Upstream Colour Movie Poster

Upstream Colour (2013), a movie written and directed by Shane Carruth, follows the stories of two people infected by a pathogen. A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives. 

The concept behind this poster was to portray the pathogen that traveled through their bloodstream and into the final carrier that was then harvested through the Orchid. Initially I experimented with ink and the way it reacts in water, imitating a specific scene from the end of the movie. An Orchid was used because it was the carrier of the pathogen and the way organisms initially became infected, starting the lifecycle over again. The type is cut, emphasizing the horizontal break on the page and using stark contrast to achieve a more extreme look. The color palette is limited to white, black, and an array of blues found in the "smoke" and the Orchid itself. The final size 24" X 36".