The story behind the viral Hurricane Harvey movie poster, and its redesign

Roughly a month after the "Harvey" poster went viral in Houston, producers have released a toned-down followup in an effort to get the upcoming film taken more seriously. Roughly a month after the "Harvey" poster went viral in Houston, producers have released a toned-down followup in an effort to get the upcoming film taken more seriously. Photo: Provided Photo: Provided Image 1 of / 59 Caption Close The story behind the viral Hurricane Harvey movie poster, and its redesign 1 / 59 Back to Gallery

The producers of "Harvey," an upcoming film about the hurricane that devastated Houston last fall, have released a new poster in an effort to get their movie taken more seriously.

The first "Harvey" poster was released in late January to a chorus of complaints and questions, particularly on Reddit. One of the biggest criticisms was over the inclusion of a mountain range and a man on a jet ski that appeared to be as large as the freeway.

READ MORE: Are you ready for Hurricane Harvey: The Movie?

"I could see Harvey being a good documentary or fictional drama, but I am going to assume from the quality of that poster that this film is going to be complete s**t. I am rating it a 1 start based solely on the quality of the poster," Reddit user NoFunHere commented.

These criticisms were not lost on the poster's designer Lauren "YellaStud" Lavezzari and the movie's producer Nkem DenChukwu.

Lavezzari said she remembered director Michael Sterling requesting a poster with an end of the world feeling.

"I did an over-exaggeration of the flooding that happened during the storm. All of the items that were floating in the water were actual images from photos taken during rescue efforts during Harvey. The signs are actual signs in Houston that i added as well as a car with swangas, the BE SOMEONE sign," Lavezzari told Chron.com Monday afternoon.

Lavezzari claims that the mountain range in the background should not have been in the final poster. The poster was already shared on social media by the time she intended on making the edit, Lavezzari said.

"We wanted to get the feeling across visually that this was a very devastating storm that impacted everyone and everything...even down to the animals that got caught in the flood.The poster caught everyone's attention and got people talking about the new movie and created the attention the producers wanted," she added.

In an attempt to reign in some of the laughs the poster created, Lavezzari was tasked with making a second, more serious, advertisement.

That image was released Sunday on Facebook before the Oscars.

"It's simple," DenChukwu told Chron.com regarding the new poster. "I like simple things."

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on twitter at @fernalfonso.