Design a film poster for "The Road" | Skillshare Projects



Design a film poster for "The Road"


Plot Summary: America is a grim, gray shadow of itself after a catastrophe. A man (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) wander through this post-apocalyptic world, trying to keep the dream of civilization alive. They journey toward the sea, surviving as best they can on what they can scavenge, and try to avoid roving gangs of savage humans who will turn them into slaves, or worse.

The mood of The Road is very dark and forboding. The character's world is in a perpetual winter, covered with ash. The man and boy are forever walking with the hope of finding a better life. A central prop throughout the film is a shopping cart they use to push their meager belongings down the road.


I started with wanting to showcase the shopping cart that is so integral to their survival:


Next I went with the subject of the title of the film, the road:



I then tried a less literal approach. During the movie, there is a scene where the man finds a Coke and gives it to the boy so he may experience a soda for the first and perhaps only time in his life. While this version is bright and clean, the phrase "It might as well be the last coke in the world." creates a subtly forboding image in the viewers mind, consumerism is over.


I also tried to visually represent the scavanging that is so necessary to life in this post-apocalyptic world. Finding food is a continuous priority in the lives of the characters; they are always on the verge of starvation. For this concept, the empty tuna can left behind has a cryptic darkness, while the style has a hint of pop or comic art.


I developed a total of five poster concepts:


I think these two are the strongest. They both have the same main subject, the road. They are both minalmalistic in their own way and I have tried to convey the grunginess of the ever-present ash, but both have very different styles:


I can't decide which I like best. Comment with you favorite and let's see which one wins.

EDIT: Thanks to a wonderful suggestion by Ilze Briede to fade the point of the road, I have edited this poster and am much, much happier with it.



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