Kubo and the Two Strings
Entertainment Design | Custom Title Treatment | Scene Building
How do you showcase the journey of a young boy
as he finds a way to face his enemies?
Challenge
Kubo and the Two Strings is a stop-motion animated film by Laika and was directed Travis Knight. The story is set in fuedal Japan and revolves around Kubo, a young boy who can play a magical shamisen. Aided by a monkey, a beetle, and a paper samuri, Kubo embarks on a journey to defeat his mother’s evil twin sisters and his grandfather, the Moon King, who stole his left eye.
The screenplay by Mark Haimes and Chris Butler was adapted from a story by Shannon Trindle.
The movie stars the voices of: Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Vaccaro, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey.
My task was to create three key art posters for Kubo and the Two Strings.
Solution
I researched the movie to have an understanding of the storyline. And then, using studio provided elements, I created the key art posters.
Inspiration
Color Palette
Typeface Exploration
What I Did
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entertainment design
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custom title treatment
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scene building
Poster 1
For the first poster, I created a vertical title based on the studio's title treatment to make it feel like a samurai's banner. I then placed the title on a background that is a film shot of the sea in a storm. Then I took the image of 3D paper birds and arranged them around the title, so that they look like they are flying around the title. I placed the leaf and flower that symbolized Kubo’s parents below the title so that it seems like they are floating on water.
The Original Title Treatment
My Title Treatment
Poster 2
I created a hero poster around the billing block. I built the scene with the lanterns using elements from the studio shot and other stock images. I added glow to the lanterns and reflections on the water. I placed the characters into the scene, I adjusted the lighting and highlights on the characters to match the light coming from the moon and the light coming from the lantern. I created the shadows in the scene for the heros. I also created a custom title treatment for this poster.
My Title Treatment
For the 2nd poster’s title treatment, I tried out P22 Stanyan and Poster Cut Neue typefaces. In the end, I used Poster Cut Neue because it mimics cut paper, and paper is a recurring motif in the movie. I manipulated the type in Illustrator, and then, I took the title into Photoshop where I used one of my watercolors as the base for the texture.
Watercolor Texture
P22 Stanyan
with watercolor texture
Poster Cut Neue
custom manipulation in Illustrator
with watercolor texture
Poster 3
For the third poster, I used one of the story lines—Kubo against the Moon King—as the basis of my concept. In this poster, Kubo is challenging the Moon King. I created Kubo’s shadow on the snow. I used the same title treatment as the first poster, but I changed the color back to the initial red because it
fit the scene better.
My Title Treatment
