Flip The Script

Virginie Barré’s rendering of Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘Blow-Up’ (1966)


In his introduction to ‘Flip The Script’, a book on film posters released by Surface to Air, independent and Hollywood film producer, and now Chief Creative Officer of Plum TV, Cary Woods writes:

“From the time Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec showed us that a poster could be a great work of art, the poster has taken its place as one of the great popular arts of the modern age. Film posters are a hybrid art, carving out a place for themselves in the diverse histories of film, art, advertising, and graphic design.

Yet, their creation also requires a strikingly singular skill… When successful, film posters powerfully and succinctly reflect an entire film’s vision… The best examples of the genre are miniature masterpieces of design economy and artistic audience interaction.

Seeing a sexy poster announcing a new film can produce the same excited anticipation as receiving an invitation to a glamorous and exclusive party in the mail even when the movie featured in the poster elicits a “What the hell were they thinking?” response, it still creates shared cultural experience (even if it’s one of trading jokes at the film’s expense.)

From [Stanley] Kubrick’s ‘Lolita’ rendered in lurid pulp-influenced style to the graphic simplicity of [Otto Preminger’s] ‘The Man With the Golden Arm’, a film poster can leave as indelible an impression as the film itself. Film posters also give the most important impression anything or anyone can give, the first impression.”

To see more film posters from ‘Flip The Script’ click here.