Illustrated Movie Poster Design

Movie Poster

Minimalist and Fully Illustrated Design

The minimalist illustrated movie poster for Prisoners. It features a red whistle on a black background. It is hung on the wall in a living room alongside a yellow chair.
A close up of the Prisoners movie poster. It features red text on a black background. Within the title a silhouette of a van is hidden.

Have you seen Prisoners?

We were asked to create a fully illustrated movie poster with a focus on minimalist style in order to subtly hint at our chosen movie’s plot and key moments.
I decided to design my poster based on the movie Prisoners (2013), directed by Denis Villeneuve. If you have not seen the film, it is a crime/thriller about a father trying to find his daughter who has gone missing while uncovering the mystery of her bizarre disappearance. One of the most significant and reoccurring visuals in the movie is the circular maze that I drew into the side of the red whistle. The reason I chose to make the maze secondary to the red whistle is due to the whistle’s importance at the end of the film, as well as its striking and memorable look. Furthermore, semi-hidden in the title of the movie is the silhouette of a van with its headlights on. Although, this may seem out of place, it hints at one of the suspects in the movie and acts as a fun easter egg for viewers.