Twilight and Breaking Dawn Movie Posters

Breaking Dawn teaser poster

Through surfing the internet I found this poster, and decided to see what people thought about it. Well, I didn't last long, because that research took me to too many Twilight-centric fansites, which made me think that maybe I really didn't need to know.

Not being a fan of the series, but managing to read almost all of it anyway, I know what the story is about. And who isn't familiar with Twilight's rabid teen fan base? Therefore, it's curious the studio went with a poster like this.

Personally, I like it. I think it's a brilliant teaser (I find teaser posters are usually more creative and seducing then the official posters). I have always liked the treatment of the title, it's quite beautiful and elegant. Although I don't consider myself a Twilight fan, I think the title fits very well with the people it's intended to appeal to. The image is of a breaking dawn, and it almost looks like a book cover. I'm considering the fact that the reason I'm liking this poster so much has something to do with the fact that I normally don't like the posters at all, so by comparison, this is very nice.

I remember when the Joey Lawrence photos of the first movie came out and besides dripping with jealousy that he was so young and successful, I quite liked the photos. It was the posters that defy physics that I had a problem with - what's with the kicker lights on Bella and Edward coming from within their embrace?

The official Twilight poster and
my recreation without kicker lights

I tried to recreate it without the kicker lights back in 2008 - and everybody I asked preferred the first one. It was one of those defining moments where I realized the difference between advertising art and fine art. Nobody else seemed to mind the unreality of the lights coming from nowhere. They argued one couldn't see Bella's face clearly enough in my version, which is true. The kicker light, though thin, removes half her face, and she already has a deep shadow over the eye. I think my counter argument was that she was not a well-known actress, so one didn't need to show her face clearly to attract viewers to see the film.

If this happened on the Breaking Dawn poster, my argument would be that she is a well-known actress in a well-known cult movie with a loyal fan base and is quite recognizable with only half her face visible - especially juxtaposed with Edward and the twilight logo. But actually, those are just "pride" arguments, I think that advice was justly given.

The Blue & Orange Film Still dilemma

My brother, Nathaniel, and I were talking about color correction, specifically within movies. He mentioned an article he read (very similar to this one at Into the Abyss), about cinematographer's lighting the subjects with an orange light and the background with blue light and how it is used quite often. We agreed that it was a pleasing look, but also that it was a somewhat lazy approach to lighting because it works so well.

Disturbia with Shia Labeouf

Disturbia

Disturbia

Eagle Eye with Shia Labeouf and Michelle Monaghan

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
with Dan Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
with Robert Downey Jr.

Isn't there some sort of drive in all creatives to create something original

For some cases, it make absolute perfect sense, like combining natural lighting with indoor lighting. The two temperatures create blue and orange lighting respectively. I've seen blogs mention teal/orange "offenders" where this is the case. Right now I'm sitting in a room with a window and tungston light: blue and orange. The first two Disturbia images I posted above pass with this exception.


I'm going to say this and then retract my statement a little, but just bear with me. Generally, if everybody is doing something, then suddenly I don't want to do it at all. But really, that's not entirely true, because I don't want what somebody else is doing to limit what I am doing, so on those terms I do what I want. I am inspired by what other people are doing, and I consider what other people are doing, and if I feel what I am doing is exactly the same, then more often than not I don't want to do it anymore. That's not always the case, because perhaps teal and orange is exactly the right choice to create some sort of mood. If I don't use teal and orange, suddenly I am losing because my pride got the better of me.

And to be honest, I like the look. Not all the time, but complimentary colors are nice looking, and just because it's prevalent doesn't mean it's gross. Teal is a beautiful color, and it looks great in movies and posters (which also suffer from a lot of teal/orange designs).

With that said, orange lighting makes everyone looks like they got a really bad tan, and that's not cool.

Blog Prompt #27

I am interested in photography in the common sense of the medium - portraits, candids, still lifes, etc taken on a recognizable camera, hung on the wall as prints. Sarah, my professor, encouraged us to think of photography differently than this. Before her class, I would never have thought to turn in what I ended up doing. I used photography as textures to create scenes within a collaged world. I used Photoshop - my favorite medium - to collage different layers together and create the perception of depth to my images.
I taught myself After Effects because I'm very interested in motion graphics and how motion can use depth in an entirely new way, such as parallax (the effect that occurs when, say, you are driving past a farm and the near corn stalks move much more quickly past your window than the distant farmhouse), which is impossible with still graphics.
My goal is to work in the entertainment industry, so I created a poster, a book cover, and a logo slate. All existed as still graphics and as motion graphics, so it was quite interesting to figure out the best way to design both and have them stay consistent with each other.