Godzilla Poster Design

A few weeks ago, there was a competition to design a Godzilla poster for the new movie. I had planned on entering it and came up with a design but ended up being ill for the remainder of the competition. I couldn't complete the work to a standard that was worth submitting. I thought it would be a good idea to go over the design process.

I wanted to suggest the fear and the inevitable disaster of Godzilla without actually showing him. As in the trailers, you only see a tail moving out of view or hear a roar outside the view of the camera. I wanted to show the more human side to the film and like in the trailers as well. I also wanted to explore the role Godzilla has had on popular culture.

The bottom of the poster shows a beach or a sandbox with some toys lying around. I wanted to explore the role Godzilla has had on popular culture so I tried to suggest it through the toy dinosaur attacking a half destroyed sandcastle. I thought it was interesting in the different ways you can explore destruction. For example, the primary context of the scene is playful but manages to allude to the disaster of the actual film.

The top of the poster shows an incoming disaster in the form of a falling fighter jet and the pilot falling to his death. This imagery was also seen in the trailers and I thought it was powerful. Something big and powerful is making those planes fall out of the sky. It also provides an extra link between the poster and the movie as I found the toy connection to be tenuous. It also provides some context to the toy dinosaur by suggesting it could be Godzilla. The reference worked in its sense of foreboding.

'GODZILLA' runs down the top half of the poster. It is simple to keep the focus on the scene.