DGG Trilogy Posters

[theHEDGE]

I put together the images for the film posters (I’m not sure if the ENDS poster is official, but it accompanied the trailer) and found a few things interesting. The artistic/directorial choices offer some interesting insight. I’m going to shoot from the hip and offer some thoughts because it’s the off-season and I haven’t had a good HalloweeN discussion in a while.

Let’s start with the color choices and see where that takes us.

2018 is basically black and white. Michael appears to be rising from the shadows. He looks ghostly like he’s risen from the dead… an apt analogy given the state of the franchise when DGG took over and his vision for bringing the story back to its 1978 roots. He quite literally raised the franchise from the depths of whatever it turned into over 40 years, and returned it to its origins.

TURD…whoops, I meant KILLS is mostly red and orange… very obviously a nod to the fact that Michael is left for dead in a burning house and now wears a half-melted mask. However, the red color also suggests anger, perhaps. Passion. Homicidal rage. It is a good indicator of how the film plays out. Michael on a rampage.

So, assuming we can glean some kind of tone or theme from the color choices used in the posters, how do the colors on the ENDS poster inform us? We see a heavy greenish color depicting Michael and the faint glow of the remnants of a fire. Super cool use of color here. Michael looks like death. The green color gives the mask a zombie vibe or a decaying, dead look. The embers glowing at the bottom suggests the fire is going out. A clear nod to the films title and main intention. The trilogy is coming to an end.

I want to point out the use of light as well. In both 2018 and TURD… damn it … KILLS, the source of light is on the viewer’s side of the mask. It is being illuminated from the front. In the ENDS poster the mask is backlit and creates, more or less, a silhouette of Michael. Again, a great use of imagery to suggest the story is coming to a close. Often, on stage and in film, we see silhouettes used to depict characters that are no longer present. The silhouette is an effective way to give the essence of a person, but nothing more. I’ll leave the rest up to you.

I also want to mention the actual source of the light is consistent in all 3 posters. It is to the left. In 2018 Michael is standing up. In TURDKILLS he has turned toward the source of light and is facing it head on. In ENDS he has looked back toward the shadow whence he came. More on that later…

This leads nicely into another thing I want to point out. In 2018 we see the mask is filled by someone. There is a subtle fleshy looking structure in the eye hole. In TURDKILLS the mask doesn’t have any noticeable human features beneath it, but it still looks very much filled by a person. There’s nothing there to suggest the mask is empty. However, in ENDS the mask looks very much empty. The way we are able to see the mask curve back through the eye hole suggests there is nothing inside of the mask, or what was there is gone or will be gone. Perhaps an empty mask suggests a need for something or someone to fill it? Again, I’ll leave the rest up to you.

Let’s keep going.

Remember how I said 2018 looks like Michael is rising from the shadows? In TURDKILLS he’s very much in your face and heavily illuminated. Also, clever devices like the embers, smoke plume, and the very forward-pointing collar all give the poster motion and give Michael a forward movement toward the light source. This captures the relentless forward motion of Michael’s rampage rather well. In ENDS, however, we see the opposite. Michael appears to be turning back toward the shadow… looking over his shoulder… more on that later.

Also, the way Michael is hidden behind his collar in ENDS is interesting as well. He’s far less aggressive looking in ENDS when compared to TURDKILLS. Body positioning and subtle changes in small things like collar position can have a huge change in how we interpret that body language. In TURDKILLS he’s clearly on the offensive… as I said, he’s very much in your face and predatory. In ENDS he’s obscured, heavily shadowed, and takes on a different look. Perhaps he looks more like prey. Read into that what you will.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention camera angles as well. 2018 is mouth-level. We are slightly looking up at Michael. This and the slight tilt in the head suggests Michael is in the act of standing up. TURDKILLS we are chin, maybe throat-level, we are very obviously looking up at Michael. This gives Michael a dominating presence. In ENDS the camera is slightly higher than brow-level. We are actually looking down at Michael. This lessens his domineering presence quite significantly. This also lends to the idea that he looks less aggressive and predatory. It gives him a very slight look of vulnerability.

So, when we put all of that together what do we get when trying to interpret the poster for the upcoming film?

Perhaps, something is lurking in the shadow of Michael Myers. Something he did not expect. In ENDS we see Michael has turned to look over his shoulder. For the first time we are seeing Michael as a target rather than the weapon.

Something is coming for the Boogeyman.




Wow. Talk about conjecture.

Well, there you go.




Best,
HEDGE

[Acorad]

DGG Posters Large.jpeg

I put together the images for the film posters (I’m not sure if the ENDS poster is official, but it accompanied the trailer) and found a few things interesting. The artistic/directorial choices offer some interesting insight. I’m going to shoot from the hip and offer some thoughts because it’s the off-season and I haven’t had a good HalloweeN discussion in a while.

Let’s start with the color choices and see where that takes us.

2018 is basically black and white. Michael appears to be rising from the shadows. He looks ghostly like he’s risen from the dead… an apt analogy given the state of the franchise when DGG took over and his vision for bringing the story back to its 1978 roots. He quite literally raised the franchise from the depths of whatever it turned into over 40 years, and returned it to its origins.

TURD…whoops, I meant KILLS is mostly red and orange… very obviously a nod to the fact that Michael is left for dead in a burning house and now wears a half-melted mask. However, the red color also suggests anger, perhaps. Passion. Homicidal rage. It is a good indicator of how the film plays out. Michael on a rampage.

So, assuming we can glean some kind of tone or theme from the color choices used in the posters, how do the colors on the ENDS poster inform us? We see a heavy greenish color depicting Michael and the faint glow of the remnants of a fire. Super cool use of color here. Michael looks like death. The green color gives the mask a zombie vibe or a decaying, dead look. The embers glowing at the bottom suggests the fire is going out. A clear nod to the films title and main intention. The trilogy is coming to an end.

I want to point out the use of light as well. In both 2018 and TURD… damn it … KILLS, the source of light is on the viewer’s side of the mask. It is being illuminated from the front. In the ENDS poster the mask is backlit and creates, more or less, a silhouette of Michael. Again, a great use of imagery to suggest the story is coming to a close. Often, on stage and in film, we see silhouettes used to depict characters that are no longer present. The silhouette is an effective way to give the essence of a person, but nothing more. I’ll leave the rest up to you.

I also want to mention the actual source of the light is consistent in all 3 posters. It is to the left. In 2018 Michael is standing up. In TURDKILLS he has turned toward the source of light and is facing it head on. In ENDS he has looked back toward the shadow whence he came. More on that later…

This leads nicely into another thing I want to point out. In 2018 we see the mask is filled by someone. There is a subtle fleshy looking structure in the eye hole. In TURDKILLS the mask doesn’t have any noticeable human features beneath it, but it still looks very much filled by a person. There’s nothing there to suggest the mask is empty. However, in ENDS the mask looks very much empty. The way we are able to see the mask curve back through the eye hole suggests there is nothing inside of the mask, or what was there is gone or will be gone. Perhaps an empty mask suggests a need for something or someone to fill it? Again, I’ll leave the rest up to you.

Let’s keep going.

Remember how I said 2018 looks like Michael is rising from the shadows? In TURDKILLS he’s very much in your face and heavily illuminated. Also, clever devices like the embers, smoke plume, and the very forward-pointing collar all give the poster motion and give Michael a forward movement toward the light source. In ENDS, however, we see the opposite. Michael appears to be turning back toward the shadow. Looking over his shoulder… more on that later.

Also, the way Michael is hidden behind his collar in ENDS is interesting as well. He’s far less aggressive looking in ENDS when compared to TURDKILLS. Body positioning and subtle changes in small things like collar position can have a huge change in how we interpret that body language. In TURDKILLS he’s clearly on the offensive… as I said, he’s very much in your face and predatory. In ENDS he’s obscured, heavily shadowed, and takes on a different look. Perhaps he looks more like prey. Read into that what you will.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention camera angles as well. 2018 is mouth-level. We are slightly looking up at Michael. This and the slight tilt in the head suggests Michael is in the act of standing up. TURDKILLS we are chin, maybe throat-level, we are very obviously looking up at Michael. This gives Michael a dominating presence. In ENDS the camera is slightly higher than brow-level. We are actually looking down at Michael. This lessens his domineering presence quite significantly. This also lends to the idea that he looks less aggressive and predatory. It gives him a very slight look of vulnerability.

So, when we put all of that together what do we get when trying to interpret the poster for the upcoming film?

Perhaps, something is lurking in the shadow of Michael Myers. Something he did not expect. In ENDS we see Michael has turned to look over his shoulder. For the first time we are seeing Michael as a target rather than the weapon.

Something is coming for the Boogeyman.




Wow. Talk about conjecture.

Well, there you go.




Best,
HEDGE

Very cool observations my friend!

[Space_Mage]

Kills poster is about the only decent one, but to be honest, I think the way these posters have been done, is incredibly lazy from an artist perspective, I know it’s supposed to be a simple thing, but why does it feel so “bland”?

[rodysti]

Amazing observations! Love how you go deep with the posters!

[theHEDGE]

Kills poster is about the only decent one, but to be honest, I think the way these posters have been done, is incredibly lazy from an artist perspective, I know it’s supposed to be a simple thing, but why does it feel so “bland”?

The posters are definitely minimalist. I was in 100% agreement with you regarding the BLAH feeling I got when I saw all three of them together. It struck me as lazy, too. That was until I started staring at them and trying to decipher any stylistic choices that were made when they were created. I started to appreciate the fact that they are a cohesive collection rather than a random assortment that didn’t draw any connection between each other. They are quite simple, and kind of boring, but they are all clearly related and belong together as a group in order to form the whole. I guess I appreciate that after having seen so many film franchises create haphazard imagery that feels more like the flavor of the year instead of trying to tell a story.

I would have preferred a more retro vibe to the films and their posters, but these posters do a nice job of capturing the feel of the films and giving the audience what they want (Michael Myers) while holding their ever-decreasing attention spans. It’s sad, but this sort of simple imagery is what people respond to now-a-days in our 3-second video, meme-induced, tik-tok, snapchat world. Nobody wants an intricate poster full of nuance and subtlety, they want Michael Myers.

It would have been cool to have the 2018 poster, then for TURDKILLS they could have made a bunch of different ones, each one featuring a different legacy character, and then for ENDS have the poster feature JLC in her blue blouse. BUT, nobody outside of this forum is going to see the Halloween movies for any other reason than Michael Myers. The new bloods don’t give a rip about Laurie or Sheriff Brackett or Marion Chambers. They want Myers and a high body count.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I don’t particularly care for the posters myself, I just appreciate that they all look like they belong together.

[Space_Mage]

Kills poster is about the only decent one, but to be honest, I think the way these posters have been done, is incredibly lazy from an artist perspective, I know it’s supposed to be a simple thing, but why does it feel so “bland”?

The posters are definitely minimalist. I was in 100% agreement with you regarding the BLAH feeling I got when I saw all three of them together. It struck me as lazy, too. That was until I started staring at them and trying to decipher any stylistic choices that were made when they were created. I started to appreciate the fact that they are a cohesive collection rather than a random assortment that didn’t draw any connection between each other. They are quite simple, and kind of boring, but they are all clearly related and belong together as a group in order to form the whole. I guess I appreciate that after having seen so many film franchises create haphazard imagery that feels more like the flavor of the year instead of trying to tell a story.

I would have preferred a more retro vibe to the films and their posters, but these posters do a nice job of capturing the feel of the films and giving the audience what they want (Michael Myers) while holding their ever-decreasing attention spans. It’s sad, but this sort of simple imagery is what people respond to now-a-days in our 3-second video, meme-induced, tik-tok, snapchat world. Nobody wants an intricate poster full of nuance and subtlety, they want Michael Myers.

It would have been cool to have the 2018 poster, then for TURDKILLS they could have made a bunch of different ones, each one featuring a different legacy character, and then for ENDS have the poster feature JLC in her blue blouse. BUT, nobody outside of this forum is going to see the Halloween movies for any other reason than Michael Myers. The new bloods don’t give a rip about Laurie or Sheriff Brackett or Marion Chambers. They want Myers and a high body count.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I don’t particularly care for the posters myself, I just appreciate that they all look like they belong together.

You are right about nobody giving a bollock for the other characters, I personally am sick of Laurie at this point too, Marion and Brackett got done H20 style which annoys me, for me, if these posters were smart, Turds should have been of the Myers house and it was the Fire from the beginning with only the Silhouette of The Shape emerging from the flames as a mass, it would be way cooler and artistic and still tie to the story, and they would be doing the style like the Friday the 13th poster with the outline of Jason, but the scenery of the locations, except it’s flipped for Halloween, Ends would be perfect to have the same design, but it’s Judiths headstone as the outline, with the rotted mask and the bloodied/rusted knife from 78, with “ENDS” put where the name of the dead person would go

[wtrailer]

The first 3 movie posters are so much better.

[The_Demon_Bishop]

Kills poster is about the only decent one, but to be honest, I think the way these posters have been done, is incredibly lazy from an artist perspective, I know it’s supposed to be a simple thing, but why does it feel so “bland”?

Totally agree. It seems like they had no idea what to do, so they just did a closeup of the mask on all 3 posters.

[Caleb_Croft]

Once again, the fans get it right

[UncleHalloween589]

The posters are symbolic of the untalented, uninspired movies these truly have been. JJC is the shining star of these movies.