hello my name is James Berta sotto I'm a
movie poster artist I've been designing
posters for over thirty years today
we're gonna break down every poster in
the Marvel Cinematic Universe the
strongest visual here is the perspective
so because of the low angle view it
allows you to bring in multiple
characters there's also all these flying
characters in the sky the low angle
allows the eye to go straight up to the
globe lighting the main characters all
the secondary action is occurring in the
darkness here the red is kind of offset
by the blue here's an example of the
Avengers comic book series and you've
seen this very dramatic under view
perspective that's used to hold all
these characters together if you notice
here you have these smaller characters
that are very reminiscent of all these
secondary characters here they're
actually identical in scale you have the
main actor looking outward in the same
direction you have Thor actually
duplicated almost verbatim they're kind
of with his flying cape what's important
with the comic book architecture is that
you get a sense of full narrative in one
frame or a full experience in one frame
which is similar to the language of
movie poster art the first thing that
catches your eye here is to face all of
the two characters you have this
dramatic profile this head-to-head
combat that's occur in between these two
main characters you notice there's no
environment here they're really pushing
it's a civil war aspect that's a promise
of collision but also a unifying aspect
so if you notice this red and blue
connection here and the blue here on
Captain America and the red uniform is
tied in you also have this very strong
circle device here and again the split
color in the background reinforces the
contrast of these two worlds coming
together a faceoff is very common
in action movie poster design this is an
example of two movie posters and they
both have the faceoff of the two
profiles coming head to head but here
the logo is connected to the icon in the
distance which kind of makes it more new
and kind of gives it like a fresh take
on this very traditional set up you can
trace this back to boxing poster
advertising as you can see the main
spider-man superhero figure in
dominating the poster there with the
help of Iron Man the to severe arrows
are kind of split to the left of the
poster it's a Spider Man shadow and then
you have a very obvious environment
cliche landscape of New York City and I
think what the most obvious here is the
lack of cohesion through color and also
there's nothing pleasing to the eye
everything is fighting for attention so
if you notice the scale relationship is
very obvious the use of lighting is very
straightforward the environment here of
New York City kind of mixed in with the
Washington Monument which was a little
confusing to the eye you're not sure
where that coming from and that even the
scale difference is just so obviously
spliced together compared to this lead
actor the size difference is very crude
it seems like these worlds colliding are
kind of creating confusion and chaos
this is an example of traditional head
in the sky approach to movie poster
advertising and the order here I think
is stronger than in spider-man but this
really takes the heads in the sky to the
next level kind of in a way that is
unworkable here you have a very
traditional glue and orange color
palette you have this very strong
vertical doorway that's introducing a
new character into the Marvel Universe
as a secondary take you have the
characters symbol layered into the
doorway and we also have the traditional
action hero king of light that's coming
up behind the
and this female character that's
portrayed in a very powerful iconic
stance that's very reminiscent of any
superhero which is very interesting to
see brought into the Marvel Universe and
if you notice there's a cat walking in
the darkness on this side of the poster
which kind of is a nod to the story and
to the fans and I think the doorway
reminds me of the crow poster so from a
compositional perspective you have this
vertical doorway and here it's kind of
almost mirrors that other poster what
makes these posters work is a use of
black space creating this introduction
of something new and unexpected that's
coming our way
he's literally coming at you a shot from
this low angle of this explosion of
clouds and fire around him reinforcing
his power you also have this very
dramatic smoke and cloud effect that's
holding together the secondary cast and
then you have this very obvious
introduction of the villain which sets
the stage for the tension of these three
worlds colliding but Marvel did not
invent this strategy if you look at this
example in them touchable you have Al
Capone when dominating the poster this
looming figure in the distance kind of
pushback is very similar to the Captain
America poster where the villain is set
into the distance the villain sets the
stage for the drama of the story
this is the first time that Marvel is
showing the power of its brand here we
have the biggest star of The Avengers
Robert Downey jr. taking center stage on
the poster we have the foreshortening of
the hand front and center creating the
perspective and then that offsets is
very dramatic radiating perspective that
brings your eye into the distance and
creates a universe that these characters
are portrayed in you also have a very
grounded sense of reality none of the
characters are moving beyond the floor
and this is the first time that we're
seeing that multiple characters from the
Marvel Universe encompassing one space
and also literally being brought
together into one universe you get the
sense of this blue color that's used to
offset the background from the main
characters also the logo seems very
large in this case I think really
pushing the fact that this is the first
time that the characters are coming
together in one story and then each
character is looking off frame so you
get this very dramatic world that we're
not seeing that I think is promised to
the to the spectator and also promise to
the experience of this larger-than-life
entertainment that's coming their way
and here we have that central holding
device that really used as a lure the
multiple worlds coming together the
multiple characters coming together is
being held together by the color palette
this fiery universe against the blue sky
the strong central device of the main
lead characters creates a symmetry that
allows the structure of the poster to
work well and a big aspect is also the
size of the poster everything is looming
up behind the title I mean I'm guessing
that they're gonna have to start going
out into different perspectives or
different graphic devices that are gonna
allow more characters to come in in this
case they're literally coming out from
every square inch of the poster
eventually they're gonna run how to
space
we can see that this graphic device
that's being incorporated in in the
background as a holding element but also
creates this futuristic environment for
the action that's front and center we
have this strong pyramid device here
looming over the logo also you have this
very symmetrical universe that holds the
city brings it into the present day in a
similar way that this pyramid kind of
reinforces the title treatment to kind
of mirrors creating this kind of winged
like shape behind the lead character
almost forms an X from a distance that's
a unifying everything in using these
graphic architectural devices the design
of this poster has a very structured
organized formation that occurs as new
and exciting and this is a prime example
of the holding element in a very
successful way this brings together all
the characters offset by this circular
device is the most common attention
grabber this symmetrical high design
composite is used to guide the eye and
at the same time step back and just
enjoy the symmetry and the color and and
the beauty of this this configuration
what's important with this poster is
this diagonal holding device that's new
you have all the secondary cast members
being used behind the grid of this
diagonal device that is separated by
lines of light that allows the layering
to occur within the multiple characters
the strong diagonal type is very
unexpected but also I think gives it a
modern contemporary feel
what we're seeing now is you have this
back-to-back setup of the story
both characters and how they're linked
you also have the scale here offset by
the foreground characters here and you
have these little tiny airplanes in the
distance to kind of play off the scale
you also have this very dramatic glow in
the logo that kind of sets the stage for
this story this is kind of where the
sci-fi glow originated from and I think
that this glow has evolved into like the
language of the science fiction movie
poster advertising you're more in New
York environment here than an urban
world you kind of have this like dark
blue brooding foggy night that's
occurring so this blue color here plays
off of this cop heist story narrative in
this case the hero has a criminal past
and this criminal world is displayed
through the use of blue through the use
of this very traditional environment for
the auction audience you have the main
new action hero front and center and
this small kind of connection to the
scale of the and so this toning in this
color palette and this setup is very
reminiscent of traditional heist movie
advertising so if you notice this very
diagonal powerful ship in the distance
and airplane kind of coming behind the
character and next your eye - Captain
America if you look at the title
treatment that it's very reminiscent of
military stencil type that you would see
on ammunition boxes and weapons and
aircraft the action that's occurring
front and center is these characters
from like a low angle perspective it's a
very traditional Hollywood so when you
have the characters walking towards you
what's occurring here is a major shift
in the way the the female lead is
portrayed here you have her in front of
the hero in a powerful stance with her
weapon drawn similar to the hero the eye
contact going off frame all the action
is leading towards the world that we're
not seeing
and then this evolution of color
dominate the poster this use of green
and purple and yellow combination
against the gold typography gives it
like a fresh perspective on the Marvel
Universe also they're very serious but
there's a sense of comic attitude with
these the expression of these characters
brings in a little contemporary edge
bringing up this new terrain of these
cutter nope I'm not sure what to call
those characters like wacky the newness
seems to come from the unique qualities
of these characters they're not what you
expect from your superhero they're using
the ring and the device of fire as a
holding element this is an example of
color being used to create a bigger
excitement level and also you notice
that some of the characters are smiling
there's a sense of more fun more action
there's this heartwarming baby Groot on
his shoulder he's holding the cassette
player in his hand while he's shooting
the weapon with the other hand the
female protagonist is front and center
in a very powerful stance equal to the
male lead and everything is exploding
from the center severe of this iconic
holding element
this is very early in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe they did a very safe
composite with the multiple characters
being held together by the lighting
effects the use of black and this poster
creates a dramatic effect so if you look
at the three characters in this fade to
darkness creates a cinematic quality you
also have the black that kind of allows
the highlights in the eyes the
highlights in the main power of the
civil hero so this is the movie poster
for spawn and it's a very good example
of the use of black space it's a very
early example of the superhero comic
universe kind of evolving into the
mainstream so this use of dramatic
lighting is kind of a way of allowing
the eye to travel and kind of rest in
different parts of the poster this new
element that's introduced in this poster
is this orange yellow explosion
introducing the villain that's gonna
kind of take Ironman one to the next
level the symmetry here is very obvious
and very traditional nothing is really
holding these together except for the
blocks but I would say this explosive
action that's promised here with the
villain is the only element that
differentiates this from the first
poster so let's compare them side to
side one thing that's obvious it's a
scale has come down to incorporate more
elements the color schemes in both
posters are very similar except for in
the second Ironman the yellow fire
that's kind of promising all the
excitement and the action of this poster
is offset by the blue world here and
here you have the Kabul second - the
yellow and red combination here that
connects to the title treatment here you
have a more toned downs title treatment
but the glow and the action and the
yellow fire really dominates here
the most obvious introduction here is
the romance you see there's a romantic
lead clutching the hero of this very
dramatic expression on Robert Downey jr.
well beat up here his ripped uniform his
superpower in his hand and also the hand
grasping the lead female character also
presented as a very soft romantic cell
this character is dependent on the hero
it's not the most empowering pose you
also have this very dramatic angle and
then you have the warm lighting I think
the Skoll Life promises hope and
promises romance and promises staging
for the conflict that's occurring with
the villain in the distance we have
Chris Hemsworth front and center we have
Natalie Portman in this subordinate pose
and then you also have the introduction
of this stylistic approach to the logo
which kind of has these metallic jewels
that plays off of the detail in the
hammer the color scheme that's used here
it's much more muted very reminiscent of
this kind of like Lord of the Rings
fantasy storytelling as you can see we
have the superhero front and center
hitting the hammer on the floor
offsetting this ray of light creating a
foreground with this explosion of the
floor behind him and then as you go up
into the poster you see the division of
these four panels and this device that's
used to feature the cast also again you
have the use of black that's bringing it
all together Chris Hemsworth's is
featured in darkness with a little bit
of rim light but he's not featured in a
large way I don't think he was a major
star at the time that this franchise was
introduced but the perspective of the
shot kind of leads you up to the the
secondary characters at the top of the
poster as you can see the character is
literally stepping out into the Marvel
Universe one thing that's very notable
here is the
this kaleidoscope universe that this
character is stepping into also plays a
big part in the character you get this
ring of fire that's creating the the
action and the movement of the cave
coming through a portal being introduced
as the next superhero in the franchise
if you look at Marvel posters over time
you can see that a very traditional
heads lock up has turned into this
unexpected visual universe that brings
in this promise of big entertainment a
bigger story more characters more
environment more color more fun the
evolution into this large universe this
device also allows this poster to hold
as many storylines and as many
characters as possible branching out
into a whole nother stratosphere