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January 1, 2006
Posters and the "Art" of Advertising Movies
What happens when a film producer has to advertise a movie that has no well-known actors in it? The first 2006 issue of the New York Times has an article that suggests that fine art increasingly is the remedy. It describes how producers of films in which there is no "name" actor or actress must rely on more creative ways of advertising their movies, since a photo of their lead performer on a movie poster won't sell their product if an unknown is starring in it. Thus, producers are drawing on the work of artists, such as the photographer Mark Kessell (some of whose work may be an acquired taste but is nonetheless intriguing), to help convey the gist of what their movies are about. This use of artists in the design of movie posters harks back to an era of poster art in Communist Poland, when--as remarked by Charles Evans, Jr., a producer of The Aviator--"poster art wasn't so much about commerce as about expression." From "Not Just Another Half-Dozen Pretty, Floating Faces," by Christian Moerk, in the 1 January 2006 NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/movies/01moer.html
Posted by at January 1, 2006 4:30 PM