POSTERS
Watch: Great Examination of the Deteriorating Quality of Movie Posters
by Ethan Anderton
January 6, 2014
Source: GoodBadFlick
While movie posters are primarily used to hype up and promote forthcoming films, we're big fans of those that actually put effort into standing out as great pieces of art (check out my picks for the Best Official Movie Posters of 2013 here), as opposed to just sloppy movie marketing chock full of famous faces and lazy Photoshop work. However, those kind of movie posters are becoming increasingly hard to come by, and the folks at GoodBadFlicks have decided to take a look at why movie posters are mostly pretty terrible now. They thoughtfully look back at some great movie posters from the past and just how pitiful many are today.
Here's the video from GoodBadFlick (via SlashFilm) about today's bad movie posters:
As you can see they dive into the idea of contrasting orange and blue on countless movie posters, and also the endless movie poster trends that just haven't stopped popping up for years now. From floating heads, to kissing on the beach, it's a barrage of crap. The best explanation for this lack of creativity and effort seems to be the little marketing money spent on poster art, rather than all the trailers and TV spots. Unfortunately, the solution isn't as simple as money since the creativity from those paid to make posters seems to be waning anyway. Maybe Mondo and other artists should be given the chance to make worthwhile posters.
23 Comments
1
The entire industry needs reform. I suspect that we will look back on this past and upcoming decade or so of filmmaking with great distaste someday.
Zen on Jan 6, 2014
3
A Chinese diplomat once told me of a formula hidden amongst the colors in the posters. To the keen observer yes they may been simple teal and orange, but beneath all colors are a pattern that draw the eye and trick the mind into believing it is seeing something new, something wonderful. Its not till you see the next trick hollywood has put onto the paper till you realize that you hate your former lover. The cycle will never cease, for they have trapped all of us, i am in love with it now. Thank you for the blessed movie poster!
Sky on Jan 7, 2014
4
Well done
PillowPantz on Jan 6, 2014
5
Actually, I do need It's A Wonderful Life 2. WTF happened to Zuzu?
Nielsen700 on Jan 6, 2014
6
They should just put up commissions on Deviant Art and Reddit and wait for the top vote getters.
DAVIDPD on Jan 6, 2014
7
It seems the deadlines on these are crazy though David, last minute things that are sent out. It could be possible, but I'm not sure the film companies would pay that well to artists on Deviant Art. I'm not sure they pay well anyway. 🙂
Carpola on Jan 7, 2014
8
Very well done. I agree 100%.
Cal J. on Jan 6, 2014
9
I thought Unstoppable and Star Trek Into Darkness posters were alright.
Anonymous on Jan 7, 2014
10
It's because there aren't any true artists in the industry anymore. The industry is overflowing with people at the moment seeing as technology has made more accessible for everyone to become a so called "Graphic Design Artist". Great poster artists of the likes of Bill Gold and Saul Bass are rare these days.
TK on Jan 7, 2014
11
You're wrong. Being in the "Industry" myself, I can say with confidence that there is an abundance of talented original artist working on all of your favorite and probably least favorite movies. But, we don't call the shots. Like any other job, we get paid to do something that isn't ours. Whether it's terrible or amazing, the ultimate end product isn't our vision. But it's our job to execute it to the best of our ability. So you may have a huge team of talented concept artist, modelers, lighters, animators, vfx, compositors, poster arts, etc working on a film, but if the producer and director's vision suck, then that's not on the team who made it but the ones calling the shots.
Roderick on Jan 7, 2014
12
I do agree with what you say. I guess what I was trying to say is that there are a lot of people in it now just trying to make a buck and undercutting each other in costs and so on. Very similar to the VFX industry as well. That gives producers and directors a lot more power to bend people around. Need more artists to work together to stand up and say hey we know what we are doing...let us take care of it. Sounds like there just isn't any trust in it anymore.
TK on Jan 7, 2014
13
We've all been saying this on here for years, but I'm trying to be positive this year so won't moan so much.
Carpola on Jan 7, 2014
14
I disagree. If you look at indies (in particular) there were some fantastic posters this year. Taken as a whole I'm sure every decade/year/whatever had bad posters, but of course you'd only want to remember the good ones.
DavideCoppola on Jan 7, 2014
15
Years ago, I made a movie and had to choose cover art for the DVD cover. I had someone draw up a classic 80s style poster. The distributor opted for bad-res stills from the movie as their cover art. Can't fight it sometimes.
Michael Field on Jan 7, 2014
16
ATTENTION FIRSTSHOWING VIEWERS! Lets all work together and red flag this spam garbage from this credible site we all enjoy and love.
Rock n Rollllll on Jan 7, 2014
17
ATTENTION FIRSTSHOWING VIEWERS! Lets all work together and red flag this spam garbage from this credible site we all enjoy and love posted by JENNIFER BAZEMORE
Rock n Rollllll on Jan 7, 2014
18
Its really Disqus' issue to combat. And I'd rather see one or two of those a week (I don't see nearly that) than have them tighten up commenting like Gawker did, where everything needs to be approved because people were complaining about rare spam messages that are easily hidden.
OfficialJab on Jan 7, 2014
19
Yeah i know its their job but they'll catch it and get it rid of it sooner if we take the time to red flag it. I hate to see that garbage try and tarnish a good site like this one.
Rock n Rollllll on Jan 7, 2014
20
But what about her best friend's mother who makes all that money??
TheOct8pus on Jan 7, 2014
21
lol. yeah im sure her best friends, mothers, cousins, former roommate does well too.
Rock n Rollllll on Jan 7, 2014
22
23
So true....Hollywood loves to get by on mediocrity these days...
TheOct8pus on Jan 7, 2014
24
Wow. This was SO awesome!
RobotProphet on Jan 16, 2014
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