1. Visual Literacy: An Analysis of Various Gatsby Movie Posters
The Great Gatsby
Visual Literacy: An Analysis of
Various Gatsby Movie Posters

2. An Overview
You’ve probably heard the advice, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The reason there is an idiom like this is because most of us DO (at least initially) judge books by their covers (as well as movies by their posters, a people at first glance, etc…).

3. An Overview
What is the purpose of a book cover/movie poster? Why even have anything more that basics in terms of the title, author, actors, etc…?
Book covers and movie posters are fairly similar in their purpose – they are meant to inform and entice potential readers/viewers.

4. An Overview
With this in mind, we are about to embark on a project in which you will…
analyze several Great Gatsby movie posters
make some observations and judgments on them
eventually create your own poster and present it to the class.

5. An Overview
Gatsby is quite unique in that there have been six separate movies made of the story. When you combine that with the deeply passionate fans who seem to have an inclination to make their own posters of the story, we have a lot of posters to consider for this project.

6. An Overview
First let’s take a look at actual posters from the various movies throughout the years. No writing yet, let’s just look and briefly discuss.

7. 1926 Silent Movie

8. 1949 Version

9. 1974 Version

10. 2000 A&E Version (Made for TV)

11. 2002 Version - G

12. 2013 Version

14. So…What Are We Doing?
We’re going to look at several posters (most made by fans of the story) and analyze them for their aesthetics and effectiveness.
Here’s the process:
Look over the poster thoroughly.
Write for a few minutes (see next slide for specifics).
Discuss with the class.

15. The Process For each poster…
First break down the various visual elements. Look at the details, the colors, the fonts, the arrangement of various elements, etc… and describe it so that somebody that isn’t looking at the poster could see what you are seeing.
Explain whether or not you think this is an effective poster (and support your views!). What did you like, what did you not like, etc…?

16. Example #1

17. Example #2

18. Example #3

19. Example #4

20. Example #5

22. The Final Step…
Now it’s your turn. You will work in groups of two or three and create your own movie poster.
You can make a digital version or a ‘hard’ copy of your poster.
You can use Photoshop or a different program of your choices (students have used PPT, Word, Google Slides, etc…).
You will have two class days to work on this (next Tuesday and next Friday) but you will most likely have to spend some time out of class on this project. With that in mind, pick your partners wisely. Who has some computer graphic expertise? Who can you get together with outside of school? Who is reliable and hardworking? These are your choices.

23. A Little Advice/Direction
You MUST use a tag-line in the poster (create your own or use a suitable quote from the novel) and you MUST title your film something OTHER than The Great Gatsby. See impawards.com or movieinsider.com for ideas regarding taglines.
Your poster should look like an actual movie poster (i.e. include a release date, actor/director names, etc…).
I would suggest that you AVOID using screen shots from the various Gatsby movies, pictures of the actors from the films, and ideas that look quite a bit like Gatsby posters that have already been created. That will not earn you a strong grade but that lacks creativity. You can do better with YOUR OWN ideas.

24. The Final Step…
In addition to the poster, you and your group will present it to the class (for a speech grade). The posters are due and the presentations will start on Monday, May 14th.