Category Archives: Movie Posters

The Reel Deal Goes to Cannes Update #2: This is Just a Taste

Inside the Lumiere Theater. Apologies for “Britta’ing” this photo.

Well, the Festival officially begins tomorrow, but today, I got a good taste of what I will be taking in for the next two weeks.

I saw it all in the Palais, which is pretty accurately nicknamed “The Death Star.” It is an expansive place which has just about every theater where movies are shown. Most notably is the Lumiere theater, which puts every American multiplex to shame. The Lumiere is where the opening night screenings happen, and the stars walk the red carpet. It is where tomorrow night, “Moonrise Kingdom” will open the Festival.

What movies I will see, and when, is still a mystery. The beauty of film festivals lie in the unpredictability. You could be going to a screening one minute, and then end up in someone’s yacht party the next.

Even though the Festival has yet to begin, new things are to be learned just by looking around and listening. Perhaps the highlight of my day (I am still in awe from it all) was the hall of foreign movie posters lining the Palais. I would like to share a few of the highlights:

This is for an Indian movie. I’m not sure if the title is “House 2 Full” or “House Full 2.” If so, I still have no idea what this movie is about, and if it is either a Tyler Perry rip-off, or an Indian version of “Full House.” Either way, when does John Stamos show up?

On display here are two equally fascinating displays of poster art. The one to the left is “American Hangover,” which looks like some kind of “Scary Movie” type movie. It stars Joey Fatone. Fatone is known by some as a member of NSYNC, by others as an actor in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” and by everyone as that guy who stopped being famous. The poster on the right is for a movie called “Bro” which stars Danny Trejo. I mention this movie both because Danny Trejo is awesome and because I am afraid he will track down and kill me if I don’t mention it.

Without seeing a single movie yet, I have already discovered some of the great mysteries of Cannes. And there are still more to come. Here is a set of goals I have for the rest of the Festival. Some of these goals may be hard to meet, but as a wiser man than myself (MacGruber) once said, “never ever say never ever.” (List after the jump)

Get into an opening night movie and walk the red carpet
If I don’t get a ticket to a red carpet showing, show up anyway wearing a tux.
Witness Sacha Baron Cohen pull of a “Dictator”-inspired publicity stunt.
Shake Wes Anderson’s hand.
Bring Harvey Weinstein coffee (even though I’m not his intern).
Watch the James Bond movies and “Jaws” on the beach.
Meet Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, or Natalie Portman.
Make a major acquisition deal.
Pitch a movie idea to a studio. Preferably “Crash 2: Crash Harder.”

Minimalism: The New Way to Market a Movie

1 Reply

Today, I want to talk not about a movie, but about a poster. Well actually, many posters.

The art form known as Minimalism has become a phenomenon on the interweb. It’s not new; artists have been using it for years. However, it’s been given a new use: movie posters.

The idea behind Minimalism is to create a work of art that takes a concept and strips it down to its most basic form. When something is stripped down to its most basic element, there is something strangely deeper that can be found in it. It would basically be saying so much by showing so little.

Some of the posters make a lot of sense. A lot of them involve a great knowledge of the film involved to truly understand. Take for example, one poster for “Inception.” It simply shows an outline of four of the main characters’ faces and their totem placed inside each of them. It is simple and effective. It also shows how each totem is psychologically linked to each character, objects of how their brains work.

Others are confusing, yet portray something so important to the movie. One of my favorites is the one for “The Deer Hunter.” It shows six circles. Five are empty, and one is shaded red. Even people who love the movie will be confused at first. Think. Think very hard. Yes, it is portraying a gun with one bullet in it, loaded for Russian Roulette. With this image, such a deep and complex film is boiled down to its most basic, yet most important idea. Who needs an image of helicopters flying through Vietnam when you can just have a picture of the barrel of a gun?

There are others in the spirit of the “Inception” poster. The “Blade Runner” poster has no epic image of futuristic Los Angeles. All it has is that little origami unicorn. The poster for “Inglourious Basterds” shows two hands holding up three fingers in different ways. It’s the German three and the English three. It’s yet another small detail that made a very big difference in this movie.

Some posters are even more thought provoking and even more creative. The pattern on “The Shining” poster is the carpeting of The Overlook Hotel. The “Titanic” poster is not just a white triangle, it’s that deadly iceberg. Some add on to certain movies as well. “The Godfather” poster shows the rest of the horse’s body without the head. That is, if you really wanted to know what a headless horse looked like.

At the moment, Minimalist posters are fan art. They are made by and for people who truly appreciate movies. Yet, I feel like this new art form has a bigger potential. Why not actually use Minimalist posters to market movies? They’re better and more original than most of the generic crap passed off as posters nowadays. As a marketing tool, movie posters should draw people into a movie with a curiosity factor. If someone sees a “Kill Bill” poster with nothing but footsteps, they might wonder, where do those footsteps lead?

But posters shouldn’t just be for marketing. A movie poster should serve the same purpose as an album cover. They should converse with the art, and emphasize a central purpose behind it. A poster of the incredible futuristic Los Angeles from “Blade Runner” might draw more attention, but that unicorn is much more important to the story. You could compare that to the cover of “London Calling.” It could’ve just been an image of London being caught in the middle of the apocalypse. While the simple image of Joe Strummer smashing a guitar may seem out of place, it’s really there to show the raw, unbridled power of true rock and roll that the album is partially a metaphor for.

That simple image of a mythical creature, or the inside of a gun are not the first things you’d expect to see on a good movie poster. But like that album cover, they show the strange, mesmerizing magic of truly amazing cinema. The poster is meant to encapsulate an entire film in one image. In so simple an image, so much more can be said.

I couldn’t find the “Inception” poster I was referring to earlier, but here is another cool one.