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.
One of our favorite weblogs, Speak Up, has an article analyzing The Color of Top Grossing Movies in movie posters. They did this by pulling a color scheme of movie posters representing the top 5 grossing movies in each MPAA rating category. This came about because author Armin Vit wondered if NC-17 rated film posters would be “dark and provocative” as a visual baseline.
Speak Up’s experiment highlights a few basics in one-sheet color schemes: Comedies feature brighter colors (and rely heavily on white backgrounds), whereas other film genres skew darker (and more likely to use a black background). You could further categorize film types by color: Science fiction films tend to use cool tones (blues, greens). Action films use warm tones (reds, yellows). Horror films use earth tones (oranges, browns). Animated films use the most varied color combinations, reflecting the colors of the animation itself. Of course, there are countless exceptions to these genre by color examples.
Finding hidden messages and then labeling it as subliminal advertising has a long history in our culture. Hidden images and messages have also appeared in movie posters (some being obvious and not-so-obvious) as well.
Apparently the staff of a Galaxy movie theatre (or someone with Photoshop) took it upon themselves to stage three teaser posters in just the right order (for Superman Returns, Eragon, and X-Men: The Last Stand) in this hidden message vein. (via 13gb.com)
The Hollywood Reporter’s 36th Annual Key Art Awards were announced at the Beverly Hilton on June 15th. The ceremony, hosted by comedian Rob Corddry, gave out awards covering a wide range of film advertising categories covering audio/video, print, and digital mediums. The ceremony included a few new categories and awards, including “Best of Show” awards chosen by the audience text messaging votes made during the evening. The night also saw the first “Visionary Award” given to director Robert Rodriguez, for being “a filmmaker who inspires movie marketers to create work at an even higher level.”
Another highlight was the RottenTomatoes.com “Tomato Topper Award” given to the film Step Up. The award is given to a film that received negative reviews but generated positive box-office returns, highlighting the role of film marketing translating to a successful movie release.
2007 Key Art movie poster winners:
ACTION-ADVENTURE POSTER
ANIMATION POSTER
COMEDY POSTER
DRAMA POSTER
HORROR POSTER
TEASER POSTER
INTERNATIONAL POSTER
To read the complete list of 2007 Key Art Award winners visit The Hollywood Reporter.
Readers and would-be Adobe Photoshop gurus over at the Something Awful forums recently pointed their weekly “Photoshop Phriday” remix thread at modern movies illustrated in a “Grindhouse cinema” movie poster style. In this case, Grindhouse being the popular label for the low budget film and exploitation movie poster style popular in the 60s and 70s.
It is always interesting to see modern movies re-interpreted through a different style of key art — this film poster remix for Little Miss Sunshine is a particularly good (and disturbing) example.
The Hollywood Reporter announced the nominees for The 36th Annual Key Art Awards. This year there are 34 award categories, covering film posters, movie trailers, packaging, outdoor advertising, theatrical standees, print ads, home entertainment and more. New film advertising categories were added for horror, animation and documentary movie posters, along with the (long overdue) web site design category.
“We retooled the awards this year to better reflect what movies are in theaters and where people are watching their advertising,” said Bob Israel, chairman of the Key Art Awards advisory board and executive producer of the show. “And we’re keeping an eye on the growing role of nontraditional media and how it’s being used for marketing.”
For the second year in a row, film studio Lionsgate leads the field among Key Art Awards nominees, which just goes to show you that we are not the only ones who devote too much attention to the studio’s marketing efforts. The most popular film nominees are Little Miss Sunshine, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and Borat, with each scoring seven nominations. (It’s good to see our own choice for the movie poster of the year earned a Key Art Award nomination in the Drama posters category.)
The Hollywood Report’s Key Art Awards ceremony will be held June 15 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with actor-comedian Rob Corddry as host.
The 2007 Key Art Awards movie poster nominees:
ACTION-ADVENTURE POSTERS
Superman Returns
Poseidon
Apocalypto
V for Vendetta
ANIMATION POSTERS
A Scanner Darkly
Renaissance
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Monster House
Cars
COMEDY POSTERS
Running With Scissors
Borat
Thank You for Smoking
Nacho Libre
Little Miss Sunshine
DRAMA POSTERS
Clean
Hard Candy
Little Children
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
HORROR POSTERS
Descent
Saw III
The Hills Have Eyes
Pulse
Saw III
TEASER POSTERS
Hostel
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion
Crank
Borat
V for Vendetta
INTERNATIONAL POSTERS
The Black Dahlia
Borat: Teaser
Borat: Teaser
The Prestige
Paris je t’aime
Have a favorite in the movie poster categories? Share your predictions for the winners in our comments section. To see the complete list of 2007 Key Art Award nominees visit The Hollywood Reporter.
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.
By now most of you have probably heard about the controversy surrounding Captivity billboards as part of the film’s outdoor ad campaign in Los Angeles and New York. Captivity is a horror (some say “torture porn”) film starring Elisha Cuthbert. The billboards (featuring key art designed by Art Machine Digital) depicted four panels with the headlines “Abduction, Confinement, Torture, Termination” along with the appropriate modern horror florescent lighting color scheme and scary visuals:
This film outdoor campaign outraged some residents in the Los Angeles area. In some sort of modern ad speak for “My dog ate my homework”, CEO Courtney Solomon of After Dark Films (the studio that produced the film) claimed the wrong files were sent to the printer and all the executives were in Las Vegas attending ShoWest at the time. We have no idea whether this was the case or not, but we don’t think the Adobe InDesign final production mechanicals sent to the printer were labeled “TOO SCARY. PLS DO NOT USE. FOR YOUR FUN ONLY!”.
And if you have wondered how film execs really talk, Solomon went on to muse:
Personally, I wasn’t going to go with this campaign. I thought it was OTP (over the top). Nothing like this can ever happen again.
Is this “OTP” quote meant to publicly lay blame elsewhere, like he (the CEO) was some sort of “lone voice of reason in a wilderness of ‘oh no, we’re producing this sucker whether you liked the comp or not’ ad design approval craziness”?
Although the offending outdoor billboards were eventually removed (and replaced by a not-as-OTP “Captivity Was Here” billboard), the proverbial outrage pile-on had already begun.
Speaking of pile ons, one thing that is being held captive is a rating for the film. The MPAA has put a one month hold on the ratings process for Captivity, which puts the May 18th release date in jeopardy. According to MPAA Senior VP of Advertising Marilyn Gordon:
“The sanctions in this case are severe because this was an unacceptable and flagrant violation of MPAA rules and procedures. After Dark Films presented their ads for approval, as all companies are required to do if they wish to receive an MPAA rating. However, their ads were summarily rejected for their graphic depiction of a woman’s torture and death. Yet After Dark proceeded to post them on billboards anyway, and these ads appeared in some of the most prominent public locations in Los Angeles and New York. It is now up to After Dark Films to restore good faith with the MPAA.”
The MPAA is technically a trade group — it was created to “advance the interests of movie studios” (it sues alleged movie file sharers on behalf of the film studios, for example). What most people do not realize is that those “interests” being represented are those of the six major studios: Sony, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Fox, and Warner Bros. Since the smaller studios responsible for Captivity (Lionsgate and the producer of the film, After Dark Films) are not “signatory” agencies of the MPAA (and this sort of ad approval controversy has happened before), it’s not surprising the MPAA came down hard on the “little guys” in this case. All studios voluntarily submit films (and ad materials) for review by the MPAA, otherwise they cannot advertise in most outlets or be shown in many North American theaters. It remains to be seen how this will effect the release of Captivity, or if this bit of publicity will help the film gain any useful “OTP” exposure.
Entertainment Weekly has a first look at the movie poster for 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to the horror film 28 Days Later. The article is a bit underwhelming, but it does have an interesting quote by Fox Atomic senior VP of print advertising Karen Crawford. Discussing the “concession” of re-using the biohazard title treatment logo from the previous 28 Days Later poster:
“I’d like it to not have that logo. But, of course, this is a movie we’re advertising.”
We can easily imagine a cynical tone in her voice when saying that.
The why-oh-why-must-we-be-shackled-by-this-logo-from-the-past anecdote reminds us of a light bulb joke about designers (or anyone in a creative field, for that matter):
Q: How many graphic designers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Does it have to be a light bulb?
If you chuckled at that joke then you probably are a designer, or work in a creative field. This light bulb joke also happens to be the ONLY joke about graphic design that we know of. Niche jokes aside, the Fox exec quote seems to explain why the 28 Weeks Later poster tries to hide the biohazard symbol by fading the edges of the symbol behind the logotype. This is an unfortunate choice since the faded red of the logo clashes with the duotone street art style of the rest of the poster’s key art. It also doesn’t help that fading the color red can sometimes read as pink in color. It looks like the biohazard logo fell victim to death by half-hearted inclusion, which many designers are familiar with.
According to Film Junk, the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster was created by illustrator Richard Corben. (Update: This is inaccurate, see update below.) A respected comic book artist and fantasy art illustrator, Corben is best known for his work for Heavy Metal magazine. He also illustrated the artwork for Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell album cover.
Corben makes would have made for an interesting choice as illustrator for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force poster art. In the late 1970s, Corben created the art for a short story series called “Den” that was published in Heavy Metal magazine. His story was later adapted as one of the segments in the animated Heavy Metal movie. That movie story segment was the basis for a Heavy Metal movie poster, which was also created by, you guessed it, Richard Corben. The poster artwork features a triumphant pose of muscular hero “Den”, towering over a mound of creatures as an attractive female clutches his leg.
The towering hero layout Corben used should be familiar — it is sometimes known as the “King of the Mountain” or the “Conan the Barbarian” pose, since it’s origins go all the way back to pulp cover illustrations for Conan the Barbarian paperbacks and other similar magazines. This type of composition is so prevalent (especially in the realm of science fiction and fantasy art) it would be impossible to list every example of this theme. Although many artists (like Corben) work in this realm, the two most associated with this type of work are legendary illustrators Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta (both movie poster illustrators in their own right).
The ATHF movie poster may be the latest to use this look, but it isn’t the first movie poster to parody it. The Conan cliché has been parodied in past movie posters by the very artists who created this genre of illustration in the first place. For example, the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie poster (illustrated by Renato Casaro) was a straight forward depiction of “King Conan”. This poster style was literally “lampooned” when Clark Griswald took his place on top of the mountain in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movie poster. Chevy Chase returned to the top again in the National Lampoon’s European Vacation movie poster. Both of these Vacation posters were illustrated by Boris Vallejo — in this case parodying his own work and the genre he helped create. Other examples of “King of the Mountain” inspired layouts in movie posters: Star Wars (Style A), Barbarella, and Army of Darkness.
In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster, the ATHF team of Meatwad, Carl Brutananadilewski, Frylock, and Master Shake take their place on the mountain, complete with the required fantasy “babe” clutching Carl’s leg. No word as to whether this ATHF ad has caused panic in Boston.
Update: We received an email from Richard Corben’s official site saying Corben did NOT create the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie poster. We later received an email from Boris Vallejo’s official site confirming that the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film poster was illustrated by Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo. Glad the confusion has been cleared up.
XYZ RBG offers high resolution scanning services for film, television, video game, and other media companies. The company has worked on films in The Matrix series, Lord of the Rings, and King Kong. Through the company’s XYZ Imaging, it also offers holographic printing services. A hologram is defined as: “A three dimensional image; unlike regular images which are usually two dimensional, a three dimensional image, or hologram, appears to “pop out” of the media on which it is printed or illuminated from.”
The Ottawa Canada firm has created technology that allows eight seconds of video to be manufactured as a paper thin three dimensional hologram movie poster:
The film industry is the first target for what XYZ RGB bills as the next-generation movie poster. The company can place a short clip right in the poster, giving people a chance to view a scene without going into the theatre.
The technology is turning heads around the world. When he heard about it, Titanic director James Cameron couldn’t believe the 3-D posters were possible.
“He said to me, ‘if you have discovered imbedded video in plastic, you have discovered the holy grail of advertising,’” said Jan-Erik Nyhuus, vice-president of business development for XYZ RGB Inc.
The company demonstrated this printing technology by producing a custom made three dimensional Terminator 2 movie poster and presenting it to director Cameron. The claim is that this hologram movie poster is more advanced than past lenticular movie posters (such as the recent Spider-Man 3 lenticular poster).
