Posterwire.com is a movie poster weblog. From images of the latest Hollywood one-sheets to vintage movie posters, this film poster weblog hopes to offer a bit of insight into film key art.
No, Mona Lisa isn’t sporting a milk mustache for the latest Got Milk? print ad campaign. It’s the teaser poster for the book publishing phenomenon turned motion picture known as The Da Vinci Code. The film, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, is a mystery thriller about the murder of an art curator in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The advance poster uses a close-up image of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting (and arguably the most famous piece of artwork ever produced), the Mona Lisa. Completed around 1503-1507, the identity of famous portrait and smile is something of an unknown, with theories ranging from the wife of Florentine businessman Francesco del Giocondo to a self-portrait of Da Vinci himself.
The Da Vinci Code teaser poster invokes the underlying plot element of the film — various “codes” and clues hidden in famous artwork — by peeling away a close-crop of the Mona Lisa canvas and morphing it into some sort of overlapping code lettering page curl only a first year design student could love.
I usually enjoy the *very* early poster designs studios put out for major flicks, as the creative departments aren’t locked into any style guidelines at this stage and are free to play with the concept and frankly, be creative.
This seems to be no exception and IMHO I think it works really well. In particular, I like the close-up textures of the cracked paint and code/parchment.
Comment posted by Julius on 05/9/05 7:25 PM.Tom Hanks? What happened to Harrison Ford? Or am I confused agian?
Comment posted by Ben on 05/10/05 3:45 AM.I like the concept of the ‘hidden code’ on the backside of the Mona Lisa but I’m not too keen on the execution. The location, upward curvature, and texture of the page curl all seem a bit off. And it also gives the impression that the curled painting gives way to the floating movie title text underneath.
The movie title logo itself is a bit weird too. The red dividing lines separates the title into “The” “Da Vinci” “Code” instead of “The” “Da Vinci Code”. The logo works fine without the red lines.
I must be grumpy today - need to get some more coffee.
Comment posted by Patrick on 05/10/05 11:30 AM.I love it! very neat look!
Comment posted by benjamin on 05/11/05 7:39 AM.The “curling” part is what I really didn’t like about it too. I didn’t even read it as that before you explained it and I couldn’t figure out what was going on.. it just looked like a strange little random tornado.
Comment posted by April on 05/15/05 1:14 PM.[…] dependientemente de ello, me parece un buen trabajo, sencillo pero muy efectivo. Gracias a Posterwire por la noticia.
Escrito en: DÃa a dÃa
[…]
Pingback posted by Criterion :: Diseño gráfico y editorial, recursos y enlaces de utilidad :: on 05/17/05 2:38 AM.Suggestive picture… uneasy feeling.. The whole Davinci thing is going to make someone alot of money alright!!Ride that horse ya.ll
Comment posted by P on 12/30/05 12:40 PM.