blocking: scaffolding part 1

I wanted to learn more about exactly how to layer and block out elements vertically. So I started first with posters that I thought left a little to be desired with vertical layering. What I noticed was that the tops were usually “lonely” and the bottoms were very “heavy”.

SCAFFOLDING

What I found Struzan does differently is he uses “scaffolding”. The main character is the building, but he adds elements to support it as it goes up so that it doesn’t stand alone - elements overlap and lead the eye to each other up and down the composition.

Classic examples:

Struzan examples:

Looking at the examples below, a fan poster of the Goblet of Fire and Struzan’s Chamber of Secrets, we can see how Struzan “climbs up the composition”. He usually likes to have the compositions more top heavy than bottom, so that they feel like they are floating. And makes the bottom less heavy by usually having a string of elements to climb up instead of a cluster at the bottom.

Exceptions

As with anything Struzan, there are exceptions, but what does Struzan do differently. In the example below, the woman is alone at the top, but the snake going up her arm provides a ladder that connects the bottom and mid layers to the upper layer of the composition: