Digital Image Editing - Movie Poster Recreation

For my movie recreation, I chose Nosferatu (2024) because I thought the imagery was spectacular. The poster shows Ellen’s face tilted upward in a mix of surrender and dread while Orlok’s clawed hand reaches toward her in a gesture that’s both predatory and intimate. The black-and-white contrast gives it a haunting, gothic stillness. The lilacs at the bottom add symbolic weight, as lilacs represent innocence, desire, memory, and death all at once. Altogether, the image is impactful because it compresses the film’s themes into a single moment: beauty meeting horror, seduction crossing into doom, and the supernatural creeping into the human world.

Original Poster:

The typography was difficult to match, as most are combinations of different fonts, as well as custom work. I couldn't find anything remotely close to the title font, as it was custom-drawn. The closest I could find were several blackletter families, but none gave the elongated letters or sweeping calligraphy. 

For "Succumb to the Darkness", I chose to go with Goudy Old Style, as it was very close to the original font used in the poster. I reduced the spacing between the letters by -25 to achieve a similar shape to the original as well. The biggest difference between the original and the recreation is that the original letters are slightly narrower. 

For the rest of the blackletter fonts, I used OPTIGoudy, which has a lot of the same characteristics as the original poster. However, it doesn't have the exaggerated calligraphy strokes on some of the capitalized letters like the original does (notably, on the D's and R's). I reduced the letter spacing to -50 to mimic the poster. After going through quite a few blackletter families, this was the closest choice overall. 

When it came to the credits, I used Playfair Display, which is almost identical once the letter spacing is reduced to -50. I ran into the most difficulty in this section, as I couldn't really get the spacing perfect. It was also challenging to read the fine print next to certain names, but I was able to find the information I needed through some research. 

Finding the logos for the bottoms of the poster was slightly easier than I anticipated, but it did present a few of its own challenges. For example, I needed to be able to remove backgrounds, change the colors, and ensure they were spaced and sized correctly. I also needed to find the correct font for the rating label, as I needed to type that in myself after finding a blank one. For that, I chose Alternative Gothic (Medium) and reduced the letter spacing to -50 so that it matched the original. 

When it came to shooting and editing the photo, there was a lot more involved than I had anticipated. I ordered faux lilacs and press-on nails, recruited my boyfriend, and got to work! I used several overlays and brushes to attempt to recreate the hand texture in the original poster. I also used the brush tool to create the correct contrast and lighting areas. I had a lot of problems getting the hand to look the same; however, I think it comes somewhat close. I'm sure there are other ways to mimic the details that I was hoping to mimic, and I'll hopefully learn more as I progress.

Overall, I thought this project was really fun to do. It allowed me to practice matching typefaces and problem-solve how to mimic the poster as closely as possible. It also gave me a chance to try out different photography and editing effects that I've learned over the past few months. I faced quite a few challenges, which made it possible to see where I need improvement.