The Big Picture Magazine
In 1968 Michelangelo Antonioni was hot property. He’d captured the Carnaby Street cool of late 60s London in Blow Up and turned a tidy profit for MGM in the process. The studio wanted the second film of his three-picture deal to be made in America in an attempt to snare the youth market and take advantage of […]
The philosophical and religious overtones of Infernal Affairs(2002) are captured beautifully in the one-sheet that accompanied the Chinese theatrical release. That the identity of the men silhouetted at the centre is obscured forms a very telling statement about the lonely and troubled characters of Chan Wing-yan (Tony Leung), an undercover cop who infiltrates a triad gang, […]
The lonely silhouette of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), dwarfed by a beam of light projecting from the upstairs bedroom of the MacNeil home, is an iconic image that has become an integral part of The Exorcist’s identity as a consumer product. Tirelessly reproduced in the film’s subsequent re-releases on DVD and Blu-Ray, and featuring […]
Stoker is a film replete with significance and meaning imposed on the positioning of its characters within the frame. A scene on a winding staircase at around 12 minutes neatly captures the moment when a crucial shift in power between India (Mia Wasikowska) and Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) occurs. Louis Giannetti, in his hardy perennial film […]
Through the years, science fiction posters and subtlety have not been the best of pairings. Forbidden Planet gave us one of many over-saturated and melodramatic visual spectacles: the eye-catching (if absent from the film) scene of Robbie the Robot kidnapping a scantily-clad woman, and the word ‘AMAZING!’ stamped on top. Star Wars started a trend […]
Few men have influenced graphic design as drastically as Saul Bass, the New York-born artist who was responsible for some of that era’s most iconic movie posters. Nicholas Page takes a look at his most resonant work. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) Dir. Otto Preminger / American One-sheet From the dawn of motion […]
To help promote the re-release in cinemas of The Godfather later this month, The Big Picture editor asked a select group of students at the University of the West of England’s celebrated graphic design course to have a crack at re-designing the film poster to connect with a new audience. The simple brief asked students […]
Traditionally seen as a vital part of any PR campaign, one sheet movie posters continue to have an affect on our decision making when it comes to choosing what films to see. Successful posters effectively act as conduits of the movies themes, tone and style and – like good book covers or cd sleeves – […]