To kick off the blog, I though it would be fitting to do an article on one of my favorite forms of every day art... movie posters! Often overlooked or taken advantage of by moviegoers, movie posters are beautiful (sometimes) pieces of graphic art that most times get discarded after a film has it run. That's a damn shame (sometimes)! There isn't much more I love in life then seeing a great film for the first time in a movie theater! And poster are most commonly the first thing at a theater that greats you. So with that in mind, it would seem logical that they should all be different and really individual and really pop out and define what the look and feel of said movie is going to be... well, in theory anyway. Over the years, however, there has grown a few reoccurring cliches. I have to take a second to thank a friend of mine, James, for finding this other posting online that sums it up quite nicely. They have it broken down into 10 categories...
Now, there's nothing much wrong with a lot of these posters (except for some of the featuring Vince Vaughn), it really comes down to unimaginative designs resulting from WAY overused design mechanics. In this case, imitation is NOT a form of flattery, it is a form of laziness. If studio want posters to catch our eye more, they should try something different. They should move from the world of overly comfortable graphic design firms, and work with some of the amazing independent freelance artists who are so desperately trying to get work now a days. No, I'm not trying to drum up work for myself, my point is that there are some really incredible artists out there who LOVE movies and have really brilliant artist minds that could come up with a billion different ways to advertise them. Posters like this...
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| Dracula poster by Aaron Horkey |
Or this one...
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| Tansformers: Dark of the Moon by Jesse Phillips |
And this one...
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| House by the Cemetery poster by Jeff Proctor |
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And one of those would have caught my eye MUCH faster than Matt Damon's giant head floating in the sky while Gary Busey strolled on the beach below him screaming obscenities at the ocean because he thought the ocean stole his sandwich (sorry Matt Damon... I really do like you!).
So in the end, is there really anything wrong with the posters show at the top of this article? No. But like all things, it only work in moderation. A side note, the 3 posters I just posted up for Dracula, Transformers, and House by the Cemetery were all produced and sold by Mondo press in Houston, TX. They are an amazing company and do gorgeous work. I highly recommend picking up some of their prints if you can. They sell out quickly, but are worth getting your hands on!
