Studios deliver us this one-two punch on a regular basis. First they dull our senses with the generic movie trailers and then the onslaught continues with the daily reminder plastered a little everywhere in our daily lives with various forms of the one sheet. Poster art suffers the same fate as the two/three minute trailer: they are, for the most part, plain, show a sincere lack of imagination and often look recycled from years of campaigns that are cookie-cuttered. For every poster worth pointing out, there are about 20 worth forgetting. Fortunately some of the best poster art campaigns these days come to us via the documentary film route. Lowest on the totem pole, docs have a hard time to get regular people’s attention – but on the pro side the posters aren’t obstructed by actor’s egos that need to fill up the poster space with top billing.
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This past week we lost a person whom many of you know by the stroke of his pen. Movie poster artist and leading film campaign designer John Alvin died this past Wednesday and has left us a treasure trove of movie poster art that folks like I have been appreciating without making the necessary link. Below I’ve provided a tribute to his work with a scroll down gallery or you can click here for a full eye-full.
