Case Study

Poster 1: Black Swan

Personal Response
What drew me first to the “Black Swan” poster was how dark and symetrically perfect it seemed. Personally I find the poster a bit creepy. One of the reasons is because the swans look like clawed hands surrounding her neck. The fascinating thing about it is a twisted connection to Snow White because of the central figure's purety and innocence versus her dark evil alter ego/rival. There is also the more obvious connection to the ballet Swan Lake with the good white swan and the sensual black swan embodied within the same person.This made me curious to study  the poster more closely.

Form
The colour palette is quite stark but very effective due to the contrast of the black and white with a single blob of colour in the disturbing red eye. There is also lots of white space which helps draw you in to the central image. This poster reminds me of some of the artwork painted by Edward Munch. This is because it gives the onlooker an unsettled feeling. There are dark emotions at play. The black and white reflect the good and evil within her, the pure perfect swan and her dark alter ego, the black swan. I would describe this poster as: DISTURBING, BEAUTIFUL, INTRICATE, COMPELLING & COVERT.

Content and context
 The overall composition is very interesting a bit like an onion in its multi-layering. There is very little text on the poster,  simply the name of the film .This is obviously a poster that came out after the initial advertising which implies you already know the detail of the film. There is a web address which will tell you more if wanted to know more about the film. This is a very bold eye catching poster which for me is really “covert and obscure”  as it has many hidden depths.In order to understand the poster properly you need to look at it several times in order not to miss any layers of the symbolisism amd references to fairy tales that are very strong in the film itself.

Process
This poster has perfection in its symmetry which is very much like the main character Odette, the white swan and Odile, the black swan who is her mirror image and split personality. I would imagine that the artist did this in Photoshop as it has a very polished look about it.The interesting thing about this poster is all the hidden layers in it. When you first look at it, it just seems to be a face with two swans flanking it. However when you look closer you spot all sorts of hidden detail as if the poster suddenly becomes three dimensional. In the face you see that there is actually another face beneath what looks like a lace mask. The swans round her neck become a high necked collar tightly gripping her. Which could also be interpreted as her alter ego strangling her. There is a very slick finish to the poster which captures the perfection and discipline of the prima ballerina. The skills needed would be modern computer skills in order to achieve that affect.

Poster 2: Phantom Of the Opera

Personal Response
When my eyes first locked on this poster, the hairs on the back of my neck immediately stood on ends as its other worldliness struck me. Within the poster there is a strong sense of fear and menace. The woman on the stairs is very scared and is looking backwards at whatever or whoever is scaring her.

Form
The colour palette is quite simple but effective.The black and white appear throughout the poster with green and black accents framing the dramatic blood-red of the central character.
The poster gives us the idea that it is connected with the underworld. As the eye travels down the page it gets darker reinforcing this impression. There is a very minimal amount of text. The title is simple but very effective. It is in white making it stand out against the dark background. It is also big and bold making it easier to read.

Content and context
The artist plays around with the perspective to give the impression of depth and layering. The characters are different sizes to try and make it seem more sinister. You can't tell where the spiral staircase or the doors lead to which adds to the fear.Overall you get a sense of things being hidden and obscure. The theme of the masks and cloaks gives the impression that something sinister is hidden beneath them .The skeletons add to the creepiness without their masks of skin.
All the characters seem to have double identities which makes it very ambiguous in term of who is who. It is not clear to the identity of the central character. Even though the phantom is to the right of the central character , it makes me think that the central figure is the phantom without the mask in order to try and confuse people.

Process
The artist has illustrated the poster but has probably perfected it in Photoshop. However it still has a hand-drawn look about it which makes it look like it's an old original. I imagine that there is a lot of artistic ability from the designer in terms of using traditional and modern techniques to create an emotional piece of art work.