Carballeira 1

Matthew Carballeira

Dr. Sharity Nelson

Engl. 1301-102

October 19, 2023

Star Wars: The Last Jedi visual analysis

A movie poster is always an iconic thing, whether it shows the main characters, perhaps a still

shot from the movie, or even just the movie title in all bold letters. These things are meant to

create some sort of anticipation for the release of the new movie, to capture the attention of

people walking by a theatre, or while driving by a billboard. Artist Paul Shipper created this

poster, and it was released on October 17th, 2017, by Lucas Films. They released the poster to

build anticipation for their upcoming movie. The poster is filled with may iconic characters,

symbols, and colors bringing to life the true Science Fiction genre. The artist includes familiar

symbols and other iconic elements from the Star Wars lore. He also sets the tone and mood of the

poster through eye catching visual effects, focusing his use of red and white, subconsciously

signifying good and bad. Meanwhile, the use of close layering creates a deeper meaning into the

story and gives fans a glimpse of the characters they can expect to see in the film.

The poster showcases familiar iconic symbols such as lightsabers, spears, all terrain

armored transports (AT-ATS), and spaceships. The positioning of the swords in the hands of the

characters draws the eyes of the viewer to the center of the poster, visually creating a sense of the

anticipation of the conflict yet to come. The positioning of the AT-ATS and spaceships at the

bottom of the poster stay true to the Star Wars saga. The AT-Ats are positioned against the

landscape right under the title of the movie. The spaceships are in v formation at the bottom of
 Carballeira 2

the poster and appear to be flying in the direction of the AT-ATS and also referencing the Jedi

alliance.

The artist uses red and white motifs as seen in previous Star Wars posters; however, he

incorporates earthy tones and an ombre of colors as he subconsciously portrays the personas of

the characters in the movie. The artists use various tones of colors in the middle of the poster to

bring contrast to the meeting of the battle of the good and bad. The white signifies purity and

light, or the good, and the red signifies conflict and opposition, or the bad. The overflowing of

red onto white dictates that the red, or dark side, is taking over all that is good, or the white side.

While the red and white have significant meaning, the artist is telling a deeper story; how the bad

over rules the good and is covering them in a shroud of violence and killings. Therefore,

drowning out the souls of those planets. The clashing of colors also conveys the message of a

fight by visually reinforcing the ongoing struggle between the light and dark sides of the Force,

as well as the clash between the Jedi and their counterparts.

Lastly, the artist uses the act of layering to present the significance of the characters.

When the artist presented the first poster most did not like it because they could not understand

the significance of the way he presented the main characters. While viewing the poster there is a

sense of family, the way everyone ties in and the way they place the side characters. The

significance in triangle one was the fact that they used a character who has been through every

movie and has fought since the beginning to start it, accompanied by two less important

characters, yet necessary for the plot. The characters are in action poses with lightsabers drawn

representing the heroic nature of the Star Wars Saga. When first viewing the poster there is

significance present but you have to dig in deeper. The artist uses two triangle formations to

display the connection with the characters. The main character from most every movie can be
 Carballeira 3

seen overlooking the rest. The positioning of characters on the poster also plays significance. In

every movie there are the side characters and then the main characters; the way the artist chooses

to tie them in in this instance is quite appealing. The use of the triangles and the filling in of

characters around the main create an awe appealing moment. On the left half of the poster, he

positions one of the characters who is on the good side, and then to the right you have a villain

who has always had it out for the Jedis. The way the artist places these characters is quite

appealing because he is almost telling a story, with someone who has been there through it all

and two newer characters. He places them in order of significance with the larger triangle being

on top and the smaller triangle with less significance on bottom.

The posters feature of iconic symbols stay true to the futuristic technology and Star Wars

as fans know it. Through the artists use of color, he portrays so much to the eye holder. The use

of ombre colors in the posters and the compilation of characters in order of importance gives the

audience a hint of what is to come. The color palette and overall mood of the poster contribute to

the emotional tone of the film, giving fans exactly what they crave and can expect from a Star

Wars film. Meanwhile the return of new and old characters captures the audience’s attention and

creates anticipation for the movie. His attention to detail in placement of characters gives the

audience a sense of what is to come without use of words. The use of layering creates a sense of

most important to least important.

 Carballeira 4

Works Cited

Shipper, Paul. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." 16 Oct. 2017. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023.