The Minimalist Movie Poster
There is a fairly new artistic movement in which artists and graphic
designers take famous movies, strip them down to their visual essence, and
create a minimalist film poster. These minimalist posters often lack images of
actors or characters depicted in the film and visuals lifted directly from the
film. Unlike most film posters, these minimalist renditions provide the viewer
with the bare minimum in regards to visuals. While film posters today often
contain close-ups of famous actors, striking visual images from the film, and a
laundry list of celebrity names that distract the viewer from the real tone and
mood of the poster itself, these minimalist designs offer little more than a
few choice colors that capture the film’s tone and simple images that hint at
what the film is about. For example, these two minimalist movie posters for the
films The Pianist and The Social Network contain little to no
information about the stars of the film or the big-name directors, and they
certainly do not provide enough visual images to divulge any excess information
about the films’ plot lines These two posters provide the viewer with a stripped-down
portrayal of the tone and content of the films. By examining the color schemes,
textures, and images provided by these two posters, viewers are able to
determine the basic premise of the films, and they can possibly form some idea
of the overall tone and mood of the films.
The Pianist
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| iskander1989's The Pianist |
This minimalist movie
poster by an artist known by the username iskander1989 portrays the film The
Pianist in which a Polish Jewish pianist (played by Adrien Brody) attempts
to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto during WWII. While the original
posters for this film are already very simplistic, iskander1989 decides to strip away
as much excess as he can to provide the viewer with extremely subtle hints
about the film. Someone unfamiliar with the plot of this film might not be able
to determine exactly what it’s about from this poster alone; however, there are
several elements of this poster that, when analyzed closely, reveal a
considerable amount of information about the film.
For example, the first thing
someone might notice about the poster is (1) its simplistic color scheme. The artist’s
choice to use blues, blacks, grays, and whites reflects the film’s overarching
tone of loss, sorrow, and misery. It also reflects the films setting to an
extent; most of the film takes place in the cold, frozen winter months.
Likewise, the artist has chosen to give the poster a (2) wrinkled texture. This
choice not only illustrates the physical appearance of the main character
Szpilman (Brody) as he struggles to survive the harsh winter months but also suggests
the imperfection and degradation of Europe during WWII. The predominant visual
image of this poster is the (3) piano keyboard lining the bottom of the picture.
This is an obvious reference to the film’s original poster, containing little
more than Brody’s hands playing the piano:
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| Image from IMDB.com |
The frame is dark, and the only
things illuminated are Brody’s hands on the piano and the Jewish identification
badge that Jews would have been forced to wear. The artist’s decision to allude
to the original film poster was a wise one because anyone familiar with the
film would immediate recognize that particular image of piano keys and
associate it with the film The Pianist.
The artist also chose to incorporate (4) the simple silhouette of a man into the
composition of the keyboard itself. This decision reflects how important
creating and playing music was to Szpilman during his time in hiding; his music
is a part of himself as much as he has become a part of his music. The creation
of music throughout the film was how Szpilman dealt with his grief, loneliness, and anguish. Another major component of this minimalist poster is the fact that (5) the keyboard is made to look like the crumbled remains of buildings. This image
of decay and dilapidation being incorporated into the keyboard itself suggests
that during his fight for survival, every element of Szpilman’s life has been
destroyed. The character has been separated from his family, he has been forced
out of him home, he has lost his job, and he has had to fight each day to get
the food, clothing, and shelter he needs to survive. Again, this image of the
broken and demolished buildings harkens to another one of the film’s original
posters. The artist has once again chosen to allude to an iconic image
associated with the film:
 |
| Image from IMDB.com |
This poster shows Szpilman wandering through the crumbling remains of the Warsaw ghetto. iskander1989 is clearly alluding to this image; however, he has stripped the image down to the
essential element of decay and destruction, providing the viewer with a more desolate, empty, lonely image.
The Social Network
 |
| Matt Chase's The Social Network |
In the same minimalist
vein, Matt Chase created this stripped-down poster for the film The Social Network, which follows Mark
Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) as he creates and launches Facebook. The original poster features an extremely close-up image of Eisenberg with a text overlay that reads, "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies." This original poster instantly causes the reader to expect a film about Facebook as well as anticipate internal conflict and betrayal throughout the film. Likewise, Chase's minimalist poster portrays the same ideas but in a more subtle way. By closely examining his choices of image, color, font, etc. the viewer can glean a good deal of information about the film.
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| AKADoom's The Social Network |
As with the poster for The Pianist, the
(1) color scheme plays an extremely important role in providing the viewer with
meaning about this poster and about the film in itself. It is completely
impossible in today’s technology-fueled culture to see these particular shades
of blue and white and not think about Facebook. However, the colors in this
poster are not quite as bright or vibrant as the actual colors on the Facebook
site. This dulling and muting of the colors possibly suggests the overarching
element of distrust, betrayal, and paranoia associated with Columbia Pictures’
portrayal of Zuckerburg and the creation of Facebook. While the film has several
humorous moments, it’s laced with suspicion and disloyalty. Unlike other
minimalist renditions of The Social
Network’s poster (like the one here by tumblr user AKADoom), Chase's poster
does not necessarily scream Facebook, and his use of technological images is subtle.
His approach is very successful; there is no denying the connection between his
choice in colors and the color scheme of Facebook. Chase also chooses to incorporate
slight suggestions to technology; (2) he sets up the title as if it is being
typed on a computer. Even if the viewer were unaware of the film’s depiction of
Zuckerberg as the creator of Facebook, this element ensures that he or she will
be able to assume that the film will contain a technological element. Likewise,
Chase portrays the (3) light coming in through the window as making a computer
keyboard. This image not only further illustrates the technological element of
the film but also suggests that technology was extremely pervasive in the life
of Zuckerberg; the film portrays him at first as a computer-geek, genius with
few social skills but a wealth of knowledge regarding hacking, coding, etc.
Technology completely consumed his life. In creating a poster with very few
details, Chase had to determine what image would depict the most information
about the film. His choice to focus mainly on this (4) algorithm scribbled on a
window is extremely vital. By looking at this image, the viewer might assume
that the film will contain mathematical jargon (which is does to an extent),
and this might turn people off from watching the film. However, Chase also
chooses to show (5) a beer bottle on the window sill. This juxtaposition of
complicated algorithms with alcohol is interesting. Both are images
directly from the film, in this scene,
but the combination of the images on this poster depicts Zuckerberg’s carefree lifestyle and the recklessness with which Facebook originated.
Works Cited
AKADoom. The Social Network.
2013. Photograph. Tumblr.com. Web. 14 Oct 2013.
<http://minimalmovieposters.tumblr.com/image/45705032455>.
Chase, Matt. Cinema Re-Imagined: The Social Network. 2011. Graphic. Behance.net. Web. 14 Oct 2013.
<http://www.behance.net/gallery/Cinema-Re-Imagined/1268211>.
iskander1989. The Pianist.
2012. Graphic. Worth1000.comWeb. 14 Oct 2013. <http://www.worth1000.com/entries/671918/the-pianist4>.
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