Cintematiqä Classics: My project in Minimalist Graphic Design for Big Ideas course

Cintematiqä Classics: My project in Minimalist Graphic Design for Big Ideas course

For this final project in the Minimalist Graphic Design for Big Ideas course, my goal is to create a series of movie posters in minimalist mid-century style, particularly mimicking the various book covers published in the 50s-70s. These movie posters are commissioned by the fictional Cinematiqä company for their Cinematiqä Classics movie series screening and DVD, a collection of art films that leaves their audiences room to interpret the meaning of the motion pictures.

For this project, I choose Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream & Black Swan. 3 movies with storylines that are easily digestible for the general audience but also have a lot of hidden messages and audiovisual cues that spark discussions.

The Template

These are the templates I've selected for this project. They are all heavily influenced by the mid-century book covers. Their uniformity is what I think makes it best to be used as a collection design; people can easily take a glance at them and quickly recognize that this is a part of the Cinematiqä Classics series.

1. The Shining

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

The first movie is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining from 1980. There are some strong imageries/moments that stick with me from this movie. I've chosen to use the rug design of the hotel floor as the artwork for the poster. It is a geometry patterned rug that effortlessly looks mid-century but also is easily recognizable by moviegoers.

2. Requiem for a Dream

I am somebody now, Harry

Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000) is a harrowing movie dealing with the theme of drug abuse and its effect on the 4 main characters. The movie is a long spiral downwards into a depressing and tragic end. Using eyes as the main element in the poster refers to the pupil dilation that happens when drugs are in the system and its different colors also refer to the pills that Ellen Burstyn's character consumes.

3. Black Swan

I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect.

The third movie for this project is Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky (again). This movie stick to me as it dealt with the obsession of being perfect, something I could relate to on a personal level. It also dealt with the turmoil of the main character, Nina's suddenly thrown into maturity when she has been infantilized her whole life. I've chosen simple black and white stripe to represent this movie, using a triangle as it represents the extent of how the "black swan" took over Nina's innocence.

I had a lot of fun working on this project, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do too. Below are some of my sketches for the project including the alternatives and designs that didn't make the cut.