 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| People who work in the motion picture marketing business are a rare breed, the absolute top in their craft. You had to be to meet the needs of demanding stars and clueless studio execs. In a high pressure, creative environment, niceties and manners go out the window. You just couldn't take it personally if someone walked by your desk and said, "That looks like crap, you're wasting your time." In fact, they're doing you a favor. But you did NOT get in his way when he was under the gun - he would pull your shit right out off the Xerox machine or knock you off a computer if he needed it for a hot deadline. He would not care what you had to say - he knew what he had to get done and that was it. No time to explain. Here was a guy you wanted on your team during the never-ending battle of the deadline because of his laser sharp focus. Thanks to a brilliant crop of young turks coming up through the ranks in movie marketing, three films reached blockbuster status ($100 million gross) within the first three months of 1990, a record unmatched until 13 years later. |
|
More
versions of well known 
I
remember this one art director who would get a flash in his eyes when
something wasn't going his way - and that would be more often than not,
just because of the nature of the job. He was uptight and all right
and always on top of his game, he produced damn good stuff and he knew
it.
Predator
|
|
|
Mr. JonesThe concept at left doesn't tell you much about the movie, but it looks like fun, doesn't it? Just the kind of campaign that might have brought people to the theaters to see this typically mediocre Richard Gere vehicle.
They could have done it in one afternoon at Glamourshots at the mall and saved half a million dollars. |
Instead
of a bold approach, the studio went with something safe - heads in the
sky. In fact, in the final poster (see right) Richard Gere and Lena
Olin's giant heads filled up the sky entirely, running up on the beach
below like two superstar supertankers colliding on the shore. |
|
 |
JFK 
|
BoomerangEddie Murphy was lobbying hard for the James Bond role at the same time 'Boomerang' was being released so he decided all advertising for this movie was going to show the world just how Bond-ian he could be. Good for Eddie Murphy but limiting if you have to incorporate this idea into the creation of a movie poster for another of his belabored 1990's comedies. To top it off, Murphy refused to do photo shoots, so head shots from fuzzy unit photography would have to be stripped onto crisp photo shoot body doubles. This situation was made worse when it was discovered that Murphy had hired a family member to shoot the unit photography, and the results were less than spectacular. This unused poster is a good example of a bad 'head strip' - but it is just a comp. |
| Movie Poster Artists
1970's
TV shows on DVD |
|
Searching
for Bobby Fischer 
I
don't need to show you his portfolio, it's already in your head -
Chevy Chase being electrocuted on the roof for 'National Lampoon's
Christmas Vacation' and the mohawked baseball for 'Major League' are
just two of his brilliant paintings you might be familiar with. 
The
sketch for 'Bobby Fischer' probably took him ten minutes, but whenever
Dave would bring in his finished paintings the whole office would
gather around and squeal with excitement. His color work is amazing
and no one can nail a movie star likeness like Dave! That's why he's
one of the most sought after illustrators in the business.
|
 |
||||||||||||
