Introducing Visual Communication: Project 3 - Thumbnail Visuals

development sketches​

For this project, we were tasked with the development of a theatre poster. In the process, we had to create 40 thumbnail concepts and refine our ideas into three finalised client visuals.

The play I chose to focus on was 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'. Of course, the first step was to familiarise myself with the subject by watching the play itself. I also watched the film and read through the script to gain 

perspective from multiple angles. I am glad I chose to do this, since coming up with 40 different ideas for thumbnails proved to be quite difficult. Having knowledge of the play, its script, its music and the film adaptation definitely helped with generating ideas. Some of the thumbnails use symbolism and subtle details from the script, whilst others are much more literal - either way, I tried to create images that didn't give too much of the plot away,

40 thumbnail visuals

I also made sure to keep in mind that our task was to produce a theatre poster, not a film poster. I find the two often differ greatly; film posters tend to be more cinematic, utilising modern photography and digital effects. Theatre was around long before we had these tools at our disposal - traditionally, other than word of mouth, the only real way to advertise an upcoming play was via illustration. Many modern theatre posters still champion this method, favouring illustration and graphic design over photography and often appearing more stylised than realistic. 

The aim of any advertisement poster is to draw the viewer's attention to the product. Ideally, it should visually pique their interest, encouraging them to consider said product. To do this, an effective combination of colour, composition and subject must be used. Right away, with Sweeney Todd as my "product", I knew I would be making good use of a bleak and minimalistic colour scheme.

3 final client visuals

I chose to use only red, black and white in my finals. Red and white are of course the trademark colours of a barber - historically, this was to symbolise their practice of bloodletting, and the white bandages used to stem the bleeding. This (rather beautifully) correlates directly to the plot of Sweeney Todd. Adding black provided depth and contrast, resulting in stark images that both draw the eye and convey the morbid themes of the play.

The three ideas I chose to finalise experimented with differing perspectives and interpretations. For example, I explored the use of the worm's view in one; placing Todd behind his unknowing victim to create dramatic effect, and convey a predatory sense of power. For the others, I chose to portray Todd himself as the victim. He states in the play that his former self is "dead" - this made me visualise his tragic past as a fatal wound, slowly bleeding out as he tortures himself with his pursuit of revenge. It seemed effective to make this fatal wound the same one he inflicts on his victims.