And the Oscar for Film Poster Design goes to…
I’ve been thinking lately, “If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is willing to continue opening up new awards categories for art direction, editing, sound design, costuming, etc., isn’t it about time they considered the “Best Movie Promotional One Sheet” category?
Maybe none of us really want to see designers, photographers, illustrators, and art directors also getting up on stage and thanking their Moms, third grade teachers, 2nd assistant directors, and favorite spices for everything they’ve done to bring them to this point…
Until that category is included in the Oscar event, however, I thought it’d be intriguing to gather the posters for all of the major “best film” nominees of the evening and see what the Be A Design audience thought of them, as well as playing a bit of a game with the collection:
A. Which nominees would be voted as “best poster” in each category by our readership?
B. Will the “best poster” also take “best picture” in each category at the Academy Awards?
…And the nominees are…
2006 Nominees for Best Documentary Film
+ Deliver Us From Evil + An Inconvenient Truth + Iraq in Fragments + Jesus Camp + My Country, My Country
2006 Nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
+ After the Wedding + Days of Glory + The Lives of Others + Pan’s Labyrinth + Water
2006 Nominees for Best Film
+ Babel + The Departed + Letters from Iwo Jima + Little Miss Sunshine + The Queen
2006 Nominees for Best Animated Film
+ Cars + Happy Feet + Monster House
…and while we’re on the topic, I also wanted to toss out a few of my own nominees for intriguing film poster work that I’ve found while nosing around over the past year.
2006 P.Berkbigler Nominees for Best Film Poster
+ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford + Crank + ATL + Calvaire + Snakes on a Plane + Perfume: The Story of a Murderer + The Motel + We Are Marshall
Let the voting begin…
February 24th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Paul, Thanks for bringing all those posters together! The one that really sticks out for me is the “Little Miss Sunshine” poster. The yellow is so strong and appropriate. Look at that type! How did this make it past the movie execs with that negative space? Great movie, too!
February 25th, 2007 at 3:46 am
My Favorites are The Departed and An Inconvenient Truth.
I’m a sucker for Clipping Masks and subtle photoshop manipulations like the photo illustration done for the Gore Film. I like taking images that were meant to look one way and modify them to look another. Visual Puns.
I’d also go as far as Days of Glory. Again, nice clipping mask and i like the colors and imagery grouped together inside the existing outline of another human shape.
February 25th, 2007 at 4:30 am
I’ll vote one favorite and one runner-up for each category:
an inconvenient truth / jesus camp
days of glory / pan’s labyrinth
the departed / letters from iwo jima
monster house / cars
snakes on a plane / perfume
I believe your thumbnail sized poster collages were a great way for me to spot a striking poster fast. Posters rarely stand on their own, they have to stand out in an array of posters on a wall, on the cinema poster board etc.
February 25th, 2007 at 11:18 am
My thoughts:
Documentary Film: An Inconvenient Truth
Foreign Language Film: Pan’s Labyrinth
Best Film: Little Miss Sunshine
Animated Film: Cars
Also, I’ll second Peter Marquardt’s comment: “I believe your thumbnail sized poster collages were a great way for me to spot a striking poster fast. Posters rarely stand on their own, they have to stand out in an array of posters on a wall, on the cinema poster board etc.” Good post.
February 25th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I have no clue what adrian is looking for in a poster.
LMS is a great movie… poster whaaawaaaaa.
Inconvienent Truth is strong.
Perfume is most conceptual.
Babel… shoud be shot. stacked type was never cool and they can not make it cool.
Jesus camp… Jesus christ! What were they thinking?
Snakes on a plane… I have to admit. I can’t believe they even made the movie. Posters is a little phalic… huh?
Assassination of Jesse James… How Mag says Letter press is still cool. So this must be cool. Not. Was this really a movie… never heard of it. I like Genre films about this topic.
That’s the news from mydarndest.
February 26th, 2007 at 7:47 am
That’s an interesting topic, Paul. I’m a huge fan of movie posters. HUGE. And why wouldn’t there be an award for something as industry-standard as the theater poster? I mean, Sagmeister’s got a Grammy, for crying out loud. But my ten-minute search of the web revealed nothing of the sort; I figured at least the scientific and technical oscars might be the place they give that award. Alas, nothing. I’ll keep looking, or else someone can just tell me officially they don’t give them out and I’ll stop.
And I would almost love that poster for The Depart-ed, if the didn’t hyphenate Depart-ed. But they did, illogically in only one of two word breaks. (man I’m a nerd)
February 26th, 2007 at 7:55 am
The “An Inconvenient Truth” poster looks way to much like the low budget slasher movie posters that we’ve been bombarded with the last five years. This should be the movie poster for “SOYLENT GREEN” if they ever remake it. TWO THUMBS DOWN
Not impressed with any of the foreign language film posters.
I really like “Little Miss Sunshine” though I’m sure the press ops had a few nightmares trying to lay down that much Yellow coverage.
TWO THUMBS UP
February 26th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I think that “Snakes on a Plane” graphic is pretty nice.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:05 am
RE: Nate Voss
“And I would almost love that poster for The Depart-ed, if the didn’t hyphenate Depart-ed. But they did, illogically in only one of two word breaks. (man I’m a nerd)”
You are a nerd, and I totally agree… which I guess makes me a nerd too!
I love the LMS poster. I saw the movie in Blockbuster the other night and the yellow cover really pops on the new release wall as well.
Great topic btw.
February 26th, 2007 at 9:06 am
RE: Nate Voss
“And I would almost love that poster for The Depart-ed, if the didn’t hyphenate Depart-ed. But they did, illogically in only one of two word breaks. (man I’m a nerd)”
You are a nerd, and I totally agree… which I guess makes me a nerd too!
I love the LMS poster. I saw the movie in Blockbuster the other night and the yellow cover really pops on the new release wall as well.
Great topic btw.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
The Motel
February 27th, 2007 at 7:58 am
The Academy doesn’t recognize marketing of any kind. The highest award for posters is the Key Art Award sponsored by the Hollywood Reporter. They also judge Outdoor, Movie trailers and other industry advertising. Unfortunately, there isn’t a free link, but this is a start:
http://flingk.com/s3okutq
February 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Next time, I’m going to comment without hearing what others write so i can try and think objectively. I’ll pick what i think is the best from each section I think…
inconvenient truth…pan’s labyrinth…little miss sunshine but departed a close second for uniqueness…monster house…motel…
very cool topic, thanks.
February 28th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
documentary: an inconvenient truth
foreign: pan’s labyrinth.. but i’d like to see the lives of others a little closer.
best film: little miss sunshine. the departed, a close second.
animated: cars
March 1st, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I think it would be awesome if they had a little segment during each Oscars talking about the process they took to decide on the poster they chose. Because they’ve had some great ones and some awful ones.
and yeah, Little Mis Sunshine rocks my world. The Jesus Camp poster reallllly disappointed me. So much could have been done w it.
May 26th, 2008 at 1:01 am
LMS is the right one for me. The idea, motivated picture and the layout can tell you a little about the movie’ story.