Its just so sad whats happened to the art of movie posters!!

OrangeCrush · 03-13-2017, 07:38 PM

I just saw the poster for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for the first time today and it just highlights everything I hate about modern movie mosters. Movie posters used to be works of art, created by masterful artists. Modern posters, at least the vast majority of them, are just pure photoshop garbage.

I openely admit, I absolutely despise digital photography and still shoot with film 95% of the time. The only time I shoot digital is at family functions (so I dont have to spend hours in the darkroom developing and printing family pictures...BLAH) and when clients specifically ask for digital. So one might think I have a bias against digital art, but that isnt the case at all.

I absolutely LOVE a lot of the digital art that is out there. In fact, in regards to the number of art books that I purchase, digital art makes up a significant percentage of them. I own the complete series of Spectrum Books, which is now up to volume 23 (24 is up for pre order right now), I own the complete series of Expose books, which is now up to volume 11. I own the complete series of Exotique books, which is up to volume 7. I own 6 of the 8 Digital Painting Techniques books (still need to buy Vol. 7 & 8), and I own 5 of the 9 Digital Art Masters books (still need volumes 6-9). I also own a lot of Ballistic Publishigs other art books like their 2 Massive Black volumes. And all of my Expose and Exotique books are the special edition versions. Ballistic publishing and 3Dtotal are two of my favorite art book publishers and they focus pretty much exclusively on digital art.

Not to mention, I also own most of the art books released for the video games that I love like The Art of Mass Effect, World of Warcraft, Halo, Assassins Creed, Etc. So I definitely do not hate digtal art. In fact, its quite the contrary as I absolutely love it in most instances. I don't like digital photography, but that is for a lot of reasons beyond just the look of the pictures. I own a crapload of prints of digital art as well. So my hatred of modern movie posters has absolutely nothing to do with my feelings for digital art in general.

Before I go any further, let me just display the new poster for Guardians of the Galaxy 2:

Thats just absolutely atrocious in my book. If I didn't love the first one and had no idea what this movie was about, this poster would make me not want to see it. Its just awful in so many ways.

There was actually a contest to design the worst movie poster and the winner's poster really sums up most of what I hate about modern photoshopped movie posters:

Instead of creating a beautiful piece of art, like they used to do with movie posters, they now photoshop the stars heads next to other stars heads. Its basically become a standard model for bad movie posters. There are some that deviate from that model and are just as bad. Movie posters in general have just become a really chessy art form. Sure, there are always exceptions and you still see some quality modern posters here and there, but the vast majority of them are terrible.

Compare modern posters to some of the classic movie posters of the past. My favorites were always the painted posters but there have been some great photography posters as well.

OrangeCrush · 03-13-2017, 07:40 PM

I could go on and on listing hundreds of amazing movie posters before photoshop became so popular. Again, there are still some great posters being made so the industry is not a total loss, but the vast majority of movie posters these days are just total garbage. I know thats just my sujective opinion and others may disagree. As always to each thier own, but that's how I feel about the modern movie poster market. Its just ridiculously bad.

Just had to get that off my chest!!

SONICobra · 03-13-2017, 07:54 PM

that guardians poster is terrible, wtf were they thinking...

OrangeCrush · 03-13-2017, 07:58 PM

Since I bashed the movie poster market in general, I figured I would list a few of the modern posters that I did like:

Just when I think there is hope for the industry in general, especially when I see a poster like the Hateful 8, I see a poster like Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and that hope just disappears like a deflating balloon.

ReplicantSavior · 03-13-2017, 08:00 PM

Yeah, I believe I've seen you post in the General Poster & Print section. If not the Mondo section. That's the place to look for current fan movie posters as well as Expresso Beans. I haven't listed an official studio movie poster to own in years.

OrangeCrush · 03-13-2017, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SONICobra

that guardians poster is terrible, wtf were they thinking...

Honestly, I really don't know, but I would really love too. I would absolutely LOVE to be able to sit in on one of the art direction meetings for these kinds of posters. I have the same feeling for the vast majority of TV commercials that get made today. I just can't imagine being in a room full of very high paid, top level talent, in either industry, and see them picthing the design for these kinds of posters/commercials or the vast majority of posters/commercials that I see.

If I were at those meetings, I would stand up after the presentation and say something along the lines of "Are you serious? WTF are you thinking?". But amazingly this garbage gets the go ahead and gets ok'ed even at the highest levels. Its absolutely mind boggling, which is why I would abslutely love to be able to sit in on one of those art direction meetings. For the life of me, I just can't imagine someone pitching these ideas and everyone in the room saying "thats a great idea, lets go with that". It just blows my mind.

OrangeCrush · 03-13-2017, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReplicantSavior

Yeah, I believe I've seen you post in the General Poster & Print section. If not the Mondo section. That's the place to look for current fan movie posters as well as Expresso Beans. I haven't listed an official studio movie poster to own in years.

Yeah, I am speaking directly to the offical movie posters created by the studios. There are some absolutely amazing posters being created outside the movie industry. In fact, I think that's one of the main reasons Mondo became so successful. There was a lot of movie poster collectors out there that just couldn't stomach what the movie studio's were churning out so it opened up an entirely new market for movie posters, fan created posters. And ironically, the offical posters were so bad that the ones that were being created by the fans absolutely blew the offical posters away.

Basically, the fact that official movie posters have become so horrid really did open up an entire new industry for fan created movie posters and its been highly scuccessful and continues to see signifcant growth. You would think that in itself would be a HUGE hint to the major studios that people are not content with the garbage they are putting out.

Philintheblank · 03-13-2017, 08:24 PM

They were probably thinking...kids! Kids like bright colors.

OrangeCrush · 03-13-2017, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philintheblank

They were probably thinking...kids! Kids like bright colors.

That would make sense if it was actually a film aimed at kids, but as both DC and Marvel are well aware of, the vast majority of people going to see super hero films these days are actually over the age of 18.

Ironically, the posters for animated films, which are aimed at kids, are actually some of the better modern movie posters, lol.

Honestly, those are better than 99% of the regular movie posters coming out of Hollywood.

Philintheblank · 03-13-2017, 08:44 PM

Well, then I too have no idea. Just screams "little kids" to me. You're right, though...some of these animated film posters are pretty nice.