Gatsby Movie Poster Visual Representation Project

The Basics So what is this project all about? You and a partner will make a movie poster for a film version of The Great Gatsby. You can use whatever computer program that works for you to make up the poster. We’ll have work time in class today and Thursday for this project. We’ll start to present the posters to the class next Tuesday.

The Basics More specifics: To do well on this project, you’ll need to NOT be literal and straightforward with your visual representations on the poster. You MUST be creative and abstract and put thought into all your various details. You may NOT use any visuals or actors for any of the actual Gatsby movies and existing posters. You must use a tagline on the poster but it canNOT be a quote from the novel. Also, you must title the film something other than The Great Gatsby. Study actual movie posters and include some of the relevant elements found in movie posters in your own (i.e. actor names, release date, graphics, critics’ reviews, etc…).

Suggestions Don’t try to do too much with the poster. You can’t recreate the entire story. Think of one/a couple/a few key elements or themes or scenes and work off that Get creative with your title, your tagline, your actors, etc… Think about the layout and the aesthetics today. Consider pixlr.com or Google Draw Work on the visuals today and then our second workday (on Thursday) you can work on the actual presentation.

Poster Examples

Poster Examples

Poster Examples

Poster Examples

Poster Examples

The Basics Why are we doing this? Visual literacy is as vital as the air we breathe. This project will let you show your knowledge of the novel in a different way than a test/essay/ Socratic Seminar does (no worries, you’ll get those too). It’s toward the end of the year, we should try something different. This project will include a presentation and we need that because we don’t do enough speeches during the year.

More Questions… How am I going to be graded? See the grading rubric sheet for specifics. I realize that this isn’t an art class so I’ll temper my expectations of the aesthetics a bit but I’d still like it to look nice. If you are not able to visual represent your ideas as perfectly as you had planned, explain that during your presentation. Can you show some examples of what our posters should look like? Sure, here are some student examples. Remember, our requirements this year are a bit different than in the past. Judge what’s good and/or bad with the various examples.

Any Questions? Need some help in terms of learning more about movie posters? Here’s a good resource: www.impawards.com and then go to “More” and “Annual Awards” So…are you good? Any questions, things I need to cover in more details, stuff I need to explain more?