Visceral Response

This is one of the most effective movie posters I've seen.  When I first saw it hanging on the wall at the movie theater I was awestruck by it.  Using the Gestalt principals I believe I know why.

 The picture for the most part is dark, but when I first look at it my eyes are drawn towards Captain America's face, then the star on his chest, the title of the movie, and finally the red of the shield.  This is an example of the Law of Continuity.  The eye follows the smoothest path available.  It does this because of the brighter colors used in these areas of the image.

The Law of Closure is the biggest principal at work here.  First we see it in the shield.  Almost half of the shield is cut off of the poster, yet we know that it is disk shaped shield.  Also the star on it is cut off, but we recognize the shape immediately.  Moving up to Captains head you see that the the top of his head is loped off, but again we fill in the missing information.

The finale thing I want to point out is the contrast in colors between the background and Captain America as a whole as well as the shield.  The difference in color makes Captain really stand out, also making the most iconic element, the shield, stand out even more.

I love this poster and was actually lucky enough to have the very one that I first saw.  It now waits for the day that I have an office to frame and hang it in.