Shawshank Redemption/Crash

I’m so glad this poster is amazing because this might just be my favorite movie ever. Although it was a long one it was so interesting and emotional. It had such a captivating story and throughout the whole nearly 3 hours I was enthralled. This poster never ceases to appeal to me. I don’t want to look away from it. I will buy this and put it on my wall.

Although the man is facing away from the camera there is so much emotion in this picture. This angle is made dynamic because of the way it is lit and the back view is not an awkward angle, unlike the old Footloose poster. Even though we can’t see his face his body positioning expresses freedom and relief, and the rain storm in the glowing light is cleansing. The relief in this photo is catching. It is very indicative of the movie. The joy at the end and the emotion within the story are projected in this poster. The font and location of the title is simple and perfect for the image. It doesn’t take away and only adds. The caption at the top spikes interest and directs the images emotion. This image just shows how important body language is and demonstrates that sometimes, if done right, you don’t need a face to express emotion.

This image for the movie Crash reminds me and seems to reference the Shawshank photo.  I think the correlation exists in the projected emotion. Both are incredibly emotional, though I believe they are completely different. While Shawshank is relief and joy based crash looks riddled with pain and frustration. Both make you feel something and both are dramatically lit. Crash is lit from behind the head so you can see the agony in the man’s face, but Shawshank is lit from the back side eliminating his face, but getting across the same intense level of emotion. Both posters also have a tagline that I feel sums up the general feel and content of the movie. Both posters are set up very similarly and have a very similar use of emotion and may to evoke it.

One unique thing about the Crash poster is the way the names of the actors are listed. It is great. It is interesting; the names are positioned artistically so your eye is drawn to them. You want to read them but they are not distracting to the overall message and emotion. It is a wonderful poster.

I love both of these posters. They are art. Their style and ability to capture and evoke an emotion from the viewer is so far without comparison. I love the contrast in types of emotion when they are compared. In my opinion the Shawshank poster is just a smidge better. It gets across the same amount of emotion as the Crash poster but without a face. That is more difficult to do, and makes the image more interesting.