Bill Gold is a world renowned movie poster artist. A little unconventionality is what Gold uses to help sell movie tickets. Before Gold came along, the art of movie posters were mainly pictures of three heads of the characters in the movie. Gold wanted his posters to tell a story, to be more than just 3 heads on a poster. His concepts have been used in countless movie posters, such as those of Casablanca, Rope, House of Wax and Barbarella, to name a few.
In Casablanca, Gold stuck to the idea of showcasing the characters on the poster, yet created mystery in the way Ingrid Berman looked at Bogart so as not to hint to their relationship. He created excitement by placing a gun in Bogart’s hand.
In Rope, Gold used the piece of rope in the poster to instigate curiosity. “What is going to happen with that piece of rope?” The red sky in the background he says is added for dramatic effect. “It’s not a settling sky. The red makes it more imposing.”
Barbarella was a sci-fi movie of the 1960s. In the poster Gold experimented with shapes and stills. He says, “You would normally have boxes down the side show all the stills, but this has a bursting excitement to it, like something has blown up. Pieces seem to be flying off the center. So here Jane Fonda is big up top, and then when you come down below, there’s a small sexy little figure with the tag line ‘See Barbarella do her thing.’ What’s her thing? We’d love to see it.”
Lastly, House of Wax was his poster of the first major 3-D film production. He says he’s not particularly proud of this poster, however the corniness and cheesiness of it is what they were going for. They wanted the poster to make it blatantly obvious that what you were about to see is a 3-D film where things jump out of the screen at you. That’s why he feels this piece is such an important part of history.
The art of movie posters is, in essence, the art of enticing people to come see a particular movie. Gold, now in his 80s, is a master of the art and has created over 2,000 movie posters in his career. Its a balance between art and commerce and in order for it to be successful it must appeal to customers enough so that they’ll reach into their pockets and put down the money to see the movie.
Interesting post. It is also interesting to note the clarity and impact of these posters at a time when technology was at a minimum. The posters look quaint compared with the advertising resources of today, but they certainly had an impact in their day. It is interesting to note the ability to make maximum impact with a minimum of resources. This is where the real talent of the poster creator lies. It is a powerful lesson for any artist.