Illustrated Oscar: 5 redesigns of movie posters
The Oscars gala is an obligatory meeting for all cinema lovers. Lights and action and all the focus is.. do the wardrobe?. But and the cinematographic posters? Why nobody talks about them? Certainly the film poster is the main piece to the attention of the public, is like the cover of a book…Have many of us not bought once a book just to have a beautiful cover?
In the case of the film, the poster is its cover letter. Thus, a creative poster must catch the viewer, arouse his interest and convince him to finally attend the screening.
In this way, the cinematographic poster has a triple functionality:
- Communicative.– It has a clear and direct information function.
- Exhortative.- It takes into account the characteristics of the target audience.
- Iconic- By its simplicity and communicative ability it acquires the category of visual symbol
In compositions where the image is the protagonist, the color nuances the meaning of it. On the other hand, in simple compositions, carried out by graphic elements like lines or flat shapes, the color has the objective of transmitting a perceptive sensation, fundamental to understand the message.
Another graphic element is typography as it provides graphical personality to the composition. In the same way, you should follow the consistency with the other graphic elements.
Image or Illustration
As for the use of image or illustration, the design of posters with photographs predominates, although the truth is that the first posters were created from the hand of contemporary artists and painters to the Lumière brothers. As for example the poster of the movie Metropolis (1927), the most expensive poster in history, created by the painter Heinz Schuiz-Neudamm.
Given the current minimalist trend, we have chosen five examples of redesigning award-winning movie posters at the Oscars. The new? These posters are based on a more refined technique, where the geometric figures gain strength and protagonism. Illustration or photograph? You decide!
Forrest Gump (1984)
Forrest Gump film got six statuettes, among them the best film. Poster redesigns are based on key elements of this film as the iconic bench or shrimp. The chromatic palette used maintains the coherence of the original poster, through a marked balance between neutral tones and more explosive colors, such as red or blue, which bring visual force.
Titanic (1997)
Titanic film has been one of the most awarded films throughout the history of the Oscars with 11 awards and 14 nominations. The most characteristic of the redesigns found, is its similarity in the composition of the cartel: boat + iceberg + fatal outcome. No stories of love, no trace of Leonardo Dicaprio.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
And our brave little nonconformist Miss Sunshine won the Oscar for best screenplay, among others. The redesign of posters could not be more successful, and is that the positivist spirit of this comedy remains intact with the yellow color as a predominant element. Moreover, in these minimalist posters they focus more on the personality of the little protagonist. Long live Miss Sunshine!
Juno (2007)
The beloved Juno got the Oscar for the best original screenplay. On this occasion, the redesigns maintain the same thematic line as the original poster in terms of the color palette and in the composition of the graphic elements. It is remarkable, that the selected illustrations have a high narrative component that put the viewer in the plot without any difficulty.
Black Swan (2011)
The film ‘Black Swan’, starring Natalie Portman, won the Oscar for best actress. On this occasion we find two types of compositions:
1. Dark compositions where red and black are the predominant tonalities. This type redesigns advocate for complex compositions where the graphic elements overlap to play with the mind of the viewer.
2. Simple and very purified compositions where strength lies in a single illustration. In these compositions the message is clear and has no double intentionality.
