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Showing posts with label Posters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Posters. Show all posts

19 February 2013

The Matrix Movie Poster - TuVie Day

Today we’re taking a look at the promotional poster for a movie that transformed many people’s perceptions of reality and left many questioning the validity of our existence. Starring Keanu Reeves & Laurence Fishburne, The Matrix is going under the microscope in today’s TuVie Day!

The Matrix is one of the must see films that made an impact in the 90s when it was first released because of the way it took what you’d perceived as real life and made it appear like a piece of software in a complex computer program (The Matrix) - a virtual reality.


One of the reasons for The Matrix’s massive impact at this time was the boom of computer usage in households in addition to the fact that there had been no movie made like this before its birth. It was therefore inevitable that forum user handles began appearing over the internet as Morpheus, Neo and Trinity - the lead characters from the film, after its launch.


The Storyline

Without giving too much away, the basic storyline involves a hacker named Thomas A. Anderson (Reeves) who moonlights as a hacker whose alias is displayed as Neo. His online quest for “The Matrix” leads him to connect with Morpheus (Fishburne) who is initially described as a terrorist in the virtual reality, however, he is later discovered as the leader of a mercenary group who have been searching for Neo outside of this virtual reality.

To explain The Matrix Morpheus compares it to Alice In Wonderland and gives Neo the choice to remain in this virtual reality by taking a blue pill or find out what The Matrix is by taking a red one (chasing the rabbit down the hole to Wonderland).

Actual reality is a much poorer world in appearance where hard graft is needed to survive against technology that the humans had initially created. In this world where technology is self-maintaining it still needs human life as a source of power, which leads to humans being manufactured by the machines - a complete reverse to our current situation where we manufacture machines for use.

As I said I don’t want to give away too much about this film and its a hard one to explain, however, all I will say is that the story continues to show Neo as “the chosen one” who has been woken from the virtual reality in order to help save the human race from the machines that rule that world.


The Matrix Movie Poster Critique

The Matrix movie poster designed by Concept Arts


In overall appearance The Matrix movie poster is very striking with the lead character or Neo given primary focus alongside his leather wrapped colleagues. Almost none of the plot is given away in this poster, however, themes within the film are presented e.g. the falling lines or text that look similar to binary code are placed on the background to the characters. In the film we realise that this virtual reality is made from this code, therefore, the designer’s choice to place it on the walls (an element of this virtual world) is a subtle hint at what The Matrix is.

The fragmented logo of the movie has a similar appearance to an image that is loading on an old PC line by line but also looks like it is struggling, which subtly displays the technology theme. Additionally, the clear evidence of guns gives away the fact that this is an action movie, confirmed by the subtitle containing the word “fight”.

The photoshop cutouts of the characters is somewhat laughable when you consider the budget that would’ve been spent on the film’s content. You’d think that a slightly more exciting and imaginative representation of The Matrix could have been created rather than just having the characters standing around with guns, however, action film posters of the late 90s followed a very similar format so you can’t entirely knock it.


Summary

To summarise I’d have to say that not only is the movie well made but the poster is well structured for its time. I’d like to see a more imaginative representation of this poster created by an artistic fan as I feel with the current technology available to graphic designers there is something more impressive to be made that will give this film justice.

This week The Matrix gets an 8 out of 10, mainly because the poster’s design isn’t as imaginative as I feel it could be to present the great themes within the story.

If you haven’t seen The Matrix before, here’s the movie trailer for your enjoyment:


23 November 2012

This Year’s Christmas Wish List

This week the family have been asking the question that comes around once a year and that is “what would you like for Christmas?” As an amateur visual artist I can say that most of what I’ve been looking at has either been design or photography related so I’m going to share the three items I want the most this year.

Sorry to any young eyes reading this blog who believe that Santa will be bringing them their gifts this year. He doesn’t visit my house sadly so our parents get us presents instead :{P
 

Anywho here’s my three wants for the year, any of which I’d be ecstatic to receive:

Peleng 8mm Fisheye Lens


I’m a big fan of my Canon 1000D and have enjoyed taking photos with it for the past three years but I’ve recently wanted to do some cool wide angle shots at our local skate park. To get that cool effect that they show on the Extreme Sports channel I’ll need an extra wide lens like the Peleng Canon fit 8mm fisheye lens.



If I later decide to upgrade the camera to something more impressive like the 5D I’ll be able to film cool skate clips using this lens which will be great.

Current Price on Amazon: £198.00.

Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch Graphics Tablet

For some time I’ve been drawing freehand with a good old fashion pen and paper and recently I’ve used a flatbed scanner to digitise my work just for personal enjoyment. I’ve now decided that for Christmas I’d like to receive a graphics tablet made by Wacom so that I can draw straight to PC.



I know many readers will be thinking why didn’t I choose the ones that are similar to an iPad yada yada. Reason 1 being they cost a lot more and reason 2 being I’d like to learn this way first as many professional digital artists have done this for years. After all I have a monitor in front of me to see what I am drawing.

Current Price on Amazon: £69.99.

Gig Posters Book


Last but not least is a book I’d love to get my grubby mitts on that will provide me with some inspiration for my own gig poster projects. The name of the book is Gig Posters: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century v.1.



I love the originality of the American gig posters and how they always seem far more impressive than the boring formulaic ones used for nightclub venues. I love it when a poster can make someone stop in their tracks and read on in awe. That’s what a poster should do!

Current Price on Amazon: £16.19.

I guess its fair to say that I don’t ask for a lot. For my last birthday I was asked what I wanted and I simply asked for the Jungle Book on DVD. Random I know! This may not be the expert graphic designer’s wish list of 2012, however, it is definitely similar to one of an amateur looking to learn.

10 August 2012

5 Pinterest Boards of Design Inspiration

Pinterest has been a great way to create mood boards, bookmark influential designs, and create inspirational design sources for other creative minded individuals. It's easy to get lost in the plethora of beautiful stuff that it offers which is why we've chosen 5 of our favourite Pinterest boards which act as a good resource for those needing inspiration for their design projects.

Want yours included in our next inspirational Pinterest board blog article? Leave a link to it in the comments below.

  1. /paulsvo/illustration/

    This fantastic selection of illustrations by Paulsvo gives all sorts of creative ammunition to artists and designers whose weapon of choice is nothing more than a pen and some paper...maybe even a graphics tablet too.
  2. Click here for Paulsvo's Pinterest Board


  3. /butteredmuffin/inspiring-art/

    Inside of Butteredmuffin's board there is an eclectic combination of artistic styles ranging from graffiti, street art through to sculptures, etc. The main image that grabbed my attention is the one shown below.
  4. Click here for Butteredmuffin's Pinterest Board


  5. /raychap/graffiti-or-art/

    Raychap has a range of graffiti art from different street artists on his board which asks the old question Graffiti or art?
  6. Click here for Raychap's Pinterest Board


  7. /retorta/poster/

    This board is full of really cool and artistic posters of all kinds, mainly of events. Retorta's board is definitely one for designers looking to create cool posters.
  8. Click here for Retorta's Pinterest Board


  9. /peaceluvharmony/artsy-fartsy/

    Peaceluvharmony's board has got some more great examples of street art the most interesting to us is the one shown below.
  10. Click here for Peaceluvharmony's Pinterest Board

30 July 2012

Inspirational Olympic Themed Prints

Seeing as my country is the host to the greatest sporting event in the world, I decided it would be nice to share with you my favourite pieces of Olympic themed prints. So far it has been a success in terms of showmanship. Danny Boyle displayed a perfect portrayal of the heritage of Great Britain in his stunning opening ceremony that embodied history, humour, and passion. Performance wise Team GB hasn't had a great start but fingers crossed we'll put it out of the bag.

Scanning the internet I found some controversial pieces of art which I am not going to display today. Instead, the prints I have selected are supportive of the Olympics and its brand. I will save the more controversial works for later on this week ;)

So without further ado here are my favourite Olympic themed prints so far:

Andrew Maunders London 2012 Poster

Image Source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/accessories-for-your-london-olympics-party-174501

Brent Couchman Olympics Poster

Image Source: http://eighthourday.com/blog/best-today-1-2012/

Dieter Braun Olympic London Poster

Image Source: http://www.culturelabel.com/olympics-dieter-braun.html

17 July 2012

3 Pieces of Poster Worthy Art

First of all apologies for not blogging the last couple of days but I've been insanely busy. Anyway back to the inspiring print for all my lovely readers.

So...there's many times in life when you see a piece of art or design that captivates you to the point where you'd love to have a poster print of it (framed or not) in one of your rooms at home (normally the bedroom). I think its something psycological to do with a piece of your personality being displayed in your living environment. Whatever it is, I've got three great pieces to share that are definitely poster worthy. It's a shame I don't have the space for anything new at the moment.

Roy Lichtenstein'sWhaam!

This great artistic work from the 60s is comic themed and a piece that I've loved since I was a teenager, possibly due to its comic book reference from "All American Men of War".

Image Source

Pink Floyd Back Catalogue

Pink Floyd's awesome album art was beatifully painted onto the backs of the models by Phyllis Cohen and photographed by the very talented Storm Thorgerson. I already have this as a poster in my bedroom!

Image Source

Banksy Tesco

I love Banksy's effort to poke fun at Tesco's dominance in the UK in this piece of graffiti art. Definitely a poster I want in the office.

Image Source

Let me know what you're favourite pieces of artistic work are that you'd have framed and walled in your house in the comments below.

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