For my Extended Project Qualification Project I did last year, I based it around the Movie Poster Industry and in particular focused around a Company called Mondo. It's a long read so I hope you enjoy 😃
Introduction
The History of movie posters has developed alongside methods
of production and technology in recent decades. Before the creation of
advertising through film, the movie poster was the way of attracting an
audience and gave the people a first look at what a film may be based around.
The changes in the business has seen some of the most iconic movie posters be
belittled by new and less creative posters that stray away from the pure art
and more towards making more money.
I wanted my topic to be based around a company called Mondo,
who are a design company in the US who are trying to bring back the real
purpose behind movie posters through vibrant illustrations and prints that mix
the old with the new. I believe that their ideas and brand will expand into
something a lot bigger, and that is what my question is all about. With a
fairly large fan base already around the world, their redesigns of classic film
posters have a large price tag. With how high the demand is for certain
posters, it is hard for collectors to be able to get their hands on these
posters for a small fee, meaning that auction websites become a crowded
second-hand market.
It is rare to see big name films in the 21st
century being imaginative in the ways they produce movie posters. Since the
introduction of photography and computer software into the design industry, it
has given designers an easy way of producing a poster, and it has removed some
of the artistic aspects to design. Rather than illustrating an image, then
making into a screen-print, they are using pictures and digital software
(Meggs, 2018). In 1984, The Apple Mackintosh was the breakthrough point for
designers as ‘MacPaint’ destroyed any hand-made design techniques. We now see
endless movie posters presenting the heads of lead characters floating in front
of a background with no spark. Cattaneo (2008) writes that movie posters have
lost the “informative” tone to wear a more artistic and decorative dress. He
believes that nowadays, they are used to present the actors/actresses rather
than giving the people an idea of want the film may be about, like a restaurant
menu.
My research will look in depth into the pros and cons of
Mondo and how it may be the new means of attracting more people to the cinema.
The Origins of the Movie Poster
In the Early years of
film, going to the cinema was a luxury to those fortunate enough to afford it. The
first ever motion picture to be produced was actually by a French Magician in
1899, and the poster for this production was the first of its kind, and was
28”x42”. As motion picture became very popular, more poster were made to
promote them. The sizes of the poster varied a lot in the beginning, but one
thing that was interesting to find out was that the actors and actresses wanted
to be anonymous. This is because the film producers wanted to feel in control
of the medium and actors felt embarrassed by participating in this. Eventually,
the public demanded the names for actors and actresses around the 1910s, and
they gave in. This however became a positive for film makers as they saw that
the popularity of screen actors could help promote the film more and make more
profits
The
poster for a long time were produced by talented artists who made traditional
hand drawn images and paintings that normally depicted a scene from the movie.
The imagery and colours gave people an idea of what the story may be based
around and then would include illustrations of the actors/actresses involved. Since actors and actresses were allowed to be
more public about who they were, they became stars and the posters focused more
towards the characters in the films. With these two posters I have included, it
is clear that they focus more about the actor/actress more than the film, as it
attracted more people. This is shown through the typography of “Charlie
Chaplin” and “Marion Davies” which outweighs the title of the films. Chaplin
was well known for his roles in comedy films, and would imply to the people
that the genre would be comedy. It is the same case with Davies, as she
appeared in my romance films between the 20’s and 30’s.
Nowadays, we see a
lot of advertising being promoted in new ways, again through the evolution of
technology. We now see a large amount of adverts on websites, television, in
newspapers and the list goes on. This has had a positive impact for film
makers, as there are endless ways to promote now, but for people like myself,
film posters are becoming less appreciated, and the appeal for some has been
lost. Since the introduction of
Photography and software enabling artist to work via computer has made
illustration in major films posters non-existent. We now see endless movie
posters presenting the lead characters and lacks imagination and creativity. Cattaneo
(2008) writes that movie posters have lost the “informative” tone to wear a
more artistic and decorative dress. Although the technology has changed, the
style and purpose of the posters we see now are similar to those in the early
stages of the business
The Greats of the Movie Poster Industry
The style of poster started to see some signs of progression
as some began to focus more on the storyline rather than the actors outside of
their characters which brought with it more artistic flair. The 1980s was a
decade which saw some of the most iconic film posters ever made happen to be
illustrated, which is one of the reasons for companies wanting to move back to
the roots of film poster production. The poster for Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark is probably one of the most
recognised movie poster, which was created by Richard Amsel in 1981. What stood
out to lovers of the movie is how well the artist has captured the characters (especially
Harrison Ford). The background also has an influence as it shows hidden
features from the movie, such as the snakes which happens to be Indiana’s
biggest fear, and several illustrated shots from the movie (The Richard Amsel Appreciation Site, n.d.).
Amsel was seen as an icon in the business, as he had around
20 years of experience. He tended to use watercolour, acrylic paint and pencil
in various sketches he did, before creating the final design. As well as the
memorable Lost Ark design, he created other astonishing movie posters such as “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974),
“Flash Gordon” (1980) and “Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome” (1985).
As well as Amsel’s
work, there are a number of memorable movie posters that will remembered by
movie goers all around the world. The Original Jaws (1975) movie poster is one which is easily recognisable for
its illustration of the shark ready to attack the female swimmer. The
simplicity of the design is what makes it effective as it is showing the
audience what the film is about, and the theme of it. The creator of the
poster, Roger Kastel is another artist who was recognised as one of the best
illustrators in the business. As his reputation grew, he made his way into
Hollywood, and was asked to paint the poster for George Lucas’ sequel, Star Wars: The Emperor Strikes Back.
Some of the most creative movie poster concepts I have seen
is from Graphic Designer, John Alvin. In his career, he had created well over
100 movie posters, with many being considered as the best seen in the industry.
He managed to land many big opportunities with film studios in Hollywood, such
as Disney, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Entertainment. The notable films he
worked on were the likes of Jurassic
Park, Batman, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Blade Runner, Star Wars, and
most iconic, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Famous
GD, 2018). 
The Graphology used in the E.T. Design is one that stunned
fans, as the connection shown through the touching of the Alien’s finger gave fans
a teaser and got them talking about the film. I love this design as it was
unique in its own way as it did not reveal much about the film, nor who would
be the characters. It seems to be a trend with Spielberg Films that great movie
posters are required for the great films, and Alvin was a part of many of his
projects. Spielberg is said to have suggested the image for the E.T. design, a
modern take on Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" (Stewart, 2008).
It was the design he was most proud of, as the child arm used was of his
daughter.
After his passing at the age of 59 in 2008, many of his
friend and colleagues have come out and talked about his work. A friend he made
when working on Disney posters such as Beauty
and the Beast was Federico Tio. Tio said that Alvin’s work was so distinctive
that designers gave him his own adjective, “Alvinesque”.
"John always brought this magical, almost romantic quality to his work. His
sense of light and capturing a moment was spectacular. . . . Not only was he a
great illustrator, he was a great thinker. He was so passionate about his craft".The fall of the Movie Poster
The so called
‘death’ of the movie poster came when films started to steer towards the
‘floating heads’ design. This consisted of little imagination, and would
normally include little amounts of colour and the heads of the leading
characters in the film. The main purpose of the poster however was not to be
creative and to excite the audience, it was purely a profit incentive that
didn’t focus on the art. Some of the worst movie posters ever have been created
as a result of some films not focusing on the real purpose of their posters.
The quick, easy and cheap designs are no thanks to computer software such as
Photoshop and ultimately photography in general.
Like with the
posters we saw from the early 20th century, the actors were the
centre of attention again and photography became the norm. The ‘floating heads’
movement was one which big film makers tended to use as it didn’t require a
talented artist to be commissioned to paint a design. Instead it lead to a
chain reaction of poor quality of poster that would have taken under a day to
procrastinate over. (TV Troops, 2007) quoted actor David Drayton saying "They could whip up some bad Photoshop
poster in an afternoon. They do it all the time. Two big heads."
The effect of this was devastating to see for designers
looking to make their way into the business, as their skills in illustration
and art were no longer required.
Mondo
The new movement in the movie poster industry came through
the creation of Mondo in 2003. Set up in
Austin, Texas, the business was aimed at making movie posters into designs
related to ‘Gig’ posters. It started when one of the current Creative directors,
Rob Jones, approached the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, who are an American cinema
chain founded in Austin as well, to suggest that they should create the movie
posters to promote their brand. This led to Jones suggesting some artists who
he worked with in the music poster industry, to re-create some movie posters
classics. Jones
is well respected by the design industry and is known for having a wacky and
crazy personality. His role is crucial to Mondo’s style, and involves selecting
which designer is the right for designing a certain movie poster.
The companies’ low expectations and informality helped spark
the creativity that made the business blow up and evolve only a few years
later. I became a huge fan of their work after watching Kevin Burnie’s 24x36:
A Movie about Movie Posters. This gives a detailed insight into the time
building up to Mondo’s creation and the influencers of the company.
I became highly interested in where this movement could go and if
it had the capability of reaching a bigger audience. Murphy, (2011) wrote an
article for the New York Times which perfectly summed up how Mondo has the
ability to dominate the movie poster market. There designs are not what you
expect to see when you think of illustration, but because they are remakes of
older films, fans who see them for the first time are blow away by the detail
and correlations that link to the actually storyline and they can understand and
appreciate.
There has been a numerous amount of people who have had an impact
on Mondo’s success, and one of those people is designer, Gary Pullin. Pullin is
well recognised for his posters, mainly under the genre of horror. I had the
chance to ask Gary a couple of questions about his career. When I asked what
his favourite design he created while at Mondo was, he said “My favourite
project to work with on Mondo was probably the Monster Squad vinyl record
design. Or perhaps the Vertigo posters”.
Burnie, (2016) described when Pullin was given the task of
recreating a highly popular poster made by Sau Bass for the film Vertigo which came with a few risks. He
had to keep in mind that his version would come with it a lot of criticism if
it did not live up to the original’s standards. However, Pullin ended up
creating two very slick designs that stood out and linked to the purpose of the
film which brought a lot of good praise.
His other work for Mondo included recreating posters for Horror
Movies such as Scream, Night of the
Living Dead and Friday the 13th:
The Final Chapter. His story started through his compelling addiction to
Horror films and books. His desire was to emulate certain monsters from those
films through art. “Growing up, I was inspired mostly by horror films and the
stable of comic book artists that worked for EC comics in the 1950’s such as
Ghastly Graham Ingles, Jack Davis, Al Feildestein and the artists behind Tales
from the Crypt”. Pullin also mentioned several artists behind magazines such as
Famous Monsters of Filmland, Fangoria and
the Mad Magazine as his main
influences. Before joining Mondo, Pullin worked for 13 years as an Art Director
for a Toronto based horror publication, called Rue Morgue Magazine.
More Recently, Pullin has been working his own projects, including
the making of a commemorative 208 page book including movie posters he has
created in his career More Recently, Pullin has been working his own projects, including the making of a commemorative 208 page book including movie posters he has created in his career called Ghoulish.
In a statement, Pullin said “This book covers it all — from my early years as a
budding artist and horror film fan and my thirteen-year stint at Rue
Morgue magazine as their original art director to the present day, which
finds me owning and operating my own company, Ghoulish Gary,” (Collins, 2017).
When I addressed my question to Gary, and his views on the
potential for illustration in the movie poster industry, he said “I think
illustration and good artwork is finally coming back into the movie industry.
They’ll always use photo based posters, but they are fine if they are done
well, as it is with all good design. The resurgence in film inspired art is
growing and getting bigger. Alternative movie posters are sought after, more so
than the original one sheets these days. He also expressed his delight that
artists are finally being recognised for their work. In the past, designers
were not able to sign their work, but now they can make a name for themselves" and he finds that inspiring.
Other designers for Mondo such as Tom Whalen work on other genres
of movie posters, and he has such a distinctive style which attracts the eye
with the large amounts of colour and illustrative detail in his designs. Whalen
has designed a large amount of Mondo’s recreations of several children’s
movies. Some of the most notable are recreations of classics such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and many others. Like Pullin, Tom found his passion
through comics, “countless afternoons were spent sitting next to that squeaky
old spinner rack of comics in my grandmother's candy store. I loved the
stories, but it was the art that stuck with me”. (Whalen. T, 2017)
My favourite film to watch as a Child was The Incredibles, and when I saw his poster for the film, it made me feel nostalgic in the sense that it was retro with a modern touch.
What I love about Mondo in particular is how different each designer is, and that they use their styles to suite different audiences. With Whalen, he perfectly captures the mood of the film he is working on and then puts it into a poster that appeals to a younger audience. Other designers like Pullin has his love for horror, and that is clearly shown when transferred into his style of design.
Collectors
Movies have always had a value, but more importantly, the promotional
elements have as well. As posters from early decades were produced in small
quantities, and only supplied directly to movie theatres, the originals became
scarce. As the concept of scarcity states, the lower the supply of a good, the
higher the price will be, and this is the case with movie posters. Hershenson,
(1998) said that film and film posters where sent directly to independent
theatres in which they showed for 3 to 4 days and would then be sent to the
next cinema. This made posters from the 1940s to 1950s extremely rare as they
posters would not be sold to collectors
There is a whole market for buying and selling vintage movie
posters, and now for Mondo posters, and is stemmed through the popularity for
them. Some may have a certain love for the film, but others only have the
incentive of making money. Auction sites, such as eBay have become the second
market for Mondo posters, as Mondo only create a limited amount of their prints.
On average, a Mondo Poster costs around £50-£100 from their official website.
It also says how many prints they make in that edition, which would be no more than
200 copies at one time.
As Mondo release only a small amount of their prints at once, only
those fortunate enough are able to get their hands on them, and at their
cheapest price. Depending on the popularity of the poster, they are ‘flipped’
(relisted) by some of the owners for 10 times the price of the original, set by
the company.
The market for Movie posters, including the classics and the
alternative versions, has become more vibrant than ever, and has created many
different reasons for fans wanting to buy and collect them. This ranges from
fans being attracted to the colours, the type of movie, or the nostalgic
element along with it. The subjective people have less to complain about now
that there are more of a variety of designs (Whalen. A, 2016).
Mondo have held their own event which happens every year in
Austin, Texas, called ‘MondoCon’. At this event, fans from all around the world
come together to share their passion for the brand and the art which is
transforming the industry. It first began in 2014, and lasts over 2 days in
which many of the fans get to meet their favourite designers and workers at
Mondo, while also getting a chance at adding new posters to their collections.
The event has received a lot of good praise from many, and is the
world’s largest convention for movie posters.
Licensing
One main barrier
for Mondo and smaller companies in the same market is the problem with
Licensing and the rights to recreate a certain movie poster. Copyright issues
have affected the company in the past as they do not have permission to create
a poster unless they are given it, and this limits how they can expand their
brand. However, there has been a few companies that have not grasped the idea
of licensing and have taken shortcuts to make a poster of a famous movie.
“Likeness” rights are required in the poster making industry and means making
something look like someone/something but is not exactly correct or accurate.
The designers will hide actors/actresses faces in order to avoid the licensing
problem, if they are not given permission.
As Mondo has grown as a business, they have been able to pursue more opportunities to create prestigious film franchise posters. Murphy (2011) wrote that Mondo were able to create posters for the Star Wars Trilogy, consisting of 3 designs by Olly Moss, which was listed for $7.499.99 (Signed). Their thriving success lead to companies going to Mondo for alternative poster ideas, rather than Mondo chasing permission from them. In 2011, they collaborated with Paramount to create posters for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and also for Captain America: The First Avenger. It is rare for studio’s to commission alternatives, but Mondo stood out to Paramount and liked their appeal. The commission had strict limits, and Mondo made it clear to Paramount that the design would be on their terms, and not the studio’s.
I love the unique style which has been used in all of these
designs, especially in the three Star Wars posters. Moss has cleverly used the
silhouettes of iconic Star Wars characters, C-3PO and Darth Vader. Each one shows
a small glimpse from the each individual film. The colour schemes are also free
flowing through the images, and adds a modern touch to a classic film
trilogy.
Critics
Another barrier that is limiting Mondo from expanding into
Hollywood Film Poster designing is the critics. A number of retailers who work
on promoting big name films have a big responsibility when sorting out the
films image. As mentioned earlier, the 21st century now uses
computer software to create the designers for DVD covers, and posters that can
displayed in many different ways such as buses, billboards etc. This is because
they are a safe bet and normally have no consequences when it comes to the
audiences’ opinions. The problem that illustrative designs have is trying to
please everybody. As it is still yet to fully breakthrough in a big way,
retailers do not know what the outcome may be, and it may have a negative
impact on the way different audiences may perceive the designs.
One common misconception with Mondo’s designs is what the films
is. Although many film fans will know straight away what film the poster is, as
they are recreations of older films, but what the problem they have is what the
response would be to a new film which we do not know about. They may believe that
because the designs are illustrated, the film is animated. But, because it
hasn’t yet been tested on a large scale, no one can be sure of the outcome, and
this puts off film companies from taking the leap.
One example I found where Illustration has been used for
advertisements is Kyle Lambert’s design for the Netflix show ‘Stranger Things
2’. ‘Netflix’ is a competitor to going to see films and the movies as people
are beginning to use the streaming services in their homes.
The Future
There is a lot that we can look forward to in the future for
companies such as Mondo, with the prospects of bringing traditional movie
poster prints into fashion. I believe that there is there will be opportunities
in the next few years for illustration to be used for official movie posters
that may be a gamble that pays off and brings more attention to the movement.
Bibliography:
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