One thing the annual backslapping fest that is the oscars doesn't seem to cover is poster art. Shame, as 2011 was something of a vintage year. But amongst The Social Network's use of typography, Inception's striking billboards and Buried's homage to the Hitchcockian graphics created by Saul Bass, there was only one winner - Black Swan.
Created by British design studio LaBoca, the set took its cues from Eastern Bloc propaganda style, as art director Scot Bendall (one of three illustrators) explained to The Guardian. The idea "was to create artwork that conveyed the feeling of the movie in much the same way that Polish and Czech film posters did so well in the 60s and 70s.. (the aim) was to convey the grace and fragility of the White Swan in contrast to the aggression and power of the Black Swan".
Surprisingly, they didn't even see the film before producing the set. "The original brief was to make an attempt at interpreting the essence and feeling of the movie in illustration, with the aim of creating teaser posters that could ignite interest and excitement for the forthcoming release. Without seeing the film this potentially could've been quite difficult to achieve successfully, but also meant we were afforded a lot of creative freedom to explore and develop ideas." A job very well done.
