Sunday, November 13, 2011

Blog 13 Alien

Movie Poster by: Steve Frankfort and Philip Gips




Ridley Scott, the director of Alien (1977), is highly involved in the promotion of his films. [King]  He wanted the poster for Alien to tantalize the audience with the chilling tagline "In space no one can hear you scream."  But he didn't want to give away anything else about the film. This film and its advertising campaign was so successful that it has become part of the current culture - "In space no one can hear you scream," and the visual of the egg hatching summon fears of distant and unknown terror.

The poster uses many design principles to create the successful image.  The focal point is the mysterious egg breaching with light and green smoke flowing out of the crack.  The black background and shadowing of the emphasis the egg further.  The san serif lettering (Helvetica?) is used for both the title and the tagline. The title lettering is large, open, and uses a bold, heavy font; whereas, the tagline is small, tight, and uses a lighter font. 

The piece is well balanced.  The eye is lead through the piece in a logical manner.  First drawn to the egg, the focal point, then the title, subtext, and then the mysterious grid at the bottom of the page.  Unity is created through the use of the same typeface, color, and grouping.  The green smoke is repeated.  The egg is grouped with the tagline - creating a tension - what is in the egg that will make you scream? 


Source:  King, Emily, A Century of Movie Posters from Silent to Art House, Octopus Publishing Group, Ltd, 2003.

1 comment:

  1. Wow! When I look at this I think the egg has an evil smile on it. Then underneath it, the words whisper . . . In space no one can hear you scream. The color scheme is foreboding and mysterious. What more can you ask for out of a monster movie. It sends a chill down your back without even trying. Cool poster.

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