HANNA

Hanna. Can I just say that Hanna has such a lovely appropriate font. It is perfect for the movie and the poster. It is nice to see a poster with a font different from the standard range of Helvetica seen everywhere. The font has a tight wild feel. It draws your attention to the name but also blends nicely with the image. The image is wonderful. If you notice the image is 2/3rds text. And this works. The girl’s icy stare looking directly into the camera is unsettling and intriguing. In photos people tend to go toward eyes first. And in this case she is staring directly at the viewer and you can’t help but stare back at her mostly covered face and penetrating, mysterious, blue eyes.  Her arm also creates a nice angle coming toward the viewer and then you notice she is aiming something. That makes the image more powerful because of the dramatic effect it applies and the context it gives to the stare. This poster is great because of use and style of the font as well as the close up direct stare. You don’t see such an intense stare often and it really draws the viewer in and makes the movie seem intriguing. Then, paired with the trailer, there is no stopping this movie, or Hanna. This movie is just like the poster, intriguing and intense. I loved it and recommend it to anyone into a good action film. 

Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds. What an awesome movie. And what does any awesome movie need? An awesome movie poster. This poster is wonderful. Is says all you need to know about the film. It screams Nazis are going to get their sh*t rocked. Let’s start with the background. Stormy clouds. It is simple enough not to distract from the foreground image and ads just enough depth to make the image stand out. Notice the lighter parts of the clouds are right behind the image. This positioning is for emphasis. Your eye tends to go toward the lighter part of the image.

The words at the top written in white, “once upon a time in Nazi occupied France,” are perfect for the story as well as the poster.  The “once upon a time” implies maybe some dark humor and the second part of the line also give us the location and a bit about the story. Nazi Germany. We now know it will be a war related movie. And as we know, everyone likes seeing Nazis get their butts kicked so who’s not going to love it.

Now for the image. The image itself is awesome. First off the bat creates a nice diagonal and goes off the page. It really draws his eye into the photo. The helmet hanging from it is powerful. Because it is beaten, battered and dripping with blood while sporting a Nazi logo it implies and event that would involve it having been taken off a dead Nazi soldier. The diagonal helmet also matches the diagonal of the bat. The battered, name carved bat is also covered in blood. With the helmet swinging from it is applies some nasty violence. 

Just by seeing the poster I think it is also safe to assume the movie is rated R and not for the faint of heart.  

As you may have guessed, I have seen this movie and it is awesome! It has an interesting story, it is beautifully filmed, has some quality violence as well as characters you can really root for. Overall the poster and the movie are amazing. 

American Pie

The poster for American Reunion is pretty awesome. It is very simple and very dynamic. It uses white space and text very well.  The simple phrase at the top breaks up white space just enough.  The diagonal and angle of the stamp like letter is perfect. A diagonal is always a wonderful way to direct the eye and create interest. The pie replacing the “0” was a very good idea. The pie references the first movie and the other movie posters. The pie is a recurring image on all the promotional work. So, although this is simple it gets the idea across and makes it obvious to the fans of the movie what the movie is without overly stating the title. The way the “2” and “12” seem stamped implies a journey because of the travel stamp like lettering. This is nice because it can be any type of journey, emotional, physical or life journey.  The angle at which the picture of the pie replacing the “0” was taken also makes the poster more intriguing. It gives the picture more depth and draws the viewer in. The poster itself references the previous movie posters with its style and imagery. It is especially referential with the pie. The pie is iconic for the movies.

 The other posters in the promotional series are set up very similar to the earlier posters. The photo itself is actually the same as the original American Pie photo. The photo is just set off center and tilted to the side. This is probably the only poster without a pie. Since it is very similar to the original it works. Just by rearranging things a little and changing the sizing the poster look new.

 

Contagion/SAFE

The treatments of a poster is another effect often employed in giving a feel to an image. In the case of the Contagion and Safe posters they both are text heavy and sport a very weathered look.  Text is very powerful. People react very strongly to it and in many cases will see text, or try to see text in abstract shapes. Words are incredibly powerful and recognizable. 

Both posters have a weathered look and feel. This mood is translated though the torn edges, seemingly crumpled dirty paper and faded rough edges. The mood is weathered, old, and struggling. It is a good feel for a movie that is apocalyptic and a movie that is about an abduction. Both posters give a rough feel and seem to reference some sort of struggle. All this is done with only text. Safe has a small image, but it does not give much information and is not the prominent image.

The safe poster is good and has similar feel and style as the Contagion poster. But, the Contagion poster is so much more intriguing. The way the word Contagion is created with the faded letters from well known important cities around the world. The horizontal vertical juxtaposition is very interesting. It visually keeps your eyes moving and emphasizes different things, the cities and the title. Then as a lovely finishing touch the bio-hazard photo at the top brings it all together. That small sign partially off the poster does so much. It sets the mood and gives most of the information. That sign tells you the importance of the listed cities and what is going on. The worlds of this image create a powerful image in the viewers mind. Being able to create such a powerful image and concept with so few words is wonderful. This poster is so powerful visually and within its implications. Working with all text is difficult, but this poster is a wonderful example of how to handle it. 

Ides of March

The Ides of March is coming out this Friday night. It stars Ryan Gosling and George Clooney. The poster for this movie is amazing. There are quite a few versions of the same poster, all of which are pretty great and work well on their own accord. The difference between them is sizing, cropping and amount of words. The image in most is the same.  All versions are incredibly creative and imply so much. This poster has mastered the art of implication.

The most important feature of these posters is how well they give a synopsis of the movie with minimal words. Most of the information is portrayed though image, font, and color. The more image driven posters give a little less information. The simple image of Ryan Gosling with half of his face matched up with the other half of George Clooney’s on a magazine says a lot. While as we all know I haven’t seen this movie but from this image you can imply a few things. We know this movie is about a presidential race. The half image being on time magazine implies that. Notice how we don’t see all of Time’s title. The title is just implied by seeing part of the word. Letting a viewers mind fill in gaps, leading them to the full picture or idea, but not giving it to them is wonderful. It makes an image or design intriguing. It makes people want to look at it more. They may not know why, but that’s it. By having the two faces and by having the other two images blurred next to the clear one say a lot as well. The two faces can imply a connection between the two. It can also imply one having influence over the other. The blurred images give unease to an otherwise clear cut image. It suggests unease, tension and something unknown. Ryan Gosling’s character may be planning something unknown, some covert mission. The title itself implies some sort of coup. Ides of March. Ides of March references the assassination of Caesar and the conspiring against him. Something will happen between the two men in the picture. Another thing we can gleam from this image is that the story will be centered a little bit more around Ryan Gosling than George Clooney. We can tell this because the image is predominantly Gosling.

The font, font size, words, and colors also imply a presidential development. The red whites and blues are indicative of the United States.  Nothing says American like red, white, and blue. The font style is also very similar if not the same as the fonts used on campaign posters. The emphasis on the stars as well as the placement also implies an American/presidential plot point. The varying sizes of the words also create interest. Everything is on the same plane and the long lines are simple and mimic those of campaign posters.  The only words I would change are the quote they used from a critic. It does not fit well with the image or say anything overly descriptive or intelligent.

All versions of this poster are wonderful. The colors are fantastic. They are Obviously American but the tints of them make it not uncomfortably blatant. The image is intriguing and keeps you looking. The title is fantastic and implies so much, just like the image. All in all, the poster is fantastic. The trailer is also very good and exciting.  I will definitely be seeing this movie!

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a popular movie made in 1961. Its air date was preceded by a few wonderful movie posters. The two I found are particularly wonderful. Both of these exhibit the proper way to use a border. In my last post I mentioned that one of the posters had terrible usage of a border. Well here are two examples of a situation where the artist used a border and it enhances and ads to the overall image and message.

In both posters the border is breached by some part of the image. A border tends to work best when the inner image breaks the barrier just a little and comes into the viewer’s space. In the first image Audrey Hepburn’s hair and arm breach the barrier along with the small image of the man and woman kissing. The perfect amount of image is hanging over the border, just enough to bring it to the foreground. By breaking up the border the picture is more noticeable.

Another bold move the designer made was by using primary colors for the color scheme.  Normally this is bold, childish and distracts from the overall design. But in this poster it works very well. The simplicity of the image works well with the colors. They are used in small amounts and in the coloring is not the true hue. The colors are the tints of the hue. That softens their impact and lets them seem less “primary.”  Another good use of the colors is how they place Audrey Hepburn near the red and yellow boarder in her black dress. It makes her stand out and because of her black dress black dress your eye is drawn to the words and her name. Since the red and dark pink are in the same color family the pink makes the title also well noticed. The other image on the photo which is drawn in grays sits near the blue border. That keeps it muted a little. Making it noticeable but not having it stand out more that Audrey Hepburn’s image.

In the second poster the same color scheme and color similarities and emphasis trick are employed. The bolder close up image of Audrey Hepburn is stunning. Her hair brings out her name and the lines created by her line of sight and the line of her cigarette draw the viewers eye to the side and up to the title and name at the top. The way the eyes go toward the edge and down the cigarette to the boarder. Where the lines of the border and the cigarette interest it creates a strong line. The way in which your eyes travel up to the small image, and then to the words is dynamic. Implied line is one of the most dynamic elements you can use in a design. It draws your eye all around and emphasizes certain things. It is what makes images interesting and intriguing and makes you want to look at them.

Both posters are fantastic. The implied line and the smoothness of the poster and the use of white space is wonderful. There is so much white space in this picture and every inch of it works well. It does not distract and completely enhances the words, figure of Audrey Hepburn and the smaller image of her and the man. The contrast in size of the image is also dynamic. It emphasizes Audrey Hepburn, as it should.

This poster works stands out because it employs a few design elements that would normally be things to avoid in design. They use them and use them well. They employ them in a very effective eye catching way.

Footloose

   If the movie posters for the Footloose remake are anything like the movie than it appears it's going to be  terrible with maybe one or two redeeming features. I've only seen the older version of the movie and actually wasn't a fan, but the dance numbers were very fun even though the story line is lacking.

   Let’s start with the old poster. It is a very unflattering poster. Yes there is movement, and some emotion that can sort of be seen on his face. But a picture where your butt is the prominent object is never a good thing. Your eye is drawn to the white of his shirt and down the back. This is a good example of why it is important to be careful when using light colors. They are generally very very obvious and catch your eye almost immediately. With this photo especially the way it is shot and colored white plays an important role visually. With the particular angle of this photo your eye is first drawn down so back of his shirt down to the bottom of the page. You want the eye to move up to the title, but it does not. The border is also useless. It separates the picture from the movie information. It separates it too much so much to the point where it isn’t even noticeable. The good thing about this poster is the font for the title is very appealing and goes well with the word. The title, Footloose, is written in a loose, flowy, jaunty font. It suits the movie well. The image also tells you very little about the movie. The man in the photo is dancing. It appears to at least involve music and dancing and the tagline says a lot about a main character.

   This poster could be improved very easily. All it would really take is to retake the photo and just rotate the dancing man so he is facing the camera just a little bit more. That way the focus would be on his face, his movement and emotion. I would also make the tagline shorter or get rid of it all together along with the border. The border if necessary could stay if it were smaller and a different color. This poster is close to good and just a few minor changes could have make it great

   The new poster I believe is worse than the old. It looks too much like an ad. The wonderful thing about movie posters is that they are ads without the ad look. They sell you something but in good ones you are completely unaware, only excited for a new visual treat. This poster is probably the best of the set but is still awful. The one good idea they had with this poster is that they did a set of footloose posters with in a series sort of like an ad campaign. Unfortunately all the photos like the one shown above are not very good in content or quality. They squandered and intelligent movie poster campaign idea. The benefits to this are that it keeps the movie goers continually interested in the poster and intern the movie. The images themselves are unclear and tell us nothing about the movie. It seems the focus unlike of the movie unlike the old is not on the dancing, but I may be wrong it is just what the poster conveys.

    The nice things about the poster include the focus on the emotion and the “cutloose” written down the side. It gives it some visual interest. This photo in particular has a nice diagonal with the girl’s outstretched arm. At least with the new poster you get a sense of the characters personality. The posters also do seem to imply that the movie will be a little more of a drama. Not a comedy or an action. The old poster had little more of a lively feel to it than the new ones. Based on that information it seems the feel of the new movie may also be different. 

  I'm not sure there is a way to fix the new posters. I would keep the "cutloose" campaign idea since it is catchy and focus more on the movement since it seems that is what people want to see. The appeal of this movie is not the story line or really even the characters but their actions and movement (or dancing). I would stick with the images closer to the old poster, but make them more dynamic and throw in one or two other images that were not of dancing or movement. Bellow are two images/posters I found for the more recent footloose that are very nice but for whatever reason not commonly used. 

   Both of these are very visually dynamic. The one of the dancer is compelling. It makes the viewer want to do something, dance or maybe even to go see the movie. The second shows a different side to the movie or more personal character image and is still dynamic. Something needs to be done about the words but the simple layout and the simple relaxed pose of the man on the car is intriguing. I don't know why these posters are not used more. They are way more compelling and infinitely better than the others.