Tag Lines Research

Tag Lines

Most movie posters have a tag line which is used to create a memorable phrase which people can relate to the film. A really good tagline will be become embedded in modern popular culture like "Be afraid. Be very afraid" from The Fly and also "A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away..." from Star Wars.
We are researching horror movie tag lines to see what the most effective one are and also what makes them effective.

"Heads will roll..." Sleepy Hollow. This is a good tag line as it is simple and direct. It sums up the type of the movie it is, and give some definitive detail in what to expect from Sleepy Hollow e.g decapitation.

"Who will survive and what will be left of them?" Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is an effective tagline as it uses a rhetorical question, which poses a question the viewer has to answer...by watching the film.

“On March 11, 2008 the government sealed off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The residents were never seen again. No details. No witnesses. No evidence. Until now.” Quarantine. Quarantine is a similar film to ours with victims recording their story. Therefore looking at their poster and tagline will enable us to look at conventions of these types of films. This tagline is unusaly long and very detailed but this is to go with the theme it is a real life story. The short snappy sentences add tension to the tag line also adding drama.

"The rules are simple you break them, you die..." Carriers. This film tag line is simple and effective with a good use of ellipsis to let the viewers mind wander and ponder the film. Although it doesn't give an idea of the film plot so could belong to another film.

"Ten years again, the Ukrainian government let tourists visit the area surrounding Chernobyl. They said it was safe... it wasn't." Chernobyl Diaries. Like Quarantine this tagline plays on the idea the film is based in true events. It's very long so doesn't capture the audiences imagination although it does reinforce the "true story" idea. Again this film is similar to the genre of which we are filming and is a great tag line to take inspiration from.

"Fear is just a word. Reality is much worse." Grave Encounters 2. This tag line is effective due to the short snappy sentences which people can quote. The film is similar to ours in the way that it's based on a group of people filming themselves. However the tagline doesnt give much of the plot away and is quite vague.

In summary, we will have to create a short, snappy tagline which is relatable to our plot and genre of film.