American film posters slowly catch up...
by Paul Berkbigler, (10 comments)
My eyes were just stopped short by this incredibly captivating poster image as I was sifting through upcoming film releases on a number of sites. I was instantly reminded of the drawing and painting of Ben Shahn in the rendering of these three boys’ faces, but also immediately reminded of countless Polish film posters and other middle European poster images.
Both in its typography and in its imagery this poster calls eloquently to our collective memories of 1960s / 1970s paperback book covers we’ve likely seen in libraries and on the book shelves of our favorite literature professors…
It’s really great to continue seeing truly outstanding ARTWORK vs. simply photography showing up on American film posters of late - I know we’d highlighted another recent incidence of a film poster that showed major signs of reviving illustration vs. photography as a vital film poster production method. It seems that independent film productions are really leading the way in this production / promotion area as well now…
The film looks terrific as well, so thanks to whoever the artist / designer of this is (I was completely unable to find any mention of them anywhere on-line - probably the only major “shame-on-you-Loki-Films” in this whole post) for generating the image that stopped my eyes long enough to find out what this film was all about to begin with.
Find out more about “The Boys of Baraka” here.
Comments (10)
clinton carlson said:
It is a stunning poster. I’ll be looking for the movie because of it.
Posted on April 22, 2006
Simanek said:
Too bad the DVD artwork for Walk the Line is Hollywood back at its usual photomontage crap. The logic behind using a mediocre montage instead of a great illustration baffles me. I am sure they are concerned about people’s recognition of who is in the film and what the story is just by seeing it on the rack. However, I fail to see exactly how the illustration would not create more interest in contrast to its photomontage surroundings. It’s much more about making money instead of making art, obviously. Does anybody remember the great posters for ‘Out of Sight’ and then the totally awful DVD art? Good topic Paul.
Posted on April 24, 2006
p.berkbigler said:
It strikes me that there is a double-irony in the ongoing tendency towards photomontage and the “big head” approach to presenting the top-dollar stars of specific films: there was a point in American film promotion when illustration wasn’t simply a possible choice for posters, it was the only acceptable choice. The disappointing historical fact is that the American film industry is still shockingly conservative when it comes right down to their stylistic / graphic promotional choices - the “risks” are few and far between, even when there are certain audiences who are vocally supportive and responsive to those “risks”.
Even when illustration was the choice du jour, the convention of the big heads mixed into some sort of montage was already being firmly established. The photomontages of today’s film posters owe a significant debt to some stellar illustrators who simply cranked out montage after montage for Gable, Bogart, Davis, Garbo, etc., etc.
Thanks for bringing up the “Out of Sight” theater posters as well - they struck me as a perfect instance where both a designer and the marketers for that film understood that casting it with a slightly 70s sheen to it was a pitch-perfect visual angle for Soderbergh’s work. Both the poster and the film managed to both feel very fresh and lively in the midst of a genre that was quickly becoming pretty stale.
Posted on April 24, 2006
Greg said:
This poster reminds me of the recent, pre Oprah, reissues of the Elie Wiesel trillogy. Night, Dawn, and The Accident. Each of which I found stunning.
Perhaps, and this is by no way a defense, the reason that the film industry can’t (or won’t) move away from the photomontage is that the captured film image is ingrained in what they do. Its also possible that “star power” is such a strong force that film marketers can’t afford not to use it. I can only imagine that they’ve done extensive research into what is more effective on a movie poster. This same behavior can be found in the entertainment magazine business. Rarely do you see a cover with an illustration of a star. Maybe, and this might be getting too far out there, it has something to do with the audience as voyeur. The voyeur isn’t satisfied with representations too far removed from the reality of a subject, so movie posters without images of the stars (or characters) of the film don’t resonate with the average theater goer. That could explain why caricatures of Dom DeLuise on a baby-eating, press punching, coke binge aren’t worth the $500,000 that a photo suggesting the same baby-eating, press punching, coke binge might command. This is all speculative, though.
By the way, my apologies to Dom Deluise who to the best of my knowledge has never been, or has it been suggest that he has been, on a baby-eating, press punching, coke binge.
Posted on April 24, 2006
Bennett said:
What is interesting to me is that the Walk The Line DVD packaging went both ways. They used the nice illustration for the “2-Disc Collector’s Edition” and they used the mediocre design for the regular release. Maybe this has to do with our discussion on designing for the “Walmart” crowd. I think this is actually a fairly common trend. The first Moulin Rouge DVDs came out with the illustrated/intricate covers and then later on came out with the standard close up photos of the stars.
Chip Kidd makes some interesting observations along the same lines with paper back design in Book One. Most of the time his design will not make it on the paper back version of the book. The design is cheapened to attract a different crowd.
A couple of notable movie posters of late are V for Vendetta (of course), Inside Man and Lord of War.
Posted on April 24, 2006
jwh said:
thanks so much for talking about this… i would not have heard about it otherwise… the poster is phenomenal!
j
Posted on April 24, 2006
P.J. Onori said:
It is about time.
I’m hoping (but not holding my breath) that this will influence magazine cover design… We can only dream.
Posted on April 26, 2006
p.berkbigler said:
Glad to see that this ball is rolling rather nicely - nice additions to the growing “gallery” that’s becoming associated with this thread. “Lord of War”was definitely a film that caught my interest simply because of the poster…
A couple other films that are showing some really strong one-sheet “colors”:
Hard Candy - this also has some incredibly strong trailer titling design - some gorgeous and unsettling typographic transitions.
An Inconvenient Truth - I haven’t read much about this film as yet, but the poster speaks volumes about the final message of the movie. An excellent merger of the two images into a seamless, striking image.
Akeelah and the Bee - this and the Hard Candy poster both show off the power of terrific photography coupled with solid typography and layout. They also, intriguingly enough,really combat the tendency towards photomontage by generating a really engaging, single-focus image to draw a viewer in.
Posted on April 26, 2006
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