The Return of the Movie Poster Art

The Return of the Movie Poster Art:

A Comparison of Hollywood Poster Design and its Contemporary Opposing Force

Twan Zijlstra VU University Amsterdam Jan den Haenstraat 36-III Faculty of Arts 1055 WG Amsterdam Comparative Arts and Media Studies Tel.: 06-41636920 Elective: Design History Student number: 2536114 Alice Twemlow E-mail address: [email protected]; [email protected] December 17, 2015

Introduction

We live in an age of artistic and creative fluidity. In an almost Marxist way, by facilitating people’s urge to create and share their work, technological advances have slowly but steadily been breaking down the hierarchy that used to dominate creative practice as well as its valuation. With professional tools for visual content creation such as cameras and advanced computer software available and affordable, it is easier than ever to engage in artistic and professional design practice. Moreover, specialized social sharing platforms such as FLICKR and DEVIANTART allow for semi-professionals, or even just enthusiasts, to gain recognition and even stardom within the ever-growing underground scene of digital artists, designers and photographers. As a result, the moment the professional elite stops being innovative and passionate about their work, there are many non-professional designers waiting out there ready to fill the gap. According to Matthew Chojnacki, freelance writer on film and music history, this is what underground artists and designers have been doing with the movie poster.1 The movie poster today is not the respected and widely exposed artistic medium it was when Saul Bass, celebrated movie poster and title sequence designer, designed his iconic poster

(Img. 1) for VERTIGO in the late 50s. With the internet and television taking the dominant role in film promotion today, the exposition of the movie poster has been reduced to cinema walls and windows, more informative than compelling. In his time, Saul Bass was accompanied by other important designers such as Bob Peak and Drew Struzan, but their contemporary counterparts gather little attention. However, this development has not been left unanswered, as shown by the proliferation of alternative movie posters in recent years. These posters are most often digitally created and distributed through the artists’ personal websites and sharing platforms such as

DEVIANTART, shaping an alternative movie poster Image 1 Poster VERTIGO (1958). scene gaining increasing recognition.

1 Chojnacki 2013, back cover. 2 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 In Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground (2013), Chojnacki presents reimagined, unofficial movie posters by over 100 artists from across the globe. In his introduction, Chojnacki describes this collection as the answer to the sudden collapse of the movie poster as an artistic medium, in the mid-90s.2 He puts it as follows:

Instead of using paint brushes to create inventive works of art, they were instead using them to remove blemishes and wrinkles from celebrity headshots. The poster was reduced to simply communicating who was in the film, instead of conveying the bigger picture –the spirit of the film. (Chojnacki 2013, p. 4.)

What started as the sharing of fan art, matured into a contemporary movement that is slowly starting to gain recognition in the worlds of art and design.3 Such a development demands to be put in historical perspective and this essay aims to take the first step in that direction, using Chojnacki’s collection as a starting point. In order to critically analyze and contextualize his evaluation of the underground movie poster, the central research question of this essay will be as follows: how does the design of contemporary, alternative movie posters depicting Hollywood Classics, relate to their official, historical counterparts and their development over the past four decades?

Image 2 Cover Posters: A Concise History (1972) Image 3 Cover Posters: A Global History (2015)

2 Ibidem, pp. 4-5. 3 Ibidem.

3 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 This essay’s outlines

Among the numerous publications dealing with the history of the poster, are those written by art historian John Barnicoat and professor in design history Elizabeth E. Guffey. As evidenced by these book’s covers alone, they present different approaches towards the topic; Posters: A Concise History (1972) by Barnicoat treats the poster predominantly as an art form, emphasizing its interrelations with painting and explaining its development with reference to the Art Movements of the early twentieth century (Img. 2), whereas Guffey’s treatise, Posters: A Global History (2015, Img. 3), introduces itself as “a tale of posters as things, of material forms with which we spend our lives”.4 These two approaches represent the dichotomy in the world of movie poster design today, as will follow from the comparison that is central to this essay. In addition to the histories of the poster by Guffey and Barnicoat, works by design historians Patrick Cramsie and Stephan J. Eskilson on the history of graphic design will provide background information when called for, as well as. Then, the comparison will follow between a range of movie classic’s original posters and their alternatives as collected in Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art From the Underground. Alongside this comparison, an analysis of the development of the movie poster since the 1950s will further contextualize the alternative movie poster movement. Stylistic and technological changes that affected poster design over the last decennia, will be pointed out, as well as some of the most influential poster designers as described in Art of the Modern Movie Poster: International Postwar Style and Design (2008) by American film critic Dave Kehr among other works, with special attention to Saul Bass and his influence on today’s alternative movie poster.

Poster history: the commercial versus the artistic

The poster as a means of communication is generally understood to have come of age during the second half of the nineteenth century.5 Spurred by industrialization and the opportunities of mass production that came with it, notably the perfection of lithography techniques, the poster quickly developed to become a common sight in public space in the western world. It proved to be an effective vehicle for promoting industrial products (Img. 4), services (Img. 5) and cultural events, (Img. 6) as well as ideas (Img. 7).

4 Guffey 2015, p. 7. 5 Barnicoat 1972, p. 7, Eskilson 2007, p. 74.

4 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015

Image 4 Drooko (1898) Image 5 Gispen (1927). Image 6 Jules Chéret (1869). Image 7 Fritz Erler (1917)

While the poster today is commonly thought of as a tool for advertising, its early days were strongly influenced by the arts.6 John Barnicoat described the early poster’s role as “translating the visual art movements of the twentieth century into consumer media”, indicating strong ties to the visual arts in terms of style.7 This connection came rather naturally, since the technology for poster production, lithography, had long been used for the purpose of reproducing visual artworks, as Barnicoat continues to explain.8 In fact, as he points out, early poster designers reestablished lithography as a creative medium. On the contrary, when focusing on a poster’s purpose in public space rather than on its aesthetics, as Elizabeth E. Guffey does, even back in the late nineteenth century, posters appear to be at the heart of capitalism. As Guffey puts it, the poster at the time “was not just a communicator but also a seller; it was so well established that it was hard to imagine selling goods any other way”.9 However different these definitions may sound, they are not necessarily conflicting. As Guffey acknowledges, mainly due to the introduction of illustration and color to the poster, it became a platform for artistic expressions as much as it already was a tool of commerce.10 In the late nineteenth century, the poster played a big part in defining the characteristics of Art Nouveau as it emerged in Europe, according to Patrick Cramsie.11 He also explains how, during this period, the distribution and public display of posters professionalized. This resulted in streets of major cities such as Paris, transforming into what Guffey calls a “gallery of the streets”.12 As it appears, it was no longer the question whether posters belonged to the artists or the advertisers; these worlds conjoined in the form of the poster, and it became one of the primary influences in both fields.

6 Barnicoat 1972, p. 7. 7 Ibidem. 8 Ibidem. 9 Guffey 2015, p. 42. 10 Ibidem, p. 43. 11 Cramsie 2010, p. 149. 12 Guffey 2015, p. 2.

5 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 Posters and Cinema

Even though posters might be considered instances of graphic design, it was only during the first half of the twentieth century, that graphic design became an independent profession, labeled as such, and that posters began to be claimed as part of a graphic designer’s remit, rather than an artist’s oeuvre. As a result, poster design became closely related to the design of music album covers and magazines, as noted by Stephen Eskilson, leading to an increased attention to typography in the designs.13 And this period brought about more changes to the poster, both in terms of purpose and style.14 Notable in the context of the movie poster, is the fact that Barnicoat points out the introduction of “camera devices, such as close-up, the zoom and the effect of a panning shot” into poster design, resulting from the growing dominance of the screen as a means of perceiving the world.15 Remarkably, this exchange between the poster and cinema worked both ways, as Guffey describes in a once again more commercial approach; according to Guffey, the poster played a big part in the success of Hollywood overseas.16 As she notes, the movie poster in particular brought a sense of optimism in the war-torn European streets, notably in Italy. On the contrary, the golden days of the American film industry were over past 1945, as pointed out by Dave Kehr in his collective work: Art of the Modern Movie Poster.17 This range of developments, as it seems, left the American movie poster at a crossroad between art, business, anticipation and obsoleteness. By the time World War II was over, as the golden years of Hollywood began to decline, so too did the heyday of movie posters. 18 The studios cut their budgets for promotional campaigns, resulting in a shift from high quality lithograph printing to the new but lesser technique of offset printing. In addition, poster designers started to rely increasingly on photomontage at the expense of hand painted artwork or the art of lithography, focusing on actors rather than the story they were representing. Remarkably, the decisive development towards the photomontage as the new standard, the lesser movie poster according to Chojnacki, is the same development that elevated the crowd to launch a counter movement: digital design by means of computer applications such as Photoshop.

13 Eskilson 2007, pp. 347-348. 14 Barnicoat 1972, pp. 110-120. 15 Ibidem, pp. 130-131. 16 Guffey 2015, pp. 99-100. 17 Sarowitz and Kehr 2008, p. 8. 18 Ibidem.

6 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 Post-War Hollywood and the Impact of Saul Bass

The movie posters of the 1960s were still dominated by hand painted artwork, as evidenced by the range of examples below. Although, even then, there would be no mistake about the star presence in such movie posters. Famous actors such as Audrey Hepburn, Omar Shariff and Clint Eastwoord are all effectively recognizable from the illustrations, and their written names would often equal the film title in size and presence (Img. 9-11). However, there are always exceptions to the rule.

Image 8 Poster EXODUS, Image 9 Poster BREAKFAST AT Image 10 Poster LAWRENCE Image 11 Poster THE GOOD,

Saul Bass (1960) TIFFANY’S (1961) OF ARABIA (1962) THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966)

A notable individual who established a distinctive style in movie poster design is Saul Bass, arguably the most celebrated American movie poster artist of all time. This graphic and film designer, active between 1954 and 1995, designed a range of iconic movie posters that share a minimalistic, brightly colored and somewhat abstract style.19 Past his famous VERTIGO-design (Img 1), he continued his successful career with posters such as the one for EXODUS (Img. 8), which stands out from its contemporaries. According to Eskilson, Saul Bass professionalized the movie poster single-handedly, and proofed how good design could add to the success of a film.20 Most remarkably, Bass was an autodidact, as noted by film historian Jan-Christopher Horak who wrote a thorough work on the designer’s career.21 And while his signature style was rather unique in his time, his posters have become a wealth of inspiration to today’s underground scene, as will become clear below. Saul Bass worked directly for the film industry, but his attitude may been similar to that of those who design alternative film movie posters today.

19 Sarowitz and Kehr 2008, p. 440. 20 Eskilson 2007, p. 320. 21 Horak 2014, p. 33.

7 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 Recent Years’ Transformation and the Alternative Movie Poster

The influence of Saul Bass can be seen all throughout the 1970s, when the overall chaotic poster design made way for a more sophisticated, clean visual language. In the series of examples from the 1970s below (Img. 12-15), a clear shift is visible away from the multi-colored and detailed, and towards a more iconic style. All-black backgrounds became increasingly popular, and photography was slowly starting to challenge the handwork. Furthermore, branding seemingly became more important, and the imagery on the posters of both THE GODFATHER (1972) and JAWS (1975) has indeed appeared on many t-shirts and other merchandise even since.

Image 12 Poster THE Image 13 Poster JAWS Image 14 Poster ONE FLEW Image 15 Poster THE DEER

GODFATHER (1972) (1975) OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975) HUNTER (1978)

The original theatrical poster for STAR WARS (1977) was created by Tom Jung (Img. 16), a designer known for his hand-painted movie posters, who worked on famous titles such as GONE WITH THE WIND

(1967) and PAPILLON (1973) before. Amongst a few other designers, he managed to uphold the hand painting tradition well into the photography era. The poster stands in contrast to the alternative design by Old Red Jalopy (Img. 17). More fan art than movie poster, it is hard to imagine this piece being used for actual advertising of the movie it represents; for one, the film title is nowhere to be found. Furthermore, as it makes clear reference to the kind of posters that are used for boxing matches, emphasizing the upcoming battle between two main characters, the protagonist of the film is entirely absent. The poster can be considered to represent a minor movement within the underground movie poster scene, which focuses less on the advertising purpose of movie posters.

8 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015

Image 16 Poster STAR WARS (1977). Image 17 Alternative Poster by Old Red Jalopy.

Hand painted movie posters became even more of a rarity from 80s onwards. Kehr speaks of a supposedly last generation of such illustrated works.22 The tradition was maintained most prominently by older film franchises such as the JAMES BOND-series and George Lucas’ STAR WARS and

INDIANA JONES, as the examples below illustrate (Img. 18-21). Drew Struzan, who created the poster for INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984), introduced a distinct style of illustrated posters that can be described as a collage of the main characters. As will be shown later on, this style may well outlive the hand painted form it originated in.

Image 18 Poster THE SHINING Image 19 Poster Image 20 Poster THE Image 21 Poster I.J. AND THE

(1980) OCTOPUSSY (1983) TERMINATOR (1984) TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984)

22 Sarowitz and Kehr 2008, p. 48.

9 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 A classic action movie from the late 80s, DIE HARD (1988) can be considered to have heralded the downfall of the movie poster as Chojnacki described it.23 Basically, the poster is no more than a single headshot with added text to clarify the movie’s content (Img. 22). The image itself seems to communicate only the movies’ genre, by means of the gun Bruce Willis is holding. If compared to the poster for THE TERMINATOR (1984), it leaves one wonder if the only difference between the two movies is their actors and their preference for sunglasses, maybe the nature of their intentions (Img. 20). That even an action movie contains meaning that is worth communicating is proven by Derek

Chatwood’s alternative (Img. 23) to the DIE HARD poster. While using a similar color scheme in an equally simple image, Chatwood’s cartoon-like style and attention to detail express very well the fragile yet survivalist nature of the protagonist.

Image 22 Poster DIE HARD (1988). Image 23 Alternative Poster by Derek Chatwood (2013).

The Movie Poster Apocalypse

In the 90s, according to Chojnacki, “[t]he film industry’s intention for movie posters lost its way, seemingly becoming an afterthought”.24 The cheap looking Photoshop-creations that he argues inspired the counter movement, composed from either stills or studio photography, are well represented in the examples below (Img. 24-27). Most strikingly, the JAMES BOND-series abandoned its tradition of creatively illustrated posters and presented a poster that hardly sets it apart from any

23 Chojnacki 2013, pp. 4-5. 24 Chojnacki 2013, p. 4.

10 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 other action movie at the time. Furthermore, white space had become taboo, resulting in what some might consider overfull, bombastic designs. However, every period has its exceptions.

Image 24 Poster SHAWSHANK Image 25 Poster GOLDENEYE Image 26 Poster GOOD Image 27 Poster THE MATRIX

REDEMPTION (1994) (1995) WILL HUNTING (1997) (1999)

The original movie poster for AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999) stands out against its contemporaries as there is no montage of images involved (Img. 28). It consists of a pure work of photography with minimalistic textual additions, not representing any of the starring actors of the film. Its alternative by Peter Strain reintroduces the lead actor, but in such a stylistic way that the overall design stands out as much as the original (Img. 29). It was created using a combination of hand painting and digital editing, although the final result is more reminiscent the work of Saul Bass.

Image 28 Poster AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999). Image 29 Alternative Poster by Peter Strain (2013).

11 © Twan Zijlstra, 2015 It is open to debate, but it could be argued that the movie poster made amends heading into the new millennium. While only a handful of movies stuck with the tradition of the illustrated movie poster, the rebuked photomontages have become increasingly distinctive and subtle, as the range of examples below show (Img. 30-33). Some have reinterpreted the character collage illustrations of

Drew Struzan, like the poster for THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001), whereas other movie characters, such as the ones from CASINO ROYALE (2006) and THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), are presented in a more natural context than the 90s counterparts in their copy-paste assemblages.

Image 30 Poster THE LORD Image 31 Poster CASINO Image 32 Poster THE DARK Image 33 Poster INGLORIOUS

OF THE RINGS (2001). ROYALE (2006). KNIGHT (2008). BASTERDS (2009).

The original movie poster for INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009) is another example that bears a certain resemblance to the iconic illustrations by Drew Struzan (Img. 33). The protagonist is surrounded by other important characters of the plot, both allies and villains, and their size and arrangement communicates a certain hierarchy. The alternative poster by Matt Chase (Img. 34) uses a same color scheme, but otherwise the two posters have very little in common. Chase’s interpretation of the movie is another example of the strong influence of Saul Bass on the contemporary underground scene.

Image 34 Alternative Poster by Matt Chase (2013).

In light of the ongoing trend in Hollywood to rely on mostly uninspired photo material, there is little reason to assume that the alternative movie poster scene is just a temporary phenomenon. Therefore, this essay should be considered a first exploration of the rise of alternative movie posters in relation to their official counterparts. As follows from the analysis in this essay, both the official and alternative works build upon traditions of the past, but they are clearly divided in their focus. Official American movie posters are mostly character oriented and, while photography based, they do often resemble the rich hand painted illustrations of artists such as Tom Jung and Drew Struzan. However, due to the use of photo material, they often lack a poster artist’s personal signature. On the other hand, the underground scene is dominated by Saul Bass-inspired work, evidenced by countless examples such as the alternative design for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) by Mark Welser (Img. 35), leaning on simple color schemes and iconic imagery. These works have more in common with the kind of designs that appear on book covers, translating a single, fundamental aspect of a movie’s plot into an image. Bass’ influence on this scene, and the fact that he was an autodidact who is said to have been responsible for the rise of artistic movie poster design, suggest that he may have been the first alternative movie poster designer. With Hollywood completely abandoning his visual style, it is no surprise that his following sought refuge on the world wide web. One could challenge the notion of the studio’s poster being truly more commercial than its underground alternative. However, the commercial significance of the movie poster at large has diminished in the internet age, replaced by websites, banners and trailers. In acknowledgement of this new advertising strategy, the truly artistic movie poster may be better off if it remains underground, where it continues to inspire the reimagining of our all-time favorites.

Image 35 Alternative Poster by Mark Welser.

Barnicoat, John, Posters: A Concise History, London (1985) Thames and Hudson. Chojnacki, Matthew, Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground, Atglen, PA (2013) Schiffer. Cramsie, Patrick, The Story of Graphic Design, New York, NY (2010) Abrams. Eskilson, Stephen J., Graphic Design: A New History, New Haven, CT (2007) Yale University Press. Guffey, Elizabeth E., Posters: A Global History, London (2015) Reaktion Books Ltd. Horak, Jan-Christopher, Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design, Lexington (2014) University Press of Kentucky. Kehr, Dave, Art of the Modern Movie Poster: International Postwar Style and Design, Zürich (2008) Edition Olms.