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.
Warner Bros. has released the U.S. domestic Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie poster. The poster features “Dumbledore’s Army” flanking an older Harry Potter. The movie covers the fifth year at the Hogwarts school, with Harry and his classmates doing battle against evil Lord Voldemort. The film poster itself is a bit understated (and far removed from the whimsy and the teen angst of past Harry Potter movie posters), and is using a variation of the ever popular “Flying V” cast line-up formation made popular by Miramax.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will also be showing in IMAX theaters. Apparently Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: An IMAX 3D Experience will feature a 20 minuted enhanced 3D finale. Speaking of 3D “enhancements”, star Emma Watson’s chest appears a bit larger in Harry Potter IMAX ads when compared to the Order of the Phoenix poster, even though they are both based around the same artwork.
Although Hollywood (and media in general) has a long history of “augmentation via Photoshop” in advertising, this instance is less obvious than other examples. But it is hard to resist pointing out Hermione Granger’s breast growth spurt in this case when the artwork is for a 3D movie from a theater chain with the motto “Think Big”. (This also invokes memories of a Saturday Night Live Harry Potter skit from a few years ago.)
Why is there a difference between the two pieces of Potter key art? Since the IMAX version of the poster art appeared online before the final Harry Potter one-sheet, we can only speculate that Warner Bros. gave the IMAX ad group an earlier “comp” version of the artwork prior to being finalized for the studio’s own press run. There are other subtle differences between the two: the domestic one-sheet version of Herminoe Granger features a less flowing hair style, probably because her hair in the IMAX version blocks more of actor Matt Lewis (as Neville Longbottom) standing behind Emma Watson.
Actress Keira Knightley, in a recent interview, reminded everyone how her breasts were “digitally enhanced” back in 2004 for the King Arthur movie poster:
“I remember we had an interesting discussion when they said, ‘We want to make them slightly larger and you’ll get approval’ and I was like, ‘OK, fine.’ I honestly don’t give a shit.
But then they showed me the first copy and these things must have been double-Es — and they were down to my knees.
And I was like, ‘I don’t mind you making them bigger, but don’t give me droopy breasts. They look like your grandmother’s tits.’”
Keira seems to be trying to make a point about Hollywood’s attitude about actresses and how they are marketed (News Flash: Americans like large breasts), but she goes on to admit she does have final approval over how she is portrayed in key art. In the same interview she says about appearing on magazine covers:
“I did one magazine and found out you’re not actually allowed to be on a cover in the US without at least a C cup because it turns people off.”
While that sounds more like something she heard from an intern at a magazine cover photo shoot rather than an industry wide rule, it remains to be seen how each and every magazine art director chooses to depict Knightley on a magazine cover. What is true is that images of actors (all actors) are retouched in one way or another when appearing in film print advertising. Most of the time this goes unnoticed, sometimes not.
Looking at the special shoot image of Keira Knightley used for the King Arthur one-sheet, it’s not surprising the art directors and film execs involved decided to rework her figure, as her chest appears to be flattened by a tight leather strap costume. Did the studio go too far? Hard to say. Perhaps next time they’ll be able to highlight Keira Knightley’s abs instead, which don’t seem to need any enhancing.
First a disclaimer or two. We are very biased when it comes to the subject of Bettie Page. (Also, some links and images in this post are NSFW.) Who is Bettie Page, you may ask?
Bettie Page is the most photographed model of all-time.
How is this “original supermodel” claim possible? It is a bit dubious, but the statement is derived from the prolific career of Bettie Page as the premiere pin-up model (and Playboy Playmate) in the 1950s. (It also helps to understand a bit about the history of mail-order pin-up photographs, “camera clubs”, and men’s magazines from that time period.) “All-time” claims aside, the impact of Bettie Page is too broad a topic to discuss in a weblog about movie posters, but needless to say: even if you have never heard of her before, you are probably aware of her influence on beauty, fashion, modeling, sex, and pop culture — even if you didn’t realize it.
Her life story is finally coming to the big screen via the dark haired bangs of actress Gretchen Mol in the movie The Notorious Bettie Page. The film covers the modeling career of Bettie Page, including the controversies surrounding her sometimes risque fetish photographs.
In The Notorious Bettie Page movie poster, we see Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page, leaning against the oversized typography of the film title treatment against a bright yellow-orange background. At least, it used to be an image of Gretchen Mol. When we compare the poster to the original photograph of the actress, we can see this Bettie Page has had quite a bit of retouching. While the real Bettie Page never needed any retouching (nor does Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page for that matter), a fact of modern life is everyone (and we mean everyone) in advertising is retouched in one way or another. You can bet that unless the image is an editorial/news photograph, it has been altered in some way. (Sadly, sometimes news organizations do alter photographs.) In this case, the poster image of actress Mol as Page has literally been painted into existence. This happens quite often in film poster one-sheets. When working with varying levels of quality of source material — a dark and blurry unit photograph for example — the retoucher, working on the final “finishing” stage of the key art, can be called upon to create all kinds of things in Adobe Photoshop. Looking at the original Gretchen Mol photograph, we can speculate that the photo was a bit out of focus and grainy, requiring extensive “painting” in the final stages… Or maybe the account executive in charge of that campaign was simply over zealous in having the composition retouched. Or perhaps a mixture of both?
As some of you may know, there is nothing we love more than discussing hidden imagery in movie poster one-sheets. It’s like Hollywood’s version of a hidden 3D poster you saw at the mall as a kid: stare at it long enough, and you are bound to find something. An impressive variation on this “hidden gem” idea is when the extra discovery actually contributes to the design of the poster itself. This idea brings us to the U.S. domestic one-sheet for the Oscar winning film Silence of the Lambs.
When a designer hides or adds a less than overt element to a composition it is sometimes called a secondary image or second read. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo. You’ve looked at something countless times only to discover something new (or like most of us, have it pointed out to you). In the Silence of the Lambs movie poster, Jodie Foster’s face is given a high contrast treatment with a large moth placed over her mouth. Looking closer at the moth, we notice a subtle skull on the head of the butterfly — the so-called “death’s head” moth from the film. A striking image, which matches the dark tone of the film itself.
In the Silence of the Lambs image, the ambiguous skull on the moth is actually made up of seven naked female bodies. The image of the “skull orgy” originated in a portrait photograph by Philippe Halsman of Salvador Dali, entitled Salvador Dali In Voluptate Mors. (The photo itself was inspired by surrealist Dali’s gouache Female Bodies as a Skull painting. Dali later translated the same idea into his own live sculptures.) The Lambs one-sheet was created by the (now defunct) film ad agency Dazu, and the skull image idea was reportedly given to the agency by director Jonathan Demme specifically for use in the film’s poster artwork.
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.
