shades of blue are the three focal colours illustrated on this poster. These are cold, frosty colours which connote a sense of mystery and also signify death and fear. The black connotes darkness and evil, and could be interpreted as the fear of the unknown, whilst the blue and white colours contrast against the murky background. This could be understood to symbolize trying to break away from or be unassociated with ‘Death’ itself.

The poster isn’t jam-packed with text; it is simple but professional and because it only states minimal information about the film this is what makes it a teaser – capturing viewers’ attention. No piece of text steals away the attention of the main image, although the word ‘August’ is written in a red font which you notice because of the colour, but it is in no way over-powering.  

The smashed glass which is layered on top of the image is significant because it links to the storyline of shattered lives as well as the physical damage to the characters in the film. The smashed glass connotes death, danger and destruction as well as brutality and severe violence which is incorporated throughout the series of ‘Final Destination’ films. The focal image on this poster is quite large and takes up a good amount of the page having the most attention drawn to it. The top half of the face is a human – female face – connoting vulnerability and life while the bottom half is a skull which connotes power and death. This links into the storyline of Death trying to catch up with the people that have cheated it, which I think is very clever. The glass is scattered in the middle of the two conjoined faces which not only visually separates the faces; but symbolizes binary opposition which could either be life and death, or good and evil. The darkness of the woman’s eyes if you look carefully makes her slightly look like the skull, signifying the importance of Death and that it is likely to take over her and ‘win’ as to speak in the film.    

"REST IN PIECES" is illustrated in a white font at the top of the poster. This little expression is written in light font to stand out against the darkness in the background to make it more visible. The phrase itself is a play on the words "REST IN PEACE" and connotes that there will be violent deaths involved.