I found some examples of movie posters that strike me. Some are just concepts and some are the final product.
The Great Dictator by Charles Chaplin, 1940
Metropolis by Fritz Lang, 1927
The Man with a Camera by Dziga Vertov, 1929
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock, 1963
Anatomy of a Murder by Otto Preminger, 1959
Each of these posters alludes to the content of the movie but also its style and approach. The clever messaging and hand drawn graphics and typography catches the eye and shows the craft of the designer.
The Gangs of New York by Martin Scorsese, 2002
Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese, 1976
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Terry Gilliam, 1998
Vacancy by Nimród Antal, 2007
Ocean's Twelve by Steven Soderbergh, 2004
Ocean's Eleven by Steven Soderbergh, 2001
The Spirit by Frank Miller, 2008
The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan, 2008
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino, 1992
Burn After Reading by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2008
Blindness by Fernando Meirelles, 2008
28 Weeks Later by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007
The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, 1980
Movie posters can be an amazing showing of graphic design and advertising. With clever messaging and creative concepts, they can excited and intrigue the viewer. The examples above did more in their approach than to show a clip from the movie. They are either an homage to a graphic style, use creative typography and interesting colors, hand drawn illustrations or a carefully planned and executed layout. The combination can make them also pieces of art as well as functional and promotional.
It's always bugged me when the title sequence doesn't match the movie advertising. I think they get made at different times in the process of getting the film into theaters. I remember the Talented Mr. Ripley having a good title sequence. Also, The World According to Garp, and a couple of Spike Lee movies including Jungle Fever (good poster too): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Fever
ReplyDeleteSaul Bass was well known both for movie posters and title sequences, including the oft-copied Anatomy of a Murder.
Thanks Dan for the post! I agree that there is probably a lack of collaboration between the different forces working on a film. It is most likely from a timing perspective and so many advertisers now invested in a film. Thanks for your suggestions. Those are ones I have not seen, so I will check them out!
ReplyDeleteAnd I believe opening sequence in The Talented Mr. Ripley is an homage to the old Blue Note Records album covers.
ReplyDeleteI love these. And while I can definitely see the frustration about how the posters rarely match the design for the rest of the aspects of each film, I kind of see it as the building of a film into a cultural icon, or a sort of archetype. Kind of like how concert posters almost never match a band's album artwork (or even their musical style), or how other artists interpret classic comic book characters. I like to see different interpretations of the themes and narratives.
ReplyDeleteWow....... this one is truly looking one of the exotic collection of the movie posters. As the contents and features of this post really makes me crazy about it. This one is authentically looking fun. Thanks for sharing some exceptional movie posters in this post.
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