Every big budget blockbuster requires an iconic poster to capture the essence of the movie, pique your interest, but not give too much away. Some of the most recognisable movie posters have featured work from the world’s greatest illustrators and designers, such as Saul Bass, culminating in a piece of art that is often as iconic as the movie itself.
But what if you took away the big budget, all the CGI and photoshopping, and brought it right back to basics with a bit of simple crafting? Would it still be possible to capture the essence of the movie in a medium as quaint as ‘felt’? And what if those movies were horror movies? I guess you’re about to find out…
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The Terminator
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If ever there was a movie poster that defined the action genre of the 1980s it’s the one for The Terminator. It’s all there: the lasers, the gun, the sunglasses… the overt masculinity – they all scream the eighties. Recreating such a brutalist piece of art with felt was certainly a challenge. Not so tough now, are we Arnie?
The Silence of the Lambs
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Original poster credit: Dawn Baillie
Even within the horror genre, there aren’t many posters as haunting as that of The Silence of the Lambs. The contrast between Jodie Foster’s pale face against the blood red and darkness of the Death’s-head hawkmoth really evoke the paralysis that only true terror can induce.
The Shining
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Original poster credit: Saul Bass
Saul Bass is regularly credited with designing some of the best movie posters of all time, so it comes as some surprise that Stanley Kubrick rejected most of his early ideas for The Shining. Eventually, Bass’s heavy stippling and clever use of negative space won him over.
Jurassic Park
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Original poster credit: Sandy Collora
The story behind the Jurassic Park poster is one filled with both secrecy and hype. To capitalise on the excitement, Spielberg demanded that none of the promotional material were to include any of the movie’s dinosaurs. The result is remarkably minimalist, and as iconic as the dinosaurs themselves.
Jaws
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Original poster credit: Roger Kastel
Originally painted for the novel’s cover, the artist used stuffed sharks in a museum as reference and paid a model $35 to simulate a swimming motion as she lay across two stools. In spite of the homemade approach, the end result was so visually arresting the filmmakers used it for the movie poster too.
We used buttons for eyes… :)
A Clockwork Orange
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Original poster credit: Philip Castle
The original poster for Kubrick’s classic thriller, is an airbrushed masterpiece of the pre-digital world. The artist, Philip Castle, famously stated that Photoshop had “put [him] out of work!”, and yet the poster and its iconography has endured as one of the most recognisable of all time.
Alien
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Original poster credit: Steve Frankfurt & Philip Gips
Often touted as “the perfect movie poster” the image conveys all the atmosphere of the movie, with something as simple and innocent of an egg. Okay, an alien egg… but still...
I imagine a felt “facehugger” might be more cuddly, though.