Discuss Classic Film Posters Essay

Introduction Movie posters today are considered collectibles and rare ones fetch high prices. Great movie posters are hard to find. Historically, most posters are cut and paste jobs that do not sell the movie very well while a great poster could intrigue, shock, inspire as well as excite.   To create sensation and convince viewers, it should be aesthetically beautiful or original as well memorable that a single glance will make the viewer go inside the theatre to watch. According to Kinross (1991), graphic design is the activity that evolved out of what has been known as ‘commercial art’ closely linked to advertising, drawn or painted illustration. The graphic designer is generally acknowledged among themselves as professional designers who are able to work across a range of fields with different media including companies and corporate bodies, book or magazine publishing, exhibition design, signing and architectural graphics, television graphics, posters, among others. Hollis acknowledged that up to the Second World War, artists who are either painters or sculptors such as Kurt Schwitters, Willi Baumeister, and Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart. He also added that there had been a crisis in design as computerized designers go off in one direction led by Basel-Wolfgang Weingart and commercially developed by April Greiman and the New Wave of Americans (Kinross, 1991). â€Å"It was something to do with graphic and typographic freedom and with making new images, presenting information as a decorative style†¦ emerged from the new technology of the computer,† Hollis said (Kinross, 1991, p 75). Hollis also believed then that the graphic designer does not control the content of what he or she is designing. He also observed that in postmodernism, there is a large element of eclecticism that borrow past styles and apply them such as what Bruno Mongunzzi, a classic modern typographer and an intelligent designer who is â€Å"not highly original †¦ [with the] notion of â€Å"I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good,† (p 75). Hollis delineated art as pre aesthetic information while graphics is information which could inevitably become aesthetic. Hollis and Kinross agree that â€Å"graphic design is modernism in the graphic field†¦ the conjunction of image and text† (p 76) of which Hollis emphasized the importance of the relationship between image and text. Lithography (from 1800) was credited to allow joining of image and text laboriously by hand. Likewise, aside from text and image, there was also the conjunction of image and image where photography provided raw material for montage such as John Heartfield’s, and by making surrealism possible — images which appeared to be machine-made. Photography was considered as the central generator of graphic design of the modern movement citing the Volkswagen advertisement in particular (Kinross, 1991). Design as also closely linked, if not overlapped with advertising starting the 1960s. Hollis proposed that it was difficult to separate graphics from marketing which is, â€Å"a distinctly bourgeois activity, which has occasionally, probably through pop music, had connections with some sort of mass culture,† (Kinross, 1991, p 79-80). This paper shall try to discuss the organization, design, use of colour, spatial layout, and lettering in the movie posters: The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, The Magnificent Seven, and The Great Escape with the above premise. Discussion: The Bridge on the River Kwai. Design This poster uses period book-type design with an obvious elongated presentation. The type spacing or leading is not controlled and seem to take up much space to provide cramped texts that followed, including the movie title. It also uses illustrations in layered format from the smallest image below, a bigger image above it, and the biggest one showing up close in action the lead character. In fact, the rectangle below the introductory four-line texts seem to be a book cover superimposed on the lower small image with the matching text so that the poster seem to have used a book cover itself. Color The use of color is impressive as the classic eye-catching combination of yellow and red are used. A little of blue text complemented the overall mix of colors. Spatial Lay-out As mentioned earlier, there seem to be a followed desire to use a book cover format with introductory catch lines above and supporting details just below the book cover image. The concept, although longer than the usual movie poster, is impressive. Lettering Type fonts were already used in this print but the title â€Å"The Bridge on the River Kwai† is definitely hand-executed in bold, uneven manner which is very prominent. The Guns of Navarone. Design This one uses comics-type illustration and classic poster size to present strong images of the lead characters and the sea. Already, the use of the classic movie poster lay-out is laid and presented making this one in hand-lettering and cut and paste rendition one for the books. Color The use of the yellow/brown and red combination is another notable characteristic of this movie poster. It is catchy with a huge single image in symmetrical balance with the lead credits. However, its catch line superimposed on the image is not very noticeable or striking. Lettering The Guns of Navarone is also hand-executed with uneven yet type-cast style showing ethnic influence in the design and lettering. The bigger presentation of the lead character names overshadow the movie title, showing that the characters are more saleable than the story plot. Or that each could help sell the other. A witty approach towards commercialism. Spatial Lay-out The use of space and overall design of the poster is pleasing and symmetrical. It is also-well-balanced and does not stray the attention away from it. The Magnificent Seven. Design The Magnificent Seven uses the number image as its main design structure showcasing the face of the lead characters. It has a convincing approach to the use of graphics and confining images in a relevant manner so as to emphasize the number. Color Once again, the colors red and yellow are very evident in this poster although the gray, black and white images of the faces and heads confined within the number add a balance that mutes the overwhelming yellow. The use of the neutrals or muted hues is very rational as use of human flesh colors could drown the effect red and yellow provide. However, additional color on the images below the number 7 could have provided more impact, intrigue and variety. Spatial Lay out The lay-out is quite crampy within the confines of the number 7, with much waste on the sides of each space. The limitation could have been the effect of printing graphics at that time. Use of machine is already evident at this poster and the font sizes and the wasted spaces provide a glimpse of experimentation being used. Lettering A combination of hand-executed lettering and machine type, this one shows the limitation of graphic design during the period. The Great Escape. Design Considered the quad poster, this one uses horizontal design to present the entire poster. The balance is achieved through the placement of small catch line on the left and the title and image on the center-right. Color The use of basic red and blue is very effective as black balances the off-white color of the reversed title in big fat fonts. Spatial lay out There is also the experimentation of text size in this poster. While balance is being achieved, there is also the wastage of some space where the catch line could have gained advantage. However, since commercial design was in its adolescent stage, this is forgivable. Lettering Machine seems to be the evident executor at this poster. Every letter size and type are uniformed and the limited use of space made it more obvious. Conclusion The period when photographs are hardly used, comic and book art illustrations were used in movie posters. These posters achieved classic popularity and acceptance due to use of what are typically accepted design concepts at that time; use of basic colors red, yellow and blue which appear striking against one another at the same time catchy in the commercial sense, attainment of balance and symmetry by not tilting the meter of text and photos to only a single side, or plain use of centering. The lay-out and ettering are evidently limited due to time and resources restrictions. However, in a period when posters were used as announcements and not exactly collectible graphic arts, these are acceptable norms for movie posters. Current trends, however, may provide new design concepts that may or may not be considered acceptable in any other given period. Design mutates, and popular taste is conditioned, influenced, as well as acquired. So does design and movie posters. Reference: Kinross, Robin (1992). â€Å"Conversation with Richard Hollis on Graphic Design History.†Ã‚   Journal of Design History 5 (3) 73-93. Hershenson, Bruce (1998). â€Å"A History of Movie Posters.† Reel Classics.