The Lost Art of the Movie Poster

I’ll never forget the Richard Amsel-illustrated movie poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark (below far left) that donned a corner of my teenage room growing up. I was enamored with the rich detail and texture the artist rendered for my favorite whip-wielding adventurer hero.

ALL IMAGES ABOVE © RICHARD AMSEL.

struzan1.png

ALL IMAGES ABOVE © DREW STRUZAN.

Then one day I saw another poster thinking it was Amsel's latest creation, but his signature was absent from the corner. Scribed in a similar location was the simple, understated, lowercase script “drew.” I didn’t know at first sight that the artist, Drew Struzan, was one of the most iconic album cover and movie poster illustrators of all time.

Drew could somehow depict an entire movie’s essence in one illustration. His rendering transcended the film itself, elevating it to a whole other level. His Thing poster is one of the most original and captivating of all of his designs (above far right). And in true artistic fashion, he rendered it in one night. According to an interview with Drew Struzan the paint was still wet when it left his studio. He also had no reference material to draw from, only his own vastly rich imagination.

Both artists’ works all shared one thing: they were all one of a kind original works of art, not mass produced Photoshop-styled montages. These Photoshop jockeys, as they’ve been referred to, merely attempt to capture both Amsel’s and Struzan’s essence, and nearly always miss the mark by a long shot.

Traditional materials could never be completely replaced by modern-era pixel pushers. To explore Richard Amsel’s portfolio visit this tribute by Adam McDaniel. For more information on Drew Struzan watch The Man Behind the Poster. Also enjoy his extensive portfolio site here.

Great Reference Material

Like most people these days I take my camera with me everywhere. You just never know when you’ll find a great reference whether it be a texture, color, material, whatever. Nothing beats great reference material. If you shoot it yourself you’ll notice the smaller details even more. The best way to recreate something from the real world is to first observe that world in full detail and capture as many reference photos as possible. You'll be amazed what details your eyes didn’t actually “see” in person when reviewing the reference photos.

royal1.png

If you’re in a time crunch and need great reference material take a look at CG Textures. They have an extensive array of catalogued photos from leaking concrete to paint splatter and nearly everything in between.

Visit CGTextures.

Element 3D V2 Test Drive

It’s been awhile so I figured it was about time to give Element V2 a spin around the block. With the release of Video Copilot’s Element 3D Version 2 comes a wealth of new features. Andrew Kramer has stepped up the game for this game engine-inspired GPU plugin with raytracing, mirror and spherical reflections, shadows, new enhanced multisampling, and an animation engine that gives the user the hooks he or she needs to push the boundaries of this ever immersive plugin.

Here is one of my first tests trying out the depth of field and how it impacts the render times (image below left). I was pleasantly surprised that if sampling is set to 0,0 while one designs and animates then leaving depth of field on doesn’t cause much of a performance hit. At final render time I upped the samples to 8,8, and used enhanced multisampling. For organic scenes there's not much of a drastic change in quality, however I was working with a car model and in order for the curves to be smooth I had to up the quality to at least 8,8. The second image below utilizes one of the new BackLight environment maps.

Visit VideoCopilot.

The 87th Annual Academy Awards

The 87th Annual Academy Awards were quite an event. Neil Patrick Harris was surrounded by an enormous backdrop that at times immersed him within the spectacle. The graphics were a beautiful throwback to poster designs from decades ago. They reminded me of Saul Bass in many respects. The tributes to those who had passed on were tended to with an artist’s care. There is a great article on Motionographer and Art of the Title about the man behind those graphic designs, Henry Hobson, and the talented artists at Elastic.

ALL IMAGES USED FOR EDITORIAL AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY FROM THE MOTIONOGRAPHER ARTICLE CRAFTING GRAPHICS FOR THE OSCARS: AN INTERVIEW WITH HENRY HOBSON.

Timeless Mosaics

Photomosaic software has been around for nearly two decades. Way back in the day folks tinkered with this technique completely by hand just as we did with colored hole punches in Color Theory class in college. The road was very tedious, but the end results can be astounding when one takes the time to view from afar as well as appreciate all of the closeup details.

I recently experimented with cf/x’s Photomosaic. This was my first test right out of the gate with default settings. The tile rotation option really helps give this image a greater sense of depth. I’ll post additional examples when I have more time to experiment.

Got the Gist

While working on a logo design for a new show for NBA TV I came across a unique font family called “Gist” from Yellow Design Studio (YDS). For a modest $49 the family comes with a vast array of 20 fonts. Ryan Martinson from YDS has also posted a variety of free elements like dingbats, textures, and fonts for download. Something I really appreciated about “Gist” was that the designer provided the inlines as separate fonts so the inlines could be easily colored. Also the ligatures, swash capitals, and alternates were very well thought out.

Art Trumps Science

In a world filled with movies and television sporting the latest trends in digital, data-driven effects, we tend to forget how good optical compositing and keen artistic interpretation will trump these digital hydras every time. Just because the data in the computer for a particular shot is accurate to the laws of physics, why does it still feel rigid and cold compared to the vinyl-aged practical effects? The art is missing. The art has been slowly cornered by science, rather than an artist interpreting a scene by instinct.

In a recent video that was reposted by Prolost (Stu Maschwitz’s blog) from a previous post on FX Guide, Dennis Muren, ILM legend discusses this trend toward data and away from art.

When Stu references the T-Rex's big reveal in Jurassic Park there is a strong blue light shining from apparently nowhere in the real world, yet it works. Why is that? Artistic interpretation for heightened effect. We don’t go to the movies to watch a film. We go to the movies to be immersed within a film.

We are at a crossroads where the latest digital techniques need to be corralled back toward the arts. Science is a great foundation for a shot, but knowing when to bend the rules, and sometimes even break them in order for the shot to become memorable to the viewer is key.

ABOVE IMAGE © UNIVERSAL PICTURES.

Visit Prolost.

C64 Holds World Record

When I was 11 my Dad convinced me that if I wanted a computer I had to first take a computer course on TV. I agreed and learned about the ins and outs of bits, bytes, ROM, and RAM. So that Christmas I got my first computer: a shiny new Commodore 64 with a 1541 drive and 1702 model color video display. One of my favorite things to do was challenge myself to draw pixel-by-pixel with the cursor keys and create my latest digital masterpiece. One I fondly remember is the Amsel Raiders poster that I copied to the best of my 11-year-old artistic talents. I also enjoyed designing my own games with Garry Kitchen’s Game Maker from Activision when I wasn’t playing Zork or Bard’s Tale.

Little did anyone know how popular this computer would become. Due to its spectacular graphics and sound, in-house production and the creation of the 10,000 games and other programs written for the C64, it flourished. It is now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in the highest-selling single computer model of all time category. It outsold Apple, Atari, IBM PCs for years. According to Wikipedia: “It has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative mass-production.”

For Commodore 64 emulation visit Power64. I keep Snow Leopard around just so I can run this one.

The Father of Proxima Nova & the Legacy of Arnholm

Mark Simonson is a rare typography designer who not only redefines classic font families, he breathes new life into them. He’s also the father of one of the cleaner, more modern fonts used extensively on the web: Proxima Nova.

The font that eventually became Proxima Nova was first used for the Star Wars Radio Drama packaging by Simonson when it was released for the first time to the public in the early 90s. The original radio drama hit the airwaves in the 80s. Here’s the full story from the man himself. When I stumbled upon Mark’s studio website I felt at home seeing notes about my college typography professor, and anything vintage Star Wars is a good thing.

I really enjoyed Simonson’s breakdowns of some of the more influential type designers from the early days. One in particular caught my eye: Ron Arnholm. I studied under Professor Arnholm while attending The University of Georgia’s graphic design program, I designed countless catalogs, books, and exhibition checklists for The Georgia Museum of Art all along using his extensively diverse Legacy family. Arnholm was one of my favorite professors during my years in Athens, GA. His Aquarius font was used extensively on the campus signage at UGA. My logotype on this page was created in Arnholm’s Advanced Typography course. When I presented the final design he said it would last a long time. I've tried to redesign it over the past 21 years always returning to the original.

Classic iMac Video Gaming for Under $100

Emulators are great, but nothing beats playing a classic game on the actual hardware from ages past. I grabbed these classics so my daughter could learn about dolphins, the human body, and bugs with her Magic School Bus CD ROMs. We opted for her to learn from these older classics rather than the latest iPad app. For a basic setup here’s all you need: 1) 1998 or 1999 iMac with OS 9 (eBay $60), 2) OS 9 Installer CDs (eBay $20), and 3) a $3 battery for the iMac. For just $83 you’re up and running in no time.

Starlog for a New Generation

Starlog magazine had been around since I was 4 years old. The magazine excelled at going into a film’s intricate details including breakdowns of the original Star Wars weaponry or fully exploded drawings of the Starship Enterprise. For decades the magazine was the de facto standard for film coverage as well as what was hot on the horizon for television and video game consoles. Unfortunately after 33 years in publication in 2009 Starlog was shut down like many other print-related entities.

Luckily in 2014 there were rumblings about Starlog making a come back 5 years after the print edition was shut down. With much thanks to Fangoria, Starlog.com became a reality in late 2014. Now Starlog is available to a whole new generation of sci-fi fans.

A FEW STAR WARS ISSUES FROM MY COLLECTION.

Art of the Title

If you enjoy a great film, but find more satisfaction in the art and design of the film’s title sequences this site is for you. From Saul Bass’s spirographic Vertigo to Kyle Cooper’s demented Se7en one can spend hours pouring through the sheer volumes of titles. One thing I find curious is that the titles created in the days of optical compositing stand out as stronger in regard to design, color, and composition in many respects, although the animation can be quite crude compared to today’s digitally interpolated scenes.

ALL IMAGES ABOVE © CECCHI GORI PICTURES, © JUNO PIX, AND © NEW LINE CINEMA.

The Best Training I Ever Had Was on VHS

Back in the 90s we didn’t have an internet filled with a plethora of training videos to learn about image manipulation in the computer, especially those produced by real experts, let alone free. There were a handful however that rose far above the rest and didn’t break the bank: 1) Total Training’s After Effects VHS series with Brian Maffitt, and 2) Masters of Visual Effects VHS series with Forest Key, John Knoll, Ron Brinkmann, Scott Squires, Stu Maschwitz, Matt Silverman, and Alex Lindsay.

On the one hand there was Brian Maffitt, full of energy and most of his tutorials used impractical materials (giraffes with wheels for their feet), but he always delivered on the concepts and provided excellent training. I learned After Effects (version 3 or 4) literally overnight watching those tapes when transitioning from a Discreet Flint. On the other hand were folks like Ron Brinkmann whose monotone voice could put you to sleep if you weren’t fascinated by every last detail of image processing in the Masters of Visual Effects series. But there was nothing mundane about what he was discussing. Those tapes were priceless, and I was lucky enough to convince my boss to spend a couple hundred bucks and get them for us.

Alex Lindsay formed DV Garage some time later. He was able to convince the EI Technology Group to offer a free copy of an older version of ElectricImage with his 3D Toolkit. The 3D Toolkit focused more on the foundation concepts of 3D rather than a specific application, much like the Masters series did. One thing I’ve always told my students is to always consider their foundation studies of the initial concepts much more important than learning the latest, greatest shiny effect making its rounds across the internet.

Now we have an internet filled with free training videos from every one that has a computer and an internet connection. You’d think with all of the offerings it would be hard to decide which training to use. But just like in the 90s sheer volume isn’t what’s important. Even today there are still only a handful of great training opportunities out there if you take the time to wade through the white noise.

Matt posted some of the Masters of Visual Effects videos online years ago so now they're not only digital, but free. Get them here.