Saw IV poster analysis

Saw IV’, written by Patrick Melton, is a horror/crime film, for young adult or mature teenagers. This is a sequel to the ‘Saw’ series, which are renowned for gory, torture films; this is emphasised clear connotations of violence in the poster. This would attract fans of previous entries in the ‘Saw’ film series, and also manages to appeal to people who are not accustomed with the previous films in the series.
The poster is mostly a white/ pale-grey colour, which connotes purity, and is a dexterical symbol often associated with ‘good’ instead of ‘bad’. The shot is a close-up of a table setting, in a high camera angle. This signifies the emotion in the film, and the angle suggests domination and the power that is held by the gentleman setting the table setting. The image denotes the gloved hand of an unnamed man, who is assumed the protagonist, placing a fork down in a table; the lack of a detailed background in the diegesis makes the audience focus on the bloody torture implements on the dinner plate. There is a subdued hint of perfectionism in the image, as the gentleman is wearing white gloves, a character code that has connotations of cleanliness or medical work, and he looks to be straightening the fork into a completely straight position. This suggests to the audience that the gentleman in the shot cares greatly about the amount of work that has gone into this table setting. This forebodes the later events in the film, where Jigsaw (the male character in the picture), shows psychopathic tendencies in his flawless torture methods and experiments.
It can be assumed from the background of the poster that the setting of the film will be medically related due to the fact that the majority of the poster is taken up by a previously used metal surgery table. The lighting used in the shot highlights the feature of the poster. The plate is highlighted as the most important part. The lighting is reflected on the silver cutlery, as well in the red blood. The lighting used in the poster is somewhat unconventional in the sense that it is high key, high contrast, a lighting style that is used to make the poster harsh and ‘moody’. The lighting used causes the entire image to be clear to the audience instead of a certain section or optical area. The title Saw IV‘, is the same colour as the crimson blood on the plate. The colour used is a colour that has codes of danger and violence, and this is used to emphasise the genre of film to the audience, allowing filmgoers to identify this as a horror genre film, and thus, horror film fans will be encouraged to watch the film. The colours used in the diegesis are primary colours, which cause different effects on the audience. Red is known as a primary colour of lighting, and this is the focussing colour of the shot. As the audience then notice that it’s blood on torture instruments.
The ‘Saw’ titles have always been the same red colour and font, and is a key identifier of the film series; because of this consistency fans of the film series will be able to identify this as a film of similar premise and genre, which attracts the audience who are previous fans. This is similar to the production companies which are shown at the bottom of the poster. Companies such as ‘Lionsgate’, and ‘Twisted Pictures’, have a background in horror film production, and are therefore associated with films of the horror genre, this will further appeal to fans of horror films, and fans of ‘Lionsgate’s and ‘Twisted Pictures’ previous works, and they will associate this film with a style and quality that are associated with their previous productions.