The Prestige Movie Poster
In GIT215 at ASU, we were tasked with utilizing all the Photoshop skills we had acquired up until that point. The objective was to create a poster either from a movie, video game, etc. and apply methods of editing and color theory to produce a professional piece worthy of the client. I decided to take my favorite movie of all time, "The Prestige" to complete this project. In the movie, objects like the Tesla light bulb and a canary in a cage are shown in the light of magic. I thought combining these two key concepts into one would suit the poster well and give the viewer a bit of intrigue and mystery to spark their interest. The movie is also shot in blue and grey tones so I thought that a hazy light coming off the light bulb would give a good idea of what the movie aesthetically looks like.
These were my first sketches of ideas I had. I definitely wanted the concept of a cage to be clear and use the various elements in the movie to get that idea across. The first idea I sketched was a canary cage on the front of a coin (another symbol in the film). However, I thought it'd be more powerful to have a standalone object than too many fighting for attention. I then came to an empty cage with a single feather at the bottom. In the interest of diversity I thought a Tesla light bulb emerging from a magicians hat might symbolize the magical element more successfully. Reverting back to my thought of a standalone object, the light bulb could serve as the cage with the canary illuminated within it instead.
Taking it into Photoshop was incredibly fun to produce. I grabbed an illuminated light bulb and canary on a branch off the internet and that was it as for photos or outside elements (credit goes to those photographers). In the first iteration on the far left I kept the light bulb in normal proportion until I started looking at stills from the movie. The Tesla light bulb was large and unique in shape so I thought it more appropriate to warp the bulb to fit that look in the movie. The lighting was even which I liked, but since it's somewhat an ominous story, smudging the light would create this foggy quality similar to the visuals in the movie. I also experimented with not have a canary in the bulb at all, but thought the concept more interesting with the addition of it and kept the blue change to the light. In the final iteration, I made the canary smaller and delicate, because in the past versions it overpowered the bulb and fought for attention.
