The Craft Poster Deconstruction

The Craft movie poster consists of a still of the four main characters walking together towards the viewer. They are lit from behind by a lightning storm with several bolts resonating around them, suggesting that the girls themselves have created this chaos. The upper third of the poster is dedicated to the consequences, to what happens. The apparent wind creates a feel of drama as it blows back their hair, they are not however, effected by the rain. Although it pores from the dark clouds they do not appear to be hit by it, suggesting further that this is not a normal storm.

The backlighting casts them in a light shadow demonstrating that these are no ordinary schoolgirls. This is not portrayal of innocence but an intonation that there is more to these characters than meets the eye. The figures are placed exactly in the centre to the audience immediately knows that the film will be entirely focused on this small group. The middle third tell us why, what the cause is of the disruption.

The costuming of the girls is consistent with the clothes they largely wear in the film and give insight to the audience that one of the main locations of film is their school. Religious connotations of the rosary beads worn around one of the characters necks inform of a possible Catholic School environment and therefore a reason for rebellion. The characters are dressed in a similar mode of dress but each has her own take. These girls are united in beliefs by have their own unique strengths they bring to the group. Skirt length and amount of black worn could suggest that these are social outcasts or, they are in fact very popular. A distinction is difficult when studying the poster because of their clear power and confidence; however, the storm does propose that this is because of their magic rather than their social standing.

The bottom third of the post tells us how the characters are doing it. The title of ‘The Craft’ clearly refers to witchcraft and is confirmed by the tagline. The name suggests that these individuals are unique in having such powers and that few others if any are learned in the way of ‘The Craft’. The font is reminiscence of old religion texts and has connections with typically Wiccan or Pagan symbolism.

The tag line makes reference to the time at which supernatural is at its most powerful. These characters are the new age of dark magic; it is the idea that power such as this has never been seen in the modern age before, they are a control over nature and may use it for evil.

The lack of names of actor names listed on the poster is characteristic of film of this type. Both Horror films and Teen films rarely use well known actors as it distracts from the storyline. Most likely this is a band of upcoming actors that have not starred in films before.

The symmetrical layout of the poster and that is spilt into thirds means a sense of control. This is most likely referring to the characters themselves and their control over their craft and therefore the world around them.

-Meg


Also see... The Craft Trailer Deconstruction