Posterwire.com is a movie poster weblog. From images of the latest Hollywood one-sheets to vintage movie posters, this film poster weblog hopes to offer a bit of insight into film key art.
We sometimes get email with questions about one-sheets. We’re happy to answer any movie poster related questions that we’re fortunate enough to actually know the answer to. (Or at least think we know the answer to.)
Marvin J. writes:
Why, in an ensemble shot, are the actors’ names not under their proper photos? Is this some Hollywood superstition? Or is it because it’s too much like a news caption and therefore too “linear”?
As with most things involving actors/talent in motion pictures, the names and likeness of actors are controlled by their almighty contract. The actor’s contract includes what can and can’t be done with their name/likeness on a movie poster one-sheet (and all other film advertising). These advertising provisions in contracts (sometimes called “contractual” or “contractuals”) that relate to one-sheets dictate things such as whether an actor’s name must appear above the film’s title (“above title credit”), the location and order of their credit (such as “first billing” or “top billing”), and even the size of their own likeness on the poster in relation to their co-stars image (“equal likeness“).
The order of actors names may be set in stone via contractuals, but the design/layout (at least in some regard) of the movie poster is not. This is the recipe for the not-so-uncommon phenomenon of actor credits not lining up with their image on a one-sheet. For example, Keanu Reeves may be getting top billing over his costars in The Matrix — his name appears first on the left side of the poster for the above title credits — but that doesn’t mean his face/image will be first on the left side of the layout. This disparity between names and faces often appears in the ever-popular “Flying V” movie poster layout (also known as the “Scream Layout” or the “Miramax Layout”). This group line-up would put the top billed star front and center on the poster, flanked by their costars, but the actor credits (from left to right) wouldn’t necessarily fall in that same order. You’ll also see the credit order versus actor groupings battle in movie posters for ensemble dramas. There are many other variations and solutions to this type of credit billing problem — for example, a star’s name could appear in the middle and above the costar’s credits and be considered top billing. (Although it doesn’t always solve the problem).
Since film advertising art directors are already limited in what they can do with regards to actor placements (both in name and likeness) in one-sheet layouts, it’s understandable that most film account executives overlook this minor credit lineup “glitch”. This is just one of the many hoops that film key art has to jump through (like the film’s themselves) before it reaches your local theater lobby.
With this week’s release of the final Star Wars film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, we wanted to take some time this week to review Star Wars movie posters from the entire saga. Star Wars one-sheets still remain a top choice for movie poster collectors, even if the current trilogy has taken some sheen off the franchise.
For the 1978 re-release of Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV) in theatres, Lucasfilm hired airbrush artist Charles White III to create a new one-sheet artwork. White was uncomfortable with painting portraits, so he asked fellow artist Drew Struzan to collaborate on the poster by handling all the portrait work. According to Drew Struzan: “Somehow, he asked me to paint the portraits while he would paint the droids and the like… Only an extraordinary individual does anything so generous and unselfish.” This fateful gesture would lead to Drew Struzan’s first piece of artwork for Lucasfilm, and certainly wouldn’t be his last.
The Star Wars Style D poster is more commonly known as the “Circus” poster, named for it’s distinctive circus-style “posted bill” look, which includes torn edges and glimpses of a plywood wall background. This appealing layout was a “happy accident”, explains Struzan. “They found out there wasn’t enough room for the typography and the billing block they had left in the design. What can we do to make more space on a poster that’s already been printed? Let’s pretend it’s posted, then they can put the type below the actual poster. We painted Obi Wan down the side and stuff across the bottom to make it wider and deeper.” (If you look closely at the poster itself, you can see where the original artwork was later surrounded by the “poster wall” effect. Note that the color pencil rendering of Ben Kenobi on the left side differs from the style of the rest of the poster’s painted artwork.)
The original collage artwork was recently sold at auction. It’s interesting to note some of the subtle differences between the original illustration (besides color correction) and the final Star Wars one-sheet artwork. One other often repeated piece of trivia about the artwork is that this is one of George Lucas’s favorite posters — it’s easy to see why.
The most common question we get: What is the font used for the credits at the bottom of a movie poster? The short answer: There is no one particular font used for movie poster credits.
Now the long answer: The credits at the bottom of a movie poster are known as a billing block or credit block. The credit block consists of the names and titles of many of the “above the line” talent, key crew members, and others involved in the production of a film. The billing also includes logos for film related properties, including the MPAA rating — these logos are known as bugs. The order of names appearing in the movie’s billing are tightly regulated (as many aspects of film production are) via contracts by the various actors, agents, producers, director, etc. For example, some directors invoke the infamous “a film by” above title credit in their film’s billing. Once you factor in all these names and titles, space becomes a premium in the billing block. That’s where a condensed typeface comes into play. Most good ultra condensed typefaces (usually sans serif) will work in a billing block. A few popular movie poster credit fonts include: Bee, Univers Thin Ultra Condensed, Tall Skinny Condensed and Triple Condensed Gothic.
The phrase equal likeness is common term and often an overriding factor in the design and creation of movie poster art. Basically equal likeness is the film advertising equivalent of a “favored nations” clause in an actor’s contract. It means that if one actor has “equal likeness” to another actor, than images of both actors must be equal in size and promience in the key art. Contract requirements can be taken further when an actor has an additional “first position” clause, which would translate to the actor’s likeness always appearing first (usually on the left side) in any artwork. These contractual obligiations can get fairly complicated in terms of layout and design, since showing one actor can trigger a requirement to show a group of other actors that have the same equal likeness terms in their film contract.
