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Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010, 2:15 PM | 5 comments |

Movie Posters as Visual Haiku

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Mashup in the Air: When buoyancy meets gravity

An effective movie poster is like an effective newspaper headline: It encapsulates in one image what a headline does in a few words. An artistic movie poster does this, but is visual haiku that poetically distills the essence of the film as well as its content.

The site worth1000.com (as in one picture is worth a 1000 words) ran a contest -- now closed -- for best movie poster mashups (hat tip, slash film). Pictured is my favorite, a composite of two Oscar nominees.

Which movie poster of this (or any year) do you think most poetically conveys its subject? Why? Send images (under 80 kb, please) if you can.

Posted by @ 2:15 PM Permalink | 5 comments

Comments

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:23 PM, 02/19/2010

Lolita (Stanley Kubrick version w/Sue Lyons in heart-shaped sunglasses and lollipop). Link is: nga.gov.au

— ccjroberts

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:51 PM, 02/19/2010

I often like "teaser" posters for films, which appear well in advance of a film's release. They're evocative without giving too much away storywise. This poster for the film UP is a perfect example: http://www.impawards.com/2009/up.html

— Alice215

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:42 PM, 02/19/2010

I've always like the Picasso-like quality of the poster for Almodovar's All About My Mother. It's sort of sketchy, just like the pieces we get of Manuela that all come together to make a whole. http://www.allposters.com/-sp/All-About-My-Mother-Posters_i1571252_.htm?AID=1577398651

— mariopd

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:36 AM, 02/21/2010

can't send you the link to one of my faves, the Beatty Heaven Can Wait, because they sent an advance version to me as a media person with the image only--not a word of text-- and the image said it all. Warren was wearing the late, lamented Adidas classic sneaks with the three stripes on the sides, too...

— talkcineman

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:35 AM, 02/22/2010

I think the initial poster for PRECIOUS was really great this year, and absolutely beautiful art. I would also say the poster for THE BLIND SIDE worked in conveying the themes of the film. It's funny, I think the opening credits of a film generally convey the haiku idea. Think of Saul Bass' design for PSYCHO as an example.

— garyk

5 comments

About Carrie Rickey

Carrie Rickey has been The Philadelphia Inquirer’s film critic for 21 years. She has reviewed films as diverse as Water and The Waterboy, profiled celebrities from Lillian Gish to Will Smith, and reported on technological breakthroughs from the video revolution to the rise of movies on demand. Her reviews are syndicated nationwide and she is a regular contributor to Entertainment Weekly. Rickey’s essays appear in numerous anthologies, including The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, The American Century, and the Library of America’s American Movie Critics.

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All blog items posted before May 23, 2008, can be accessed at http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/flickgrrl/.