Reaching an audience in the home video market is much different than reaching the theatrical audience. That often means the key art that’s used for home video releases is changed significantly from the one-sheets that were available during the theatrical marketing cycle. What I’m going to try and do is see what those changes are and what they mean for the appeal being made.

Finding Dory

The focus on the theatrical one-sheet was on showing the enormity of the ocean that Dory was going to have to navigate on her quest. So she’s actually pretty small in the middle of the poster, surrounded by turtles and fish and whales, lost in the sea. It’s about setting the scale of what’s in front of her and telling the audience that the odds are stacked against her.

The same basic idea is what’s being used on the home video box art, but the perspective is drawn in dramatically. So we only see a small portion of the scale that was on the theatrical key art. Most all the same characters are here, but they’re all much closer to Dory and the camera here, the better to kit on the constrained aspect ratio. It’s the same basic message that’s being conveyed here, that she has a lot of friends that she’ll encounter on her journey and that it’s the same old eternally optimistic Dory we’re watching.