Major Project: Initial Research
In thi research I want to focus on Expressionism movie posters from German Expressionism period.
The first movie poster I want talk about is design to movie “Metropolis”. It is silent movie from 1927 directed by Fritz Lang. It is about son of the city’s mastermind, who falls in love with a working-class prophet. The City where they live is a futuristic city divided between the working class and the city planners which makes things harder. It is a film where we can watch the robot, cityscape and machines
The poster is designed by German graphic artist Heinz Schulz-Neudamm. This work is three-sheet image. In the forground we can see the robot which is starring straight a t the viewer. In the background are high skyscrapers. Everything is keeps in dark black and yellow colours. At the top of the poster we can observe veery interesting typography with title. Background and title are created from ease, sharp shapes.
Heinz Schulz-Neudamm was a graphic designer and painter. His real name was Paul Heinz Otto Schulz. He was born 7th July 1899 in Neudamm, Namibia and died in 1969 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Heinz started design movie posters in 1920 he became known for his works from Deutche Universal Film AG and American studios 20th Century Fox.
More works of Heinz Schulz-Neudamm just to visualise and become more familiar with German expressionism period.
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| Heinz Schulz-Neudamm Anna Karelian. 1935 |
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| Heinz Schulz-Neudamm Lang, Fritz “Metropolis” 1926 |
Next movie poster I want to research is poster to movie “Nosferatu” directed by F.W. Murnau. Film is about Vampire and it is fantasy-horror from 1922. Poster to this movie was created by Albin Grau. Grau was a artist-producer who wanted to make movies to promote occult ideas. He hired writer, cinematographer and director to realise his vision. However he took responsibility for things like poster design. Overall look of the film and storyboards.
Artist to create this poster used colour only to design title which makes it the most visible part of the whole work. All design looks like it is behind the descriptions. We can see that artist decided to create monochromatic poster, used only black and white colours (except the title) and kept everything simple.
“Nosferatu” isn’t very expressionism movie, however Albin Grau’s sketches and posters tend in that direction.
Albin Grau was born in 1884 in Berlin, Germany and died at age 86 in Bayrischzell, Germany.
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| Albin Grau Poser to “Nosferatu” by F.W. Mumau (1922) |
References:
BARBA, J., 2017. Metropolis, the most expensive movie poster | The Strength of Architecture | From 1998. [online] Metalocus.es. Available at: <https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/metropolis-most-expensive-movie-poster> [Accessed 6 February 2021].
Design, N., 2020. Heinz Schulz-Neudamm | NARAN-HO | Design Marbella | Diseño Web + Fotografía.. [online] NARAN-HO | Design Marbella | Diseño Web + Fotografía. Available at: <https://www.naran-ho.com/en/heinz-schulz-neudamm/> [Accessed 6 February 2021].
Horror Film History. 2017. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) — Horror Film History. [online] Available at: <https://horrorfilmhistory.com/wp/nosferatu-1922/> [Accessed 6 February 2021].
{ feuilleton }. 2014. Albin Grau's Nosferatu. [online] Available at: <http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2014/10/28/albin-graus-nosferatu/> [Accessed 6 February 2021].
This is a bit better than the Otto Dix post, but would still like to see some thoughts on how these examples are influencing the design, look or typography of your project.
ReplyDeleteYou should be investigating the type of font or typeface you are going to use for this project. Have a look at MyFonts.com for some IDEAS: https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/hanoded/die-bruecke/ The font 'Die Brucke' looks interesting. Or here at Typographica: https://typographica.org/typeface-reviews/irrlicht/
I recommend you practise drawing your text in an Expressionist style using black ink or ink pens on white paper - you could start by just practising creating the Alphabet in a variety of ways based on your research and then seen which approach best suits your project idea.