Minimalistic Movie Posters Are Cool

In this blog and on my Facebook and Twitter pages, I have highlighted many examples of minimalistic movie posters. In case you just surfed in and don’t know what they are, minimalistic movie posters are movie posters distilled to a single image or just a main image with only the most necessary background. Since words don’t really describe minimalistic posters here are some examples:

(FYI: The Dark Night Rises poster was done by artist Chaz Russo and his work can be found here. The Amazing Spider-Man poster was done by freelance graphic designer Matt Ferguson and his work can be found here.) I must admit that seeing these kinds of movie posters have turned me into a fan. What is it about such posters that make them so great? Here’s my two cents on the subject:

Not Created by Committee
One person created these posters. That person had an idea and decided to execute it. There was no market research done on the images. No suits were involved in the process.  If digital means were used to create the poster, it was used by someone who didn’t just learn how to the use the program at 9:00 AM on Monday and started making posters at 10:30 AM. It was just one person and his or her vision. Out of that came a thing of beauty.

Created by People with Talent
These posters were created by people with 1/100,000 of the budget of a Hollywood studio, yet they create something that makes you stop for a moment and look at something in a good way. Yet, the studios are drowning in money and when they try to make a minimalistic movie poster it turns out like this:

The above X-Men First Class poster is not a good movie poster, period. Yet, the artists who make the minimalistic movie posters time and time again make amazing posters. They have the mythical “it” and that enables them to meet the challenge that creating a minimalistic movie poster entails. Not to say that it is easy to create such a poster, it isn’t. After all, how do you decide which image to focus on and how do you stop yourself from putting in other images? I don’t know how they do it. Still, because of their talent, they create posters that surpass almost anything the studios create.

They Are Good Ads for the Movie
There have been times where I’ve seen the “official” poster for a film and thought “That’s nice” and wasn’t moved to see the film.  I’ll see a minimalistic movie poster for the same film and think “I WANT to see that movie.” Never mind the fact that the film is past its theatrical run and it’s only available on DVD. The minimalistic movie posters instill desire in me. The Photoshopped creations from the studios just don’t do that.

They Are Works of Art
Look at the examples of fan created The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man minimalistic movie posters and tell me that they aren’t works of art in and of themselves. Even if you know nothing about the movie in question, these posters look good enough to be displayed in any museum.  Through the artist’s knowledge of the film, as well as use of color and space, he or she creates a work of art. This one lone person, who has nothing more than talent, the right tools and access to the Internet, is able to create something beautiful. Whereas the studios, with all their resources, more often than not create something that ranges from pedestrian to downright dumb and many times, the movie poster isn’t even beautiful.

Just goes to show you, less is more, especially since committees aren’t known for creating great works of art.

Sources:
http://www.shockya.com/news/2012/01/16/the-amazing-spider-man-gets-three-fan-made-minimalist-posters/

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/10/21/adam-rabalais-art/

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/rorschachsrants/news/?a=51170

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Death of the Movie Poster?

God bless the Internet. It makes research for many things, so much easier. Particularly this week’s entry, since I found a few posts dealing with the art of movie posters. One post on SeattlePi.com wrote about how Mondo, a small company out of Austin, Texas that started as a sideline to the Alamo Drafthouse, makes high quality limited edition movie posters. The writer goes on to say that Mondo’s artists make better movie posters than the movie studios do. (You can find examples of the latest item for sale here: http://blog.mondotees.com/.) Another item, this time on the Thristy for Milk blog mentioned that recent movie posters are just photoshopped creations that are made by committee and don’t compare to movie posters of the past.

Yes, many current movie posters are just photoshopped creations and many fan created items are works of art, still before the wholesale basing of today’s movie posters continues any further know that:

1.)   While movie posters prior to the 1970’s were drawn, the art department had to bend to what the studio heads wanted.  After all, the studio heads were the ones who signed their checks and if the people in the art department wanted a job, they had to do what their bosses wanted.

2.)   Works of art like the “Mona Lisa” and the Sistine Chapel were commissioned. That means artists of the likes of Michelangelo, Da Vinci had to swallow their pride and do what the patron wanted. Granted, Michelangelo clashed with Pope Julius II during the years he worked on the chapel and Da Vinci was such a perfectionist that he took the Mona Lisa with him to France, so he could continue working on it, when he was appointed as “the first painter, engineer and architect” for King Francis I. Up until the late 1700’s, most artists, if they wanted to eat, attached themselves to the nobility and they did what they were told.

3.)   Don’t knock all “modern” movie posters.  Modern photographic and design tools are just that—tools. It takes imagination and a keen eye to use those tools to create a movie poster that is worthy to be called a work of art.  Don’t believe me. Just look at the posters for the final Matrix movie, Black Swan, A. I., American Beauty—just to name a few and you’ll see what I mean. (It also helps when the studio heads don’t overdo the suggestions.)

So, reports of the artistic movie poster being dead are greatly exaggerated.

Sources:
http://www.seattlepi.com/movies/433305_film43568774.html

http://thirstyformilk.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/the-state-of-movie-posters/

http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/1324

http://www.oil-paintings-reproductions.com/Articles/Leonardo-da-Vinci.html