Tucker Thomas

Artist Statement

Deep Focus is an approach to the world of art in both film and advertising. The film term deep focus refers to a shot where both the foreground and background are in equal focus to each other. My goal was to create a project in which both my foreground, Graphic Design, and my background, Film Studies, were equal in display. In an attempt to connect my Graphic Design Major and Film Studies Minor, I approached one of the most popular examples of art in film, Movie Posters. This project takes a large variety of film genres and connects them with a universal theme and format. Each poster has two aspects, the first is the design at face value, which connects each individual to the group as a whole, and keeps the series cohesive in a style I have a strong connection to, minimalism. The second is in it’s imagery. Each poster carefully uses color and shape to portray an important moment, theme, or symbol from the film it represents, making each and every piece unique and important. While making this series I was faced with two major challenges. The first was in how to effectively and interestingly represent film in a piece of design, and the second was how to effectively keep the entire series connected. In a way, both of these questions had the same answer. Pulling influence from the Swiss minimalist style, as well as projects such as Swissted and Pete Majarich’s “Poster a Day”, I discovered the potential for both cohesion and representation that a minimalist, form focused style offered. Through the use of flat, often overlapping colors and simple yet intricately handled form, emotion and unique meaning was created for each film, chosen as representations of my preferences as a designer, my personal history with film, and my personality as a whole.