Poster Two Process: Erased

#process #DES101

The theme we were given for poster 2 was making a movie poster. With the guidelines being to apply principles of color theory, include textual elements considering organisational principles of typography and carefully think about the signifier and signified.

Using the guidelines I created this movie poster called, "Revival". I used Adobe Photoshop to make this poster.

I wanted to explore the theme of Revival that I got from the Haiku, "A Poppy Blooms", composed by the Japanese artist and poet Katsushika Hokusai.

"I write, erase, rewrite

Erase again, rewrite, and then

A poppy blooms"

Analyzing the haiku again, I got the idea of Revival, an improvement in the condition, strength, or fortunes of someone or something. Constant improvement , getting knocked down and getting back up. Fixing what went wrong and coming back bigger and stronger with each knockdown.

To portray this on my poster I layered a lot of layers to create depth.

I created a clipping mask using a my own photo of the city to create a dark underlying tone on the bottom half of the two people. Erased parts of the photo to show their faces and blend the people with the photo. Then colored the background a warm orange color (further down my process I didn't like the orange as much so I changed it to blue).

I made the main title using the Impact font. I positioned the text in the middle to create harmony between the text and the images. I layered the title to be in front of the people but behind the city photo, so it could create harmony and tie everything together.

I played around with the photo of the people and was unsatisfied with what I saw. It blended to much with the background and looked nasty.

I then changed the background color to blue, to symbolize that feeling of calmness that contrasted with the dark underlying tones under the title. I focused heavy on trying to create a contrast like I had in the first poster where the bottom is dark and as you go up it feels more lighter and more free. I did this with the dark colors of the city on the bottom, giving a sense of distraught and a dark underlying feeling to it.

The bottom of the word "Revival" is dark as well opposed to the rest of the blue the text is colored in. The blue colors adding a lighter more softer tone to the image contrasting to the darker tones on the bottom.

Clouds and smoke symbolizing a rising out of the ashes moment tying in the theme of revival, and the entire poster.

The result of my final poster.

Faculty of Design, University of Auckland (2020). DES 101 Week 2 Lecture Slides, Retrieved from https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/45443/pages/week-2-lecture?module_item_id=809493

Katsushika Hokusai (2020). A Poppy Blooms, Retrieved from https://www.readpoetry.com/10-vivid-haikus-to-leave-you-breathless/