As part of a class I’m taking called “writing for online media” I’ve set up yet another blog.

I decided to write a blog that talks about movies with a focus on movie previews. Rather than make my readers wait for a movie to be released in the theater to do a review, I plan to judge movies based on the quality of their trailer. Why wait for Roger Ebert and the billions of wannabe film critics on the web to do a review when I can critique the film before it is even released?

So please go check out my new blog: I’ll be in my Trailer

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Topics: Movies, School

I am a terrible blogger. The previous post reminded me that I had started a series of posts on the history of sci-fi and horror movie posters. The posts were all taken from a term paper I had written on the subject. Looking back I see that I only got about half way through converting the text into blog posts. Once again, I am a terrible blogger.

Rather than try to squeeze another 4 or 5 posts out of this, I’m repenting by posting the entire PDF, here.

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Topics: Abominable Plakatstil, Movie Posters, Movies, School

I have been taking “introduction to contemporary cinema” online this semester to fulfill one of my required “humanities” credits. I love film and figured this would be an easy credit. I also thought I might be lucky enough to get some food for my content starved blog out of the experience. Unfortunately I found most of my essays a bit too much on the academic side to make good blog fodder.

The final assignment, however, was a little different. It required us to select 2 films, one we enjoyed and one we did not enjoy. For each film we then had to find 2 reviews to summarize and critique. Since being opinionated is one of my many pastimes, I found this quite enjoyable.

Film I enjoyed: The Mist
Review 1:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/REVIEWS/711200306/1023

Ebert starts his review by decrying The Mist as a formula horror film. He offers a synopsis of the film then starts to complain about what he perceives as clichés and the lack of impressive effects sequences. He refers to the film as a “Horrible Things Pouncing on People Movie.” Finally Ebert paints The Mist as an unworthy entry into the library of director Frank Darabont, indicating that it did not match the quality of the director’s previous Stephen King films, Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

My Response:
Ebert clearly missed the point of The Mist. He looks at the mist as a convenient device for saving on a special effects budget. While it is true that the ubiquitous fog may have made the CGI a lot easier to accomplish, the reality is that horror films are almost always scarier when the monster remains just on the edge of our vision. Compare a film like Deep Blue See with a film like Jaws and you can see how well this principle works. He also misses the fact that it is not the “Horrible Things Pouncing” that provide the real horror of this film. Mrs. Carmody and the band of zealots she recruits to her cause are the real monsters in The Mist, not the creepy crawlies lurking outside the store. Finally, The Mist is horror film. To compare it with Shawshank and Green Mile is simply unfair and meaningless.

Review 2:
http://www.reelviews.net/movies/m/mist.html

James Berardinelli starts his review by explaining the virtues of The Mist as a horror movie. He explains that the film is less about monsters than it is about people. After a synopsis of the story Berardinelli critiques the special effects, which he sees as “both a strength and a weakness.” He points out that the monsters are more effective when they are obscured by the mist than when they come into full view. He mentions that one of the most compelling aspects of the film is one of the director’s strengths: atmosphere. His main criticism with the film surrounds the exposition over the source of the mist, which he feels would have been better left to the imagination.

My Response:
I think Beradinelli’s assessment of The Mist is a fair one. His review shows a basic understanding of how films of this type work. I agree with his statements about over explanation. Just as it is with special effects, less is often more. Fortunately The Mist did not dwell extensively on exposition. Lastly I have to agree with his sentiments about atmosphere. A good horror film must create a sense of atmosphere, and The Mist does just that.

Film I did not enjoy: Eraserhead
Review 1:
http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/e/eraserhead.shtml

Bill Gibron starts off this review by suggesting the reader ask Santa for a copy of Eraserhead on DVD for Christmas. He then goes on to offer a brief synopsis of the film followed by an attempt at interpretation. He mentions the fact that David Lynch worked on the film for more than 5 years and references the director’s comments about the failure of any critic to properly interpret the film. Gibron then examines a few possible interpretations of the film. The review closes by claiming the film is proof positive of Lynch’s filmmaking skills.

My response:
Gibron, along with many other reviewers, gives Eraserhead high marks for its visual impact and “atmosphere.” While I can agree that the film has atmosphere, I find nothing else to recommend it. Atmosphere is only one component of a good film. There are many other films that achieve that component with as much skill if not more than does Eraserhead. Alien, The Thing (1982), Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) are just a few examples. Each achieves atmosphere and all are more watchable than most David Lynch films.

Review 2:
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/eraser.html

James O’Ehley’s review begins by highlighting the confusing nature of Eraserhead. The reviewer openly states that he does not know if the film is “any good.” He then gives a very brief synopsis, indicating that there isn’t much plot to outline. O’Ehley describes Eraserhead as a bizarre and confusing nightmare turned into a film. His final advice: The film is worth seeing if you enjoy Lynch’s other work but not otherwise.

My response:
I think O’Ehley’s advice in this review is quite prudent. Eraserhead appeals to some people but it certainly is not for everyone. I have to agree with the reviewers feelings of confusion and his final opinion that “it was an infuriating and willfully ambiguous experience.” My biggest problem with Eraserhead is that it is impossible to understand. I don’t just mean that it’s too high minded for the average film fan, I mean it’s too high minded for ANYONE. The director himself has never seen anyone else correctly interpret the film. Congratulation Mr. Lynch, you’ve made a film that is completely incapable of communicating your message. You might as well write a book in an entirely made up language. Just throw in some creepy illustrations, call it a work of art and everyone will think you’re brilliant.

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Topics: Movies, School

The Incredible Shrinking Artist
Hollywood studios seem to have a habit of disrespecting talent, at least until someone shows them how much money the talent can make them. Long after Hollywood realized the potential drawing power of their stars, they continued to treat their poster artists like beasts of burden. In his book The Art of Noir, Eddie Muller writes:

Figure 10: Vertigo (1958) – Saul Bass employs a dizzying spiral design to evoke the feeling described by the title.

As the business boomed, a more factory-like efficiency was imposed on the product—and the “paper.” The growth of suburbia, with its thousands of new theaters, the demand for more movies, and the strident clamor for attention in an increasingly competitive marketplace conspired to transform poster art. In the 1940s, studio publicity departments became sweat-shops. Most postwar paper—especially for B-films—was created by anonymous artists who held no copyright or claim of authorship once their work was shipped to the printer. (Muller 10)

Poster artists really began to gain respect in the 50’s. The director Otto Preminger was a pioneer of the scorched earth style marketing campaign that is common place today. Preminger helped bring fame to Saul Bass when he hired the designer to work on the posters and an animated title sequence for The Man with the Golden Arm in 1955. (King 6-7) Bass ushered in a new era of film credits, moving away the dull, stationary lettering of the past. (Rennie)

Bass would go on to become a legend in the world of movie posters, working with horror/suspense master Alfred Hitchcock. Among other’s, Bass’s partnership with Hitchcock produced the famous poster for Vertigo. (See figure 10)

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Topics: Abominable Plakatstil, Movie Posters, Movies, School

Figure 8: I Walked With a Zombie (1943) – A solitary eye leers out from behind an outreaching hand.

Figure 9: Top: The Shining (1980) – Jack Nicholson’s eyes show menace, while Shelly Duvall’s show horror. Bottom: 28-Weeks Later (2007) – The eyes are the clear focal point of this poster.

Figure 6: Top: Frankenstein (1931) Bottom Left: Dracula (1931) Bottom Right: The Mummy (1932) – All 3 films were released by Universal, which might explain the striking similarities in these posters. Though they were once relegated to the B-list, the actors from these films have become almost as iconic as the villains they portrayed.

Figure 7: King Kong (1933) – Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933 – The yellow lettering of the title overlaps the blue building on which Kong is perched. Blues and yellows were quite prevalent in 30’s film posters.

Posters of the Night

Science fiction and horror didn’t really come to Hollywood until the 1930’s. Classic movie monster films like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy were among the first. (See figure 6) These favored the use of large yellow or red type, often arched, for the title. You see a similar effect with the type on the poster for King Kong. (See figure 7)

The Posters Have Eyes

During the 40’s we start to see early examples of a trend Carol J. Clover refers to as “The Eye of Horror.” In her book Men Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover writes:

Eyes are everywhere in horror cinema. In titles: The Eyes of Laura Mars, Eyes of a Stranger, The Hills Have Eyes, The Eye Creature, Terrorvision, Scanners, White of the Eye, Don’t Look Now, Crawling Eye, Eyes of Hell, Headless Eyes, and so forth. Or on posters, videocassette box covers, and other promotional materials, where wide-open eyes staring up in terror (for example) at a poised knife or a naked face or something off-box or off-poster are part of the standard iconography. (166)

We see this somewhat with the posters for Frankenstein and Dracula, but more so in the 40’s with the posters for films like I Walked with a Zombie. (See figure 8)
This trend has continued all the way to the present day, as we can see from the posters for the Shining and 28 Weeks Later.(See figure 9)

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Topics: Abominable Plakatstil, Movie Posters, Movies, School

Figure 3: Birth of a Nation posters (1915) – Birth of a Nation was one of the first films to be promoted with multiple poster designs.

Mister DeMille, I’m Ready for my Poster
D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. de Mille were two of the earliest directors to make feature length films. In her book, A Century of Movie Posters: From Silent to Art House, Emily King writes:

Longer films such as those produced by Griffith and DeMille require higher budgets and must be justified by greater box-office returns. These epics were heavily promoted, by early 20th-century standards, and the development of the feature film went hand in hand with that of the film poster. (21)

Figure 4: From left to right: Alien Resurrection (1997), I Know What you Did Last Summer (1997), Seven (1995) – Even the horror genre isn’t immune to the floating head poster phenomena.

Big money meant big advertising campaigns. Films started enjoying promotion from more than one poster design. (See figure 3) Throughout the history of film, increasing budgets continually impact the production of posters.

The Floating Head Poster

Figure 5: Metropolis (1927) – Heinz Schulz-Neudamm’s poster for Metropolis is iconic.

One of the earliest trends to form in film posters involves the dominant presence of actors and actresses. By the mid 1910’s film studios began to realize the power of the Movie Star. (Learn About Movie Posters) Posters began to showcase big name actors and actresses. Not only do the images get bigger but so do the type sizes of the names. Horror movies are often considered pure B-list affairs, but even in this genre we will see the rise of “big names” such as Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

Perhaps the unfortunate result of the rises of the Hollywood star is what some call the Floating Head film poster. These are posters in which the entire composition is dominated by giant headshots of the film’s stars. (See figure 4) This trend was lampooned on the web site FunnyOrDie.com

The Roaring 20’s

During the 20’s movies grew into a real industry. In 1919 The National Screen Service was founded. This institution would later play a major role in the production of movie posters. The NSS was like the Gestapo of movie promotion for roughly 40 years, starting in the 1940’s. (Learn About Movie Posters) The 20’s gave birth to the first major film studios, most of which are still with us today, including Warner Brothers, Paramount, and MGM (Dirks) Last but not least, the 20’s gave us The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie”. (Jolson.org) With movies becoming such big business, the studios spent even more money on poster art.

One of the last silent films of note was released the same year as The Jazz Singer. Metropolis is considered one of the most influential films in the Science Fiction genre, and its poster is one of the most recognizable ever made. (See figure 5)

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Topics: Abominable Plakatstil, Movie Posters, Movies, School

Figure 1: L’Arroseur Arrose (1885) – This poster focuses more on the experience of watching a film, rather than the film itself.

I recently turned in a research paper about science fiction and horror movie posters for my History of Graphic Design class. Not only did I get an A on the assignment, but the teacher asked if he could use it as the model paper for future classes. (Of course I said yes!)

I want to share, but 3000 words is a bit much for one post. So I’ll be splitting it up into a series of posts, starting with this one:

Introduction: Two Designs Enter, One Design Leaves

If you tossed all known forms of graphic design into the Thunderdome, and sat down with a tub of popcorn to watch them fight it out, movie poster design would have a good chance of emerging at the end, covered in the blood of its enemies. Of course, it would depend largely on what criteria were used to determine the winner.

The movie poster would have a huge advantage, were you to judge such a contest on public adoration. People love movie posters. They represent the dream of any marketer: advertising so effective that people yearn not just to look upon it, but to display it for others to see, and are even willing to pay for the right to do so.

Were you to judge such a contest on importance to an advertising campaign, the movie poster would be a fierce competitor against the mighty logo. Similar to a logo, the poster is the lynchpin of a film’s advertising machine.

The Birth of an Art Form

“Even though everybody hates the Americans, they’re still watching American movies.”
-Roland Emmerich

Figure 2: Trip to the Moon (1902) – This might just be the first “floating head” poster. More on this later.

My discussion will revolve mostly around American movie posters, specifically those of the science fiction and horror genres. Cinema may have been born in France, but by the 1920’s it had grown up and moved to California. (Sklar 4) This is not to say that Europe ceased making movies, but that Hollywood has long been the nexus of the film universe.

By examining the trends of science fiction and horror movie posters throughout the years we can use those genres as a lens to look at movie poster design as a whole. As a basic foundation, a brief history of movie posters in general, as well as cinema it self, is in order.

Jules Cheret, famed pioneer of posters, gave birth to the movie poster with an 1890 lithograph advertising the short film Projections Artistiques. (Learn About Movie Posters) The films from this period more closely resemble today’s home movie than the blockbusters on the big screen. The art form was so new that people were entertained just by watching a picture move. The posters for such films reflected this. (See figure 1)

The novelty of watching moving pictures for the sake of seeing pictures move faded, and before long films began to tell stories. In the early 1900’s, a magician by the name of Georges Melies saw the potential for trickery in the new medium and developed the first special effects. (Encarta) His innovations gave birth to narrative filmmaking. His Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) is an icon of the birth of the modern film, and is regarded as the first Science Fiction movie. (Dirks) The poster for this film represents the film rather than the theater going experience. (See figure 2)

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Topics: Abominable Plakatstil, Movie Posters, Movies, School

For a film featuring Robert Downy Jr. in black face, you’d think it might be the NAACP who’s got their broccoli steamed over Tropic Thunder. That’s not the case. At least not yet. No, this time it’s advocates for the mentally handicapped who are calling for a boycott. Apparently sections of the movie use the word “retard” and make fun of the mentally challenged.

The head of the American Association of Disabled Persons was quoted as saying, “I understand the studio, director and writers were trying to be over-the-top, but in doing so around the use of the word retard, they really crossed the line…My biggest fear is high school boys will see this thing and think its cool to use this word and play with it the way it’s played with in the movie.” Sorry buddy, I think you’re a little late. Like it or not, I’m pretty sure school boys already have their share of fun with offensive words.

What I find ironic is that boycotts just don’t work anymore. They might have been effective when used during the civil rights movement, but that was a real cause, with real support. Boycotting an organization for blatant discrimination is one thing. Boycotting a movie because it offends you is just silly.

Whether or not you find such humor offensive is irrelevant. A large, organized boycott may convince a significant number of people to avoid a film. What’s more likely is that it will drum up a lot of free publicity, as I believe is the case with Tropic Thunder.

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Topics: Movies

Hancock
I’m just plain tired of Will Smith.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Another sequel in the Mummy Franchise? Really? There was more to the “story” than they could cover in the first 2? Are you serious?

Swing Vote
Sorry, the premise here is just too weak. The outcome of a presidential election comes to ride on the vote of one average schmo? Sorry, but I think we all know that questionable elections are decided by lawyers.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
I think this one is obvious. I never saw the first one, so I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to grasp the complex plot points of the sequel.

Disaster Movie
When I was a teenager, I thought Spaceballs was one of the greatest movies ever made. I was also a fan of the Naked Gun films, Airplane, and Hot Shots. I enjoy a good spoof. In my estimation, the Hot Shots movies were the last good film spoofs. I even have to admit to enjoying the first 2 Scary Movie films.

Unfortunately, those 2 films ushered in a string of the worst parody movies ever: Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and now Disaster Movie. I cringe every time I see a preview for another one of these so-called movies.

These “spoofs” are so vapid they can’t even stick to parodying their chosen genre. According to the Disaster Movie website, the film is “taking aim at everything and everyone, from ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Iron Man’ to Amy Winehouse and High School Musical.” Look at the movie posters and you’ll see they also take aim at The Hulk, Hellboy, Batman, Ironman, Kung Fu Panda, and even Alvin and the Chipmunks.

One could argue that Alvin and the Chipmunks was a disaster, but it’s hardly a disaster movie. Where parody films used to mock the clichés of one particular movie, or genre, the team of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer just snatch up bits and pieces of every popular movie on the market and threw them into a blender.

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Topics: Movies

If you haven’t seen this yet, you must go check it out right this second.

Back during the writer’s strike, Joss Whedon got together with some friends and set out to misbehave. Er, that is, they aimed to produced a quality piece of entertainment without the interference of evil overlords.

The result of their venture is a hilarious 3 act short film that affirms the power of basic story telling structure. Act 1 establishes the characters and the conflict. Act 2 raises the tension. Act 3 brings a resolution.

According to the website, the film was only supposed to be available until July 20th, but for some reason it’s still there. So go watch it while it’s still online.

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Topics: Movies