The Da Vinci Code teaser poster
No, Mona Lisa isn’t sporting a milk mustache for the latest Got Milk? print ad campaign. It’s the teaser poster for the book publishing phenomenon turned motion picture known as The Da Vinci Code. The film, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, is a mystery thriller about the murder of an art curator in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The advance poster uses a close-up image of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting (and arguably the most famous piece of artwork ever produced), the Mona Lisa. Completed around 1503-1507, the identity of famous portrait and smile is something of an unknown, with theories ranging from the wife of Florentine businessman Francesco del Giocondo to a self-portrait of Da Vinci himself.
The Da Vinci Code teaser poster invokes the underlying plot element of the film — various “codes” and clues hidden in famous artwork — by peeling away a close-crop of the Mona Lisa canvas and morphing it into some sort of overlapping code lettering page curl only a first year design student could love.
I usually enjoy the *very* early poster designs studios put out for major flicks, as the creative departments aren’t locked into any style guidelines at this stage and are free to play with the concept and frankly, be creative.
This seems to be no exception and IMHO I think it works really well. In particular, I like the close-up textures of the cracked paint and code/parchment.
Tom Hanks? What happened to Harrison Ford? Or am I confused agian?
lol to funiiii:)
I like the concept of the ‘hidden code’ on the backside of the Mona Lisa but I’m not too keen on the execution. The location, upward curvature, and texture of the page curl all seem a bit off. And it also gives the impression that the curled painting gives way to the floating movie title text underneath.
The movie title logo itself is a bit weird too. The red dividing lines separates the title into “The” “Da Vinci” “Code” instead of “The” “Da Vinci Code”. The logo works fine without the red lines.
I must be grumpy today – need to get some more coffee.
I love it! very neat look!
The “curling” part is what I really didn’t like about it too. I didn’t even read it as that before you explained it and I couldn’t figure out what was going on.. it just looked like a strange little random tornado.
Suggestive picture… uneasy feeling.. The whole Davinci thing is going to make someone alot of money alright!!Ride that horse ya.ll
Great work what an expression what does her smile convey pain disgust or happines it is quite mysterious and unrevealed whatever the commercial aspect behind the picture is undoubtly this is one of the romantic work of Di caprio