All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt (Sontag 15).
The idea behind this title, Momento Mori, comes from the quote above from Sontag’s “In Plato’s Cave”. This idea stood out to me because of the thought that photographs are “Momento Mori”, which is described as “an object serving as a warning or a sign of death.” Sontag goes on to explain that photographs are used to preserve something, such as a family memory, which inevitably relates to that moment, person, or thing eventually dying and the photograph serving in its memory as a frozen slice of time.
I thought this idea would be an interesting film, so for my movie poster I decided to highlight the phrase Momento Mori, while also capturing the essence of photographs testifying to time’s relentless melt. In order to do this, I chose a background with what could be family photos from an old album, layered with time and death imagery. For the melting skull, I had a specific vision for the imagery because of the title phrase. I wanted the symbol of death to also embody “melting” because I found that choice of wording to be integral to the entire idea of photographs contributing to the certainty of death by preserving a moment in time.
This hypothetical film would be based on “In Plato’s Cave”, as said on the poster, by being thematically centered around the idea of photographs testifying to time and death. This could be an interesting mystery and psychological thriller film, if photographs served as weapons which would contribute to characters fates in life or in death. With this vision in mind, I selected the graphics and font/color choices to produce the idea of mystery and intensity in an abstract way. I wanted the title in collaboration with the visual elements to influence an audience to be intrigued and courious, just as I imagine the characters in this film would feel during their journey to unlock the meaning behind photographs.