- Intro, not too descriptive, mention lack in quality of some modern posters and mention how people love the iconic posters of the past.
- Modernism - From the beginning of the 20th century, movie posters were illustrative and depicted particular key scenes of the movie with actors faces prominent. In the 60’s Saul Bass came onto the scene, started applying modernist design values to movie posters, swapping out depictions of scenes for minimalist symbolic imagery and shape. Other designers soon followed. By citing vignelli’s cannon and one other conflicting modernist text, analyse one or two examples of Saul bass’ work.
- Stephen Frankfurt, Rosemarys baby 1968
- Post modernism - came along in the 70’s and signalled a departure from modernism in popular culture. Since postmodernism is described as a ‘conscious use of other styles’ and a mixing of different styles medias etc. we see the illustrative pre modernist movie poster have a resurgence. Bob Peak poster - apocalypse now?
- Commodification - The ideological process of commodification knows no boundaries, which is why we can no longer find refuge in the now defunct distinction between commerce and culture. Whilst one sells commodities as value, the other sells values as commodities. Paradoxically, the form of expression and communication they use to do so, are essentially the same. There is an exponentially higher quantity of designers in the world now then say 20 years ago. This means now, it is not hard for a company/product to have good design as designers are not hard to come by. The commodification of graphic design means that designers are doing work for a client which allows the client to make a lot of money, instead of a collaborative process.
- Consumerism - Consumerism relates to movie posters because it is the process of studios using marketing tools and visual formulas within their posters to increase their profits. Here talk about recurring visual themes ion blockbuster movie posters.
- Contemporary design - many agree post modernism is coming to a close or already has, some using the phrase ‘post-postmodernism’. When we take a look at modern day film posters, and not the ones effected by consumerism or commodification, but the more creative endeavours - artistic films, documentaries etc. a jump back to modernism can be seen, could this be postmodernism doing what it does and consciously reverting back to that style as enough time has passed? Look at midnight marauders poster for Hal
- - compare with vignelli’s cannon.
- Conclusion - posters are subjective - there can be no one poster which is the best. However most importantly posters need to suit the genre, tone and target audience. While these formulated blockbuster movie posters aren’t examples of really nice, thought out design, are they justified b evacuee ultimately they do the job they need to.
Quotes
Vignelli’s Cannon
- We are for a design that lasts, that respond’s to people’s needs not to people’s wants.
- We like the use of primary shapes and primary colours because their formal values are timeless.
- We strive for a design that is centred on the message rather than the visual titillation. We like design that is clear, simple and enduring. And that is what timeless means in design.
- One should not underestimate the importance of white space to better define the hierarchy of every component.
- Most of the time we like to use colour to convey a specific message, therefore, we tend to use it more as a symbol or as an identifier.
Posters: a concise history - John Barnicoat
- a poster can never be obscure
- The designer cannot allow his work to express a private idea that subsequent generations may be able to unravel: he must achieve instant contact.
- To do this he must, like an entertainer, work with his audience.
- Their function is to communicate as well as to be decorative.
- A straightforward, objective design will always have a general appeal and the clumsy, amateur design will always find acceptance with the public.
Film Posters of the 80’s -
- the film posters of any given period offer an unerringly accurate reflection of the tastes and aspirations of the audiences they were designed to attract.
- For film-makers have always been quick to seize upon the prevailing fashions and preoccupations of the times and to distil them into their purest form, and the poster artist strives, of course, to carry the process even further by capturing the magic of a movie in a single graphic image.
Movie Poster - Emily King
- when developing identities for films, in each case Bass attempted to find a strong graphic symbol that would act as a summary of the plot. He maintained the modernist belief that it is possible to strip away layers of the complexity and arrive at a single visual essence. In the case of the man with the golden arm the twisted black arm is an expression of the central character’s struggle with drugs.
- By taking Bass on board Preminger, Hitchcock and Wilder were, to use a more modern term, branding themselves and their output in a way that bolstered their position as independents.
- Farrow’s profile looms over the horizon as if it were the setting sun, in contrast to which the silhouetted pram looks insubstantial and vulnerable. The poster does not communicate much about the film, but is a powerful free-standing image.
- Typical of Peak’s style, this poster is a montage of scenes from the film. In line with the demands of marketing, Peak concentrated on the star, Marlon Brando, emphasising what he described as Brando’s ‘Marvellous Head’.
- Empire strikes back - Irvin kershner - playing up the romance between carrie fisher’s princess leia and Harrison fords Han Solo, this poster aimed to attract a broader audience, in particular more women, to the second film in the trilogy.
- Peaks hollywood career reached its zenith in the late 1970’s. Sometimes described as ‘the father of the modern movie poster’, peak had a style that perfectly fitted the overblown, almost camp nature of the main stream cinema of that era.
- VCR’s first came onto the market ion the mid 1970’s …. In response, the studios concentrated investment on the production of blockbusters to an even greater extent, aiming to smooth out their incomer streams by repackaging these big budget films for home viewing. The impact of these shifts on movie posters has been largely negative. Now part of larger marketing campaigns, poster images are required to be reusable in a number of formats and for the most part they have lost any stand-alone quality. The need to appeal to the eye flicking along the shelves of the video stores has led to uniformity and blandness.
- 21st century escapism - the principal means of promoting the new breed of escapism involves superimposing highly retouched photographs of attractive lead actors on dramatic pictures of imaginary landscapes. Spectacular, glossy and unreal in every sense, these images offer potential audiences a very potent mix of fantasies.
- Posters are primarily advertisements and their task is to connect with the people on the street, not with the images on the screen.
A Century of Posters - Martijn F. Le Coultre & Alston W. Purvis
- Requirements of a successful poster were eloquently delineated in 1901 by the critic Raymond Needham: ‘take any representative Japanese print - a book illustration, a broad sheet or a theatre bill - and it will be found to embody all that a good poster should. One dominant idea is presented graphically, beautifully. The detail does not weaken, but actually enforces the motif. There is not a superfluous line. The colour scheme of flat tints is fresh and striking, but always harmonious. The composition gives an idea of balance and breadth, but affords no hint as to how these qualities have been attained… The general effect is decorative in the highest degree, may be humorous and is certainly pervaded by the “hidden soul of harmony”.
Hutcheon - post modernism
Best film posters of 2017
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