Space is an unnatural environment for humans, even though all of Earth and life as we know it is surrounded by it. Ninety-eight percent of our universe is a dark deadly vacuum. Space is dangerous, scary and isolating. Nobody on earth would want to be lost in space. The movie Gravity is a thriller that taps into this human fear of being alone in space. The poster for Gravity encapsulates how the environment of space feels to an astronaut. This movie poster is supposed to make the person looking at it feel fear, fear of the pitch black background enveloping the small astronaut that is floating all alone with nothing around them. The mission of this poster is to draw the viewer in by feeling heavy emotion from only one powerful image. This poster brings in the exact audience it wants by demonstrating the horror of space in one single visual text. The movie poster for Gravity is made to make the viewer uncomfortable and fearful when looking at it.

The first thing the viewer notices in the poster is the lonely astronaut, it is the most important element of the poster and is created using contrast. It creates the feeling of isolation and hopelessness in the viewer of the poster. The reason this astronaut stands out is the contrast of the pitch black background and how much of this dark background there is. Not only is it because the astronauts suit is white, but he is stranded and dead center in the image. The dark black background forces you to look into the center, because there is nowhere to draw your attention away from there. This makes the viewer instantly feel isolation first hand.

An element used in this poster is the proportion of the astronaut to its surroundings. The entire point of the poster is to make the human in the frame seem as small as possible, because he/she is just floating endlessly in the giant emptiness of space. The text in the poster is the only thing in frame other than the astronaut, and the text below the astronaut is proportionately a lot bigger than the astronaut. This just makes an already large black space seem much larger. The text above says, “Don’t Let Go,” this is directly related to the fact that the astronaut is floating with nothing to stop him, contributing to the fear the viewer feels. The only text directly referring to the astronaut is above him/her also isolated from the other text and is smaller than the other text making it seem distant just like the astronaut.

Another element of the poster is contour of the font; the font of the poster is very meaningful. It is skinny and spread out, which makes it both more enveloped by the black background behind it and makes even the letters seem like they are floating in space away from each other. As if the letters were floating and stranded in space like the astronaut. This not only amplifies the fear and intimidation of how uncontrollable floating in space can be, but it contrasts the dark black background with the white letters. This makes the background even more enveloping and looming. 

An element that is most prominent in space is proximity. There is not a single object in the proximity of the astronaut. A lack of control in space is the scariest danger for an astronaut. The most common reaction from a viewer of this poster gets is a sense of falling. Since the body position of the astronaut is askew it is the human’s reaction to see a lack of control. Humans like for images to be grounded and with a horizon line. Humans feel weird when there's nothing underneath the subject and this results in the idea of falling because of our own relationship to gravity. 

Another element that bleeds out is symmetry. Position-wise, all the text is symmetrical, but the astronaut is the only thing not symmetrical. The astronaut is wildly floating and it does not have any control. If the astronaut was symmetrical, it would not hold the same powerful image the astronaut holds in this poster. The non-symmetry shows the astronaut is stuck there in motion, and has nothing its trajectory that is not lightyears away. Symmetry shows control and balance, and the lack of symmetry sends a fearful message to the viewer seeing the astronaut.

The poster to a movie must capture the audience members that would enjoy the movie the most. So essentially the genre and plot must bleed into the poster to attract the audience members that look for that genre and plot. This poster shows the fear of floating in space alone that is prevalent in Gravity. This is such a scary and unique scenario for anyone and is something that the movie industry has not had a big take on. This captures the audience that like a horror/thriller genre. The simplicity of the invisible danger that is only darkness sends a powerful message. Even though they might only see a poster is only an astronaut and some white text, they feel much more.