Design Critical Analysis : Doctor Strange Movie Poster

Figure 1: Doctor Strange Movie Poster.

The product that I choose for design criticism is Doctor Strange movie poster (refer to Figure 1) which was released as first teaser of the movie on April 12th, 2016. Doctor Strange is an action, adventure, and fantasy American superhero movie which was produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Scott Derrickson was the director of the movie and he wrote the screenplay with C. Robert Cargill and Jon Spaihts. This movie was initially released on 13th October 2016, in Hong Kong, and was released in United States on 4th November 2016.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Doctor Strange movie poster had applied many elements and principles of design by the designer. Radial balance can be noticed in the poster design as the elements are placed around a central point which maintain the focus point and lead eyes toward the center of overall design. Approximately symmetrical balance is also applied to the design as the equal visual weights are on equal sides of composition which achieves the balance of design. The use of chiaroscuro lighting creates high value contrast in overall design to create depth illusion and achieve dramatic effect of the scene. Warm colours such as bright yellow and red are used to emphasize on the Sanctum Sanctorum Window and Cloak of Levitation, and also achieve the colour contrast in overall design. Cool colour such as dark blue is used as the background colour to give a sense of coolness and reduces eyes strain when looking at the movie poster.

From the overall design, the Sanctum Sanctorum Window can be noticed by the audience at the first sight as the repetition is used which the geometric lines are applied with four slashing curves and the form of pattern on the Sanctum Sanctorum Window to create focus point and lead eyes toward the center of window. The value contrast of Sanctum Sanctorum Window is extremely high which attract the eyes and exhibit dominance, while the value contrast of the patterns of window and ground is low which is the least visual weight in overall design. With the use of bright yellow, the indication of skylight is shown which increases the colour contrast of warm colour in 70% of the overall design. The proportion of Sanctum Sanctorum Window is of the poster and it is the biggest size of element in the overall design which occupies about 60% of poster, achieves the highest level of dominance, and gets the most emphasis among all elements in the poster. One of the gestalt principles, closure, is applied on Sanctum Sanctorum Window as the pattern of window forms a circle outline which perceived by the brain as circle although the circle does not show obviously in the poster. Similarity also can be noticed as the eye tends to build relationship between geometric lines and form the patterns of window with geometric lines within the design.

Besides, Cloak of Levitation can also be noticed at the first sight as the repetition of organic lines are formed as the fabric texture of cloak which creates subdominant level in overall design and conveys a sense of dynamism. The value contrast of Cloak of Levitation is high which creates focus point and increases the visual weight in overall design. With the use of red colour, the cloak has become the secondary emphasis and increases the colour contrast of warm colour in 10% of the overall design. The texture of Cloak of Levitation also emphasizes on the actual fabric texture and indicates the smoothness of the fabric to create contrast and visual interest within the design composition. The proportion of Doctor Strange is of the poster and the human figure is in accurate human proportion in the overall design which occupies about 25% of poster and creates the sense of grandeur and actual size of the scene. The value contrast of Doctor Strange is at medium level which emphasizes on Doctor Strange’s head, arm, and leg.

Marvel logo is placed under Doctor Strange with center alignment in the movie poster to increase the dominance level in the dark background and emphasize that Doctor Strange movie was produced by Marvel Studios. It was designed with Benton Sans Extra Comp Black font which under Grotesque classification of sans-serif as it is solid and bold typeface which is suitable to emphasize the titles, headlines, and important information (Forbes, 2018). With plain white typefaces on red background which increases the visual weight and exhibits dominance of the logo in simple manner, the powerful logo gains lots of recognition in worldwide and it is identifiable in movies, comic books, posters, and even merchandise.

The typography of movie poster is classified as neoclassical and modern serifs typeface as it emphasizes the contrast of thick and thin strokes which gives a sense of dramatic and abrupt effect. It also feels appropriate in the movie poster as it matches the dramatic scene of the movie poster in a simplistic manner rather than bold and busy. White colour is used for the typeface in the dark background to emphasize the important information and reduce eye strain. It is placed at the middle bottom of the movie poster which aligns with the Sanctum Sanctorum Window and Doctor Strange, and achieves the radial balance by placing it around a central point.

The hierarchy of elements in the movie poster appear in logical and clear progression with center alignment to create visual interest and emphasize every important element and information within the design composition. The visitors will be able to notice Sanctum Sanctorum Window at the first sight due to the scale of the window which is bigger than Doctor Strange by a factor of two and occupies 60% of poster. Sanctum Sanctorum Window is designed to stand out “Seal of the Vishanti” symbol on the window and gain recognition from visitors. The hierarchy also directs the eyes from Sanctum Sanctorum Window to Doctor Strange by adjusting them in actual size and placing them on the background and foreground within the picture plan to create depth perception which allows distance perception between elements in the scene of movie poster.