Stupid order of names on posters
It's irked me for years why so many film posters plaster the names of the actors out of sync with the image of the poster. American Hustle is another perfect example...
Poster features a "team line-up" of 5 main starts stood in a line in this order (left to right):
Cooper, Adams, Bale, Lawrence and Renner.
Along the top it has names printed in this order:
Bale, Cooper, Adams, Renner and Lawrence.
This means every star has someone else's name emblazoned directly above their head... it just looks sloppy. As I say, this seems to be the case in lots of posters and I just don't get why makers can't do something as simple as align photos/names on a poster instead of seemingly wilfully doing it in a disjointed fashion all the time?
Poster features a "team line-up" of 5 main starts stood in a line in this order (left to right):
Cooper, Adams, Bale, Lawrence and Renner.
Along the top it has names printed in this order:
Bale, Cooper, Adams, Renner and Lawrence.
This means every star has someone else's name emblazoned directly above their head... it just looks sloppy. As I say, this seems to be the case in lots of posters and I just don't get why makers can't do something as simple as align photos/names on a poster instead of seemingly wilfully doing it in a disjointed fashion all the time?
0
Comments
The poster design is produced by an artist who is focusing on what would look best artistically.
The end result is usually what you've described.
Not true. Where you have ensemble casts or 2 or 3 big name actors, it saves arguments over who should have top billing, who the main star is etc.
So its a deliberate decision made to keep everyone happy.
And its hardly new, been happening for 20 years or so.
And lets be honest we all know who the actors are anyway...its nothing to get annoyed about...
If the American Hustle cast had their own names above their heads, it will give Bale (if he were positioned first in the line-up under his name) or Cooper (if his name were positioned over his head) the top billing.
This billing practice has been going on since the 1930s, but became common during the 1970s when all-star films were popular.
The audience tends to assume the name at top or largest - or the person in the front of others - has the leading role. Not surprising as decades of poster design has us all conditioned to see it that way.
You go through the main cast and then get a "and introducing...." or similar
Likewise! Always extra special when you get an 'as' joined on. For example:
'...and Judi Dench as M'
'...and Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury'
'...and Frank Oz as Yoda'
"With Jon Favreau
and Ben Kingsley"
Interesting no Sir though. He does seem like a down to earth chap.
I wonder how many Sirs and Dames use the title in credits?
This reminds of the crappy films you'd see in VHS hire firms years ago when makers would use siblings of famous stars in their films... I think there was one with STALLONE and SWAYZE in huge letters and Frank and Don in micro-font!
Poster for The Wild Geese.
Reading left to right Burton is first, but Harris is highest.
On other posters the order is Burton, Moore ,Harris, Kruger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Towering_inferno_movie_poster.jpg
McQueen gets a lot of bad press for the inferno disputes but when Newman starred with Tom Cruise in the Color of Money, Life magazine had to design two separate covers to placate them
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LIFE-MAGAZINE-NOV-1986-PAUL-NEWMAN-TOM-CRUISE-ISSUE-/370773415855
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-NOVEMBER-LIFE-MAGAZINE-PAUL-NEWMAN-TOM-CRUISE-FRONT-COVER-D-1617-/400629477483?pt=Magazines&hash=item5d4760b06b
the inferno billing issue also cropped up for Jaws. the title had to have a box written around it to stop it being lost in a sea of ink
http://2warpstoneptune.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/the-legacy-of-jaws-told-in-movie-posters/
Martin Lawrence is another actor who strikes me as very vain when it comes to billing. how on earth he was credited in front on will smith for bad boys 2 is anyone's guess. nothing to lose was another martin lawrence poster mess which looks like someone has put the names on incorrectly
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119807/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_20
Judi Dench and Maggie smith don't
I think it's a term used more in the media, than in their actual work
Sir Ian McKellen doesn't either. Surprisingly he got top billing for the Hobbit and Andy Serkis took the "and" and the "as" as well...
Black, with a massive Batman logo on it. Sometimes it would have a release date under it or "Nicholson" and "Keaton" written on it, but the plain black/logo poster is the best.
No messing around. Just pure awesome.
Yes, but do you really think any of his people are going to object to the inclusion of Sir? I don't really see why it's any different to a cinematographer being called "John Doe, ACS"...